Wizard World is Magic for Local Pop Culture Businesses

Wizard World is coming to Reno and that is helping boost business for local stores who specialize in comic books, card games pop culture and fantasy. 

"The whole business is seeing a resurgence over the past few years," says Cody Laux who owns the Comic Kingdom on Moana Lane in Reno. "I've owned this for about three years and you have to keep up with what's new. But we deal with a lot of comic books and those come out weekly or monthly, so we have a core clientele. And we are really building on it. We have a whole area for kids and for card games and for adult games. And the movies that are coming out are really helping boost business."

Aside from the movies based on popular comic books, they are also keying in on Star Wars and say the fact that Wizard World is coming to Reno will help. 

"It's a pretty big convention. They will have a lot of celebrities there and that's a huge draw. It helps get people interested and then we'll see another boost in business here," Laux says. 

"I think it's a huge deal that Wizard World will be here," added Javier Gonzales who owns KD Empire in Sparks. 

He deals mostly in Japanese specialty toys and 3D art and plans to have a booth there at the convention. 

"I really have carved out a niche and this is a big part of marketing for me," Gonzales says. "I could spend money on advertising but this will actually get to the audience I'm trying to reach. I mean they are paying to get in to see the latest in toys and merchandise and then they'll see that I am here and have all this great stuff right here in town. It's expensive but it's well worth it."

The Wizard World Comic Con is bigger than the Reno ComicCon that was held at the Sands earlier  this year. It's at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center this weekend.