When you enter H&H Evanston, the new comic book and game store on Central Street, a portal into your imagination opens.
“This is about discovery,” said owner Drew Beckman. “This is about being part of a community. Even if it’s just your family around a table.”
Beckman and Vern Wiley, the store manager, recently moved the store they operated for 4 years in Wilmette, Heroines & Heroes, to the newly renovated space at 2026 Central Street. It is now H&H Evanston short. The unofficial opening took place on August 9th.
In July, while boxes were still being unpacked and shelves were being emptied, the two men sometimes talked excitedly to each other, like wide-eyed children in a candy store.
Of course, sweet treats are not their specialty: they spoil the audience with picture pages, fantasy worlds and games, but also with tutorials and competitions.
Defying the stereotypes of comic book stores
While H&H Evanston offers the latest Deadpool and other serialized novels, it’s not a typical comic book store of the past – not like the ones Wiley’s mother took him to but never went in. He jokes that in those stores, “Comic Book Guy,” the character from The Simpsons, “was actually a shining example of a guy I would have met as a kid.”
As the former owner of the Comix Gallery in Wilmette, Wiley knows this guy, but he doesn’t come across as sarcastic or grumpy in the slightest.
Beckman added: “If you grew up in the ’70s or even the ’80s, if you wanted to go to a comic book store, you always had to go to a hole in the wall. It was dingy, dirty, it smelled.”
H&H Evanston, on the other hand, is inviting and modern, more of a hub than a meeting place.
The former north branch of the Evanston Public Library is now four times the size of the previous store.
Embossed metal panels cover the ceiling and metal lamps hang from above. Attractive faux wood adorns the walls.
Some features, such as a sound absorption system, have yet to be installed, but customers are already exploring the aisles.
Further ahead, a large Darth Vader action figure lures guests in as if he were “taming the force.”
The main sales counter is located in the center of the store, next to the tables and chairs for playing, and the wire shelves on the east wall are decorated with colorful artwork and comic books.
The shelves are filled with colorful boxes and packaging for popular games such as Catan, Step by step, Carcassonne And Warhammeras well as graphic novels, Japanese manga, figures and models. They also sell the Baby-Sitters Club series.
Young readers (they point out that 45% of their clientele are women and girls) will find a wide selection of illustrated works – 30 to 50 new copies are offered every week – including material to help them cope with the complexities of adolescence.
“We curate and carry a lot of LGBTQ-friendly stuff… all harmless stuff,” he said.
However, some of the books they carry have been banned in school districts in conservative states. For example, NPR reported reported“Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s 1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, was banned by the McMinn County (Tennessee) School Board in 2022.
The property includes an adjacent shop that was formerly the wine bar Lush, where Liz and Patrick Breslin reopening their Irish pub, The Celtic Knot.
Beckman bought the property outright and leased the adjacent areas.
He is excited about the development of the Central Street neighborhood and hopes to collaborate with his tenants and other local businesses so that patrons might come to a game next door for something to eat and drink, or vice versa.
Origins
Being a game store owner was not Beckman’s first job.
He is from the St. Louis area and was part of the first wave of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game in the mid-1970s, along with his brother.
He came to study at Northwestern University.
Beckman then worked in technology and telecommunications for over thirty years, rising through the corporate hierarchy and traveling frequently.
When he was faced with the dismissal of employees a few years ago, he decided to offer severance pay himself.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck, he watched his wife, a teacher, and her students struggle with distance learning and the loss of human contact.
Parents were keen to reduce the amount of time their children spent online, playing video games, watching Netflix, etc.
“How about a board game?” Beckman would suggest.
“Like Monopoly?” they would ask.
“Well, there are better ones,” he would say.
Beckman said he saw a need he could fill, so he decided to open the previous store and recruit Wiley as his successor.
Learning complex games can be daunting, but Beckman found it “rewarding” to help people get started with these games.
Parents “can call us, make an appointment, and we’ll put the game in front of them and teach them the basics,” he said, noting that even 8- to 10-year-olds can pick up 14-and-over games in just a few rounds, often faster than their parents.
“Okay, Dad, I commented on the last few rounds. Why don’t you do this one?” a child might say.
A friendly place to linger
Many hobbies “are something people just bring home and do themselves,” says Wiley. At H&H Evanston, however, they try to “create a social atmosphere where you get to meet other people you might not have met otherwise.”
As the pandemic eased but mask-wearing was still the norm, they began hosting Dungeons & Dragons camps for children from area schools who had not had “social contact outside of their immediate household” for nearly two years. They were strangers at first, but some have remained friends to this day.
The ability to facilitate organized gaming campaigns at a low cost — providing “a place to play” for everyone — “absolutely sets us apart from everyone else,” Beckman said. Because, he added, “it’s one thing to have people come in and play. It’s a whole other thing to say, ‘I’ve got a professional who’s going to create a unique campaign for you,’ and adapt to the interests of the players and incorporate props — whether they’re cards, little miniature figures or handouts — into a two-hour experience, every week for 12 weeks.”
With the additional space, H&H Evanston can expand such organized “campaign” opportunities to a larger area.
Their website is being redesigned, but planned activities will be announced via their email listserv.
But beware: Parents of North Shore residents are reportedly flocking to registration with a similar enthusiasm to that of Taylor Swift fans looking for concert tickets: They’re reserving their seats within minutes of them becoming available.
The store also has a kitchen, so H&H Evanston plans to sell snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. It is also equipped to host private events, such as game-themed birthday parties.
H&H Evanston hours of operation are: 12pm-6pm, Monday, Tuesday and Sunday;
Wednesday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
However, on game nights they are expected to be open “until about 10 p.m.”
The comment about the inferiority of the games found in conventional department stores prompted this reporter to ask if they carry Risk – a game that was considered the penultimate strategy board game in his youth. They don’t.
There are indeed “guys on a map,” said Beckman and Wiley, pointing to a display in the shop window showing “Axis & Allies.” In this game, players take on the role of one or more of the five major warring factions of World War II and compete for control of their armies and the conquest of enemy territory.
Its obvious reliance on history, geopolitics and military strategy – subjects that some young people find dry – makes one skeptical about its appeal. But Beckman and Wiley’s enthusiasm is infectious, and when you put the book down you are convinced that it really is something like Risk, only better.
