Walking into Nerdcore, customers see Monster High dolls on one wall, Disney on another, Star Wars and Marvel in the back and collectibles all about.

Everyone is greeted with a hello, except the regulars who are greeted by name.

A young girl dragged her mom over to the Disney section with glee.

It’s like a kid in a candy store, but in this case, it’s the nerd in Nerdcore.

Nerdcore Toys and Collectibles had its grand opening on Sep. 14. At their opening, 88.1 the ‘Burg blasted music as Pizza Colin handed out slices of pizza.

Jason Shaw is the general manager and buyer for the store. His wife, Denise Shaw, is the owner.

The idea for the store came about when the Shaws decided they wanted to open a business in Ellensburg.

According to Jason Shaw, they realized there wasn’t really a toy or collectible store in the area for serious collectors.

Jason Shaw said that both he and Denise Shaw are big collectors. He added that Denise Shaw is also a gamer.

“We thought that Nerdcore would be a perfect fit in Ellensburg because of the college community and the family community,” Jason Shaw said. “It would be something that Ellensburg definitely needed.”

The store carries a large variety of toys and collectibles that you normally wouldn’t find at any other store, Jason Shaw said.

One such example is a line called Kid Robot, which was the first U.S. based company to bring over the Japanese vinyl style toys that have been popular in Japan for the last 20 years.

“We tend to carry more collectible like pieces that the adult collector looks for, as opposed to just going to a Target or a Walmart,” Jason Shaw said.

The name of the store is a play on the phrase “nerds to the core;” hence the name Nerdcore.

According to Jason Shaw, Central students make up about 80 percent of the customer base that come into Nerdcore.

This quarter, Nerdcore began hosting a game night one night a month at the Brooks Library, providing exposure for the store.

[Brooks Library] “had your typical Monopoly, Battleship and Scrabble and they didn’t have the turn out they wanted,” Jason Shaw said.  “So they approached us and said ‘hey could you bring in some new and exciting games and some new stuff to spotlight and garner interest with the student body’ and we’ve done that and will continue to do that.”

Nerdcore offers games such as Apples to Apples, Trivial Pursuit “Nightmare before Christmas” edition and Ghostbusters the board game.

Linsey Otto, senior Asian pacific studies major, first found out about Nerdcore at January’s game night.

“I was both shocked and every ecstatic when I heard about it and wondered why I didn’t know about it beforehand,” Otto said.

Although Jason Shaw has tried to reach out to some of the different nerd club’s on campus, no one has responded.

Jason Shaw said he would love to set something up with any clubs on campus and he enthusiastically encourages students in those clubs to get in contact with him.

Although common toys can be found at stores like Fred Meyer, Nerdcore tends to carry the more special edition collectables that can’t be found at a big box store.

“We really pride ourselves on being able to do special orders for our customers,” Jason Shaw said.

With special orders, he will track down the items, get the details and then calls the customer to tell them what he found.

“It’s really nice that the owner is more than happy to order just about anything online for you if you don’t see it in store,” Otto said. “I remember him telling me that he’s really good at hunting down even the rarest of collector items.”

With special orders, a 50 percent deposit is required and then when the order comes in, the customer pays the remaining balance.

“I’ve been in the retail business for a number of years and have always prided myself on maintaining a large clientele that knows me by name and know they can come to me for excellent customer service, excellent knowledge on the product and to be able to have me locate items that they normally wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else,” Jason Shaw said.

Many people aren’t able to travel to the big comic book conventions where one-off special collectibles are released, but Jason Shaw is usually able to track down those types of items.

The store has yet to reach its six month mark, but has been profitable, according to Jason Shaw.

One of store’s busiest days was on Jan. 16, when they hosted a brewery in their store as part of Brewfest.

“We’ve been doing really well. We had a great Christmas and, like with any other business, things have kind of slowed down after Christmas, but still were doing great,” Jason Shaw said.

Jason Shaw said he loves the location of the store since it’s in the heart of downtown Ellensburg.

“We love being right down here in the central part of downtown. It’s a great melting, mixing pot of all types of people and culture,” Jason Shaw said.

Nerdcore is one of the most unique stores in Ellensburg and appeals to a great number of people, especially Central students.

“I like the fact that it’s technically the first and only store of its kind in Ellensburg to sell nerd collectibles and whatnot,” Otto said. “They have a nice mix collectibles for adult fanatics, as well as toys for kids.”