Geek Sanctuaries

As was said in an earlier this blog, there is a certain amount of religiosity to geekery. It stems from fandoms wanting to recreate a childhood favorite. So a place like a Comic Convention will have people dressing up, acting, and trying to relive childhood favorite things.

But what happens between those conventions? Do people continue to dress up? Are they simply hiding it?

The answer is that most people do not dress up, unless they go to a geek sanctuary. These sanctuaries are places to talk about comic books, play games, and dress up. At any other time, the people involved will try to dress as common as possible, with a hint to their love. People will wear Doctor Who shirts to school, but a fez at the comic book shop.

Most towns have these geeky places to visit. Malls will section out shopping for clothes to be popular, places to be geeky, and hang out spots. They allow people to move back and forth, and not notice each other.

A geek sanctuary can be found with these types of clues.

Comic book shops are the quintessential geek place.

If you walk into the shop, you are likely a geek, and therefore allowed to wear your clothes. There is a myriad of things to look at and enjoy.

Thus you will have things to talk about. In the North Town mall, there is a board game section, and tables in the back to play with friends.

You better believe this is where people will dress up.

Then we have bookstores. The larger bookstores try to fit the needs of whoever is reading. However, there is a board game section, a toy section, and some very geeky books.

I didn’t see people dressed up in the bookstore, but there were many people perusing books all around them.

What if you don’t dress up, but want a sanctuary? There are tech and videogame stores for that.

The TV’s have movies running at HD, with chairs to lounge in. Transformers had a few people stopping everything just to watch.

In larger cities like Salt Lake City, you have tech stores for specific brands. Like Apple.

Or even Microsoft.

There will be people there to talk to you about products, and your love of geek things.

There will also be Videogame stores, arcades, and other lovely things.

They can be giant corporations, or family run businesses. They all bring the same things though, a chance to be with something you love, and talk with fans of those things. While in a comic shop, I talked with someone about Tomb Raider. While in an arcade, I met someone dressed as a comic book character.

Either way, these places are sanctuaries for those trying to be fans.

There are so many places you can geek out, I would have a hard time listing them all. Heck, I am not listing geek bars, or coffee shops here. If I get the chance, I will have to show pictures of some places in Vegas that fit that description.

Each one of these places tends to have places to meet and talk, places to play, stuff for sale, and food. They allow a person to spend as much time as possible within the shop, bar, convention, and office.

I am actually going to show these pictures to friends in what are considered less than geeky places. Perhaps that can shed some light to the geeky places in their cities and towns.