| Rocky Mountain Collectibles |
| 4895 Joliet Street Denver, Colorado 80239 (720) 524-3086 |
| Website |
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Denver, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Collectibles was born out of a love for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG). Its owner, Joseph Maddalena, grew up with a passion for games, and loved the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG more than any other. He played Yu-Gi-Oh! throughout his entire life and competed at some of the highest levels of competition. He took 7th place at the North America World Championship Qualifier in 2013 and enjoyed the ride toward the top as much as any other competitive Duelist. In addition to playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, Joseph was a serious collector. Once his collection became too large for him to handle on his own, he felt like he had no choice but to open up a card shop. He is now the owner of Rocky Mountain Collectibles – this quarter’s Featured Official Tournament Store!
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is the prime focus of Joseph’s store, and it’s what he knows best. This is immediately obvious to customers walking in, since the store is decorated with Yu-Gi-Oh! posters and a massive mural inspired by the game. Joseph aims to make all Duelists feel welcome, and his decorations help to build that welcoming environment.
Rocky Mountain Collectibles opened up in November of 2019. It has a whopping 3800 square feet of space and can accommodate 150 Duelists at a time in its large gaming area. Unfortunately, just 4 months after Joseph’s grand opening, he was forced to close down for nearly 3 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this rough timing, Joseph built up the Remote Duel scene and his store thrived. “We had an active Discord server before we ran Remote Duels, so it was easy for us to transition to Remote Duels,” Joseph said.
It took some time, but the transition to Remote Duels was extremely successful. Rocky Mountain Collectibles now hosts 5 Remote Duel tournaments each week, including 3 Advanced Format tournaments and 2 Speed Duel events.
“Treat your players well, respect them, and don’t take them for granted. The more you give, the more you get back from your community.”
– Joseph Maddalena, owner
As stores are reopening across the country, Rocky Mountain Collectibles is welcoming players back to a clean and friendly environment. “The whole store is wiped down once per day, and twice per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Joseph said. “We also have multiple hand sanitizers located in convenient locations around the store.” For customers who are still uncomfortable entering the store, Rocky Mountain Collectibles offers curbside services. Customers can send in lists of cards and products that they want to buy, and employees at Rocky Mountain Collectibles will pull those items before they arrive in order to make the shopping experience as quick and easy as possible. Joseph boasts that his store has the largest selection of sealed Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG product and single cards in the state of Colorado. He’s proud to have over three million Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards completely organized and sorted so that he can easily find them for players in a quick and efficient manner. Rocky Mountain Collectibles offers online sales too, but Joseph says that most of his store’s sales are in-person.
The future of Rocky Mountain Collectibles wasn’t always certain. “COVID was definitely a roller coaster for Rocky Mountain Collectibles,” Joseph said. “There was a time that prices and sales dropped, but around June of last year, everything turned around,” he continued. “Collectible sets like Ghosts From the Past and Toon Chaos did exceptionally well. Plus, the pandemic ultimately brought us lots of new Duelists who rediscovered their love for the game after finding their old cards while being stuck at home.” Joseph explained that Duelists love to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, even in a crisis. Premiere! events, OTS packs, and Lost Art promos from KONAMI were also helpful to Rocky Mountain Collectibles.
In addition to Remote Duels, Rocky Mountain Collectibles now hosts in-store tournaments, including tournaments for Speed Duels and Advanced Format. Most impressively, Joseph’s store regularly hosts charity events that raise money for the Aoki Foundation and mental health awareness. These events include charity raffles of donated items. Most recently, Rocky Mountain Collectibles helped to raise over $80,000 for the Aoki Foundation!
Joseph was a Duelist with a dream that came to fruition. As the proud owner of Rocky Mountain Collectibles, Joseph knows that his store’s success is not solely his own – he has his players to thank. His advice to other Official Tournament Store owners is as follows: “Treat your players well, respect them, and don’t take them for granted. The more you give, the more you get back from your community.” Joseph encourages supporting the Yu-Gi-Oh! community as much as possible and says that store owners who do this will see their businesses grow.
Rocky Mountain Collectibles has a powerful commitment to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG scene and has prospered as a result of it, despite challenges along the way. That’s why we are proud to have Rocky Mountain Collectibles as this quarter’s Featured OTS!
