By day, Dr. Denise Shaw teaches at Central Washington University as a professor of educational foundations and curriculum, but by night, she co-owns and operates a store with her husband, Jason Shaw.

The Shaw’s store, Nerdcore, first opened its doors this past Labor Day weekend and sells a number of products ranging from collectable figures to board games and cards, just to name a few.

“We have items for kids from four to one-hundred and four,” Denise Shaw said.

While Nerdcore has only been open for around nine months, Denise Shaw has taught at CWU for two years. Balancing teaching duties and business ownership requires a lot of responsibility, but Denise Shaw is up to the challenge.

Being a “Professor comes first and Jason is here everyday running the shop,” Denise Shaw said.

The Shaw’s have had an online presence in collectables for a while, but the brick and mortar version of their store is a relatively new venture. The two have both owned businesses in the past while living in Las Vegas, Nevada and Tucson, Arizona.

“Instead of hobbies, I own businesses. Those are my hobbies,” Denise Shaw said.

Any kind of business requires passion and drive.

“We’ve been nerdy at heart long before we met, and came from collectable backgrounds ourselves,” Denise Shaw said.

When they first considered opening their downtown store, they had to answer one question.

“Is it viable to open a collectables shop in brick and mortar when a lot of times online will undercut costs?” Denise Shaw said.

For Denise Shaw, opening a physical store was a matter of convenience and practicality.

“We got tired of driving two hours to the Westside… takes up a large chunk of time,”  Denise Shaw said.

In addition to shipping costs, possible damage to items during transit and fluctuating weather conditions is what lead the Shaws to open their own store.

Denise and Jason Shaw each have their own nerdy preferences.

“I’m on the collectable side while Denise is on the gaming side,” Jason Shaw said.

Jason Shaw claims Batman, Venom, Spawn, and Ghost Rider are his favorite superheroes, while Denise Shaw has always been a Spiderman fan.

“I actually had tears well up when I saw Spiderman in the new Captain America movie,” Denise Shaw said.

On special days in the shop, the Shaws host International Table-Top Day, Free Comic Book Day and other weekly events as well. The Shaws welcome patrons to reserve times to come into the store to play board and card games in addition to renting games by the hour.

“We’ve hosted game nights at Brooks Library,” Jason Shaw said.

The Shaws try to hold game nights at the Brooks Library once or twice a quarter. In the future, sanctioned Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon card play will also be offered at the Nerdcore store.

Opening Nerdcore has given the Shaws unique challenges.

“Last year there was over nine-hundred new board games released,” Jason Shaw said.

The Shaws explained how difficult it is to market different products when there simply is not enough space in their store to hold all of the products they wish they could sell. Other frustrations stem from a lack public knowledge of their shop.

“We’ve been here nine months and we get people every week who go ‘oh, how long have you been here?’” Denise Shaw said.

Above all, the Shaws take great pride in their store.

“We try to carry things that the big box stores cannot. They can certainly buy bigger volume, they can certainly buy more variety,” Denise Shaw said. “There are a lot of places even on the Westside that are ‘Toy Stores’ but they are selling their collectables not at retail price, but at collectors price,” Jason Shaw said.

With multi-conglomerates like Amazon selling products at lower prices than typical “mom and pop” stores, small business ownership can be difficult, but according to Denise Shaw, “It’s swinging back the other way.”

Denise Shaw is confident that small ‘mom and pop’ collectable stores will always exist, “The questions is, are there going to be patrons to support it?” Denise Shaw said.

The Shaws welcome everyone to come visit their store, but be sure to wear a nerdy shirt for special discounts. A special insider phrase “I know what my inner nerd wants” will also earn patrons unique discounts at the Nerdcore store.