11 September 2018
Travis Boren
Nerdgasm Emporium sits surrounded by warehouses on North El Paso Street. The reflective windows are covered in silhouettes that the avid geek might recognize at a glance. Upon entering, shelves reminiscent of magazine racks greet visitors with posters mounted on cardboard and enclosed in plastic.
Originally, the store existed solely online. Carla Goyette, the owner of Nerdgasm Emporium, says that the transition to include brick-and-mortar operations started in April. The store’s website is under construction, but it links to their eBay store where their entire inventory of posters is listed.
“We were only online and we decided this should be more,” said Mitch Ryan, general manager.
Posters are what Nerdgasm specializes in, but they are branching out. Ryan said that the goal is to expand into anything and everything nerd related, including events like movie nights and game nights.
“We’ve got probably 100,000 different titles [in the warehouse] that we want to make available to the public,” said Goyette, “there’s no other poster store around.”
When looking around the store, it is easy to see how important posters are to Nerdgasm as you walk through rows of posters stacked by category. Behind the store, hallways lead to a warehouse full of posters sorted into cubby-holes lined up in rows.
Nerdgasm offers students a special buy-two-get-one-free deal on posters, with a valid student ID.
“Everyone wants to assume we’re a comic book store,” said Ryan.
“We’re a comic book store without the comics,” said Travis Musselwhite, a store employee.
Next to the stacks of posters, Nerdgasm has shelves lined with collectible items from movies, video games, comic books and such. A small packet laying on the shelf outlines the items Nerdgasm plans to have in the future.
The team behind Nerdgasm Emporium wants to do more than just sell posters and collectibles. They want to create an experience as they expand into running events and having a gaming center.
“When we host events, it’s going to be like we’re putting a show on for them. Something more than an empty room to play games in,” said Musselwhite.
Ryan says that they plan to get rolls of paper to place on the tables in the gaming center where they will encourage people to write and draw on the paper, so that they can take it home with them when they leave. Ryan says that the store has plans to acquire arcade cabinets as well.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is to get collectibles that most other people don’t have,” said Goyette. According to Goyette, Nerdgasm’s end goal is to cater to the collector who values quality.
Cameron Murray, a store employee, started working with Nerdgasm Emporium after being a regular customer.
“I came in one day and saw that they have the things I actually want to collect but I won’t buy online. I never know if it’s as nice as in the picture,” said Murray, adding that the best advantage to buying from the store is being able to see a purchase before it is final.
After frequenting the store enough, Ryan asked Murray if he wanted to help with a convention, and Murray has been working there since.
Goyette says that Nerdgasm is a place for people to come for collectibles and posters and feel comfortable.
This store is a hidden gem for all things nerd in Colorado Springs that is worth the visit, even if it is to browse their large selection of posters.