Friends’ Olde Fashioned Hobby Shoppe

This place, tucked away behind an unassuming hand-​lettered sign on a corner in mostly deserted downtown Kenosha, is probably one of the best of the remaining RPG stores in the United States today. I do not say that lightly: Inside you will find a half dozen rooms catering to every possible role playing game taste, from Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS to obscure, esoteric and forgotten titles from the golden age of paper & dice gaming: Car Wars (actually, an entire gigantic shelf devoted to Steve Jackson games), Traveler, countless board and card games, die cast miniatures, old issues of Dragon and White Dwarf and seemingly every cyberpunk manual and sourcebook ever printed. Especially strong when it comes to indie/​self-​published works, this place is an important archive of an influential subculture, one that is directly responsible for what is now considered mainstream geek/​videogaming culture (there would be no Game of Thrones, no Grand Theft Auto, no Call of Duty, were it not for the tropes and character attribute systems honed in this scene). It’s like a museum where everything is for sale.
That alone would be enough to merit this place 5 stars, but on top of that, it also caters to model builders and model railroaders, with every conceivable kind of kit and diorama accessory stacked to the ceiling, plus all the Xacto knives, glues, paints and reference books needed to perfect any scale modeling creation. In addition to having space for regularly-​meeting RPG groups, Friends’ also serves as the headquarters for a regional scale railroading group.
If you visit, note that the store is cash-​only (they have an ATM). There’ll be a cat roaming around, and probably a few hobbyists just hanging out and shooting the shit. If you’re coming from Chicago, note that there’s a Metra stop just a few blocks away (call ahead to verify hours). Places like this are disappearing, as more and more people get their gaming fix online, but Friends’ seems to be going strong –the proprietor told me it’s been around 29 years, and that they’re eyeing a larger, 4,700 sq. ft. space down the street so they can display even more product. Only fitting for a gaming store located in the shadow of Lake Geneva, from where Dungeons & Dragons itself was unleashed on the world.