Published 12:05 pm Thursday, July 3, 2025
- Husband and wife duo Jennifer Howard and Lewis Howard will be opening Legendary Loot Gaming and Troy Antiques & Collectibles on July 9. (Josh Boutwell)
A unique shopping experience is coming to Troy with the opening of Troy Antiques and Collectibles and Legendary Loot Gaming next week.
Legendary Loot Gaming will offer a variety of rare and retro game systems. (Josh Boutwell)
The shop will combine two stores in one as Jennifer Howard’s Troy Antiques and Collectibles will run one shop and her husband Lewis Howard’s retro video game store Legendary Loot Gaming will be the other.
“We want a place where both the husband and wife can come and shop,” Lewis Howard said. “If he isn’t into antiquing or thrifting, he can walk right over to the game shop and check out our stuff there.”
Lewis Howard, a Troy native, worked at Gamestop for eight years – serving as an area manager – but his love for gaming goes much deeper than that.
“I’m a gamer at heart,” he said. “I play every night. I’ve loved games – and been playing games – since Atari. This area is severely lacking for stuff for people to do and let’s be honest, there is nothing here for gamers. If you’re a gamer you’re going to Dothan or Montgomery, you’re going away from Troy. Why?”
Legendary Loot Gaming even makes art work for discs that have lost cases and art. (Josh Boutwell)
Lewis Howard said Legendary Loot Gaming will carry a “little bit of everything,” but specializes in retro games.
“We have a little bit of everything; Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, TurboGrafix 16,” he continued. “I just want to give gamers a place to come and find the stuff they’re looking for. You can’t go anywhere in town and get older games like XBox or (Nintendo 64) or PSP. I can’t have everything here but I’m going to try and have as much as I possibly can.”
Legendary Loot Gaming will have a few unique wrinkles, as well. First, Lewis Howard will offer repair services for retro game systems. Additionally, his store will offer up a solution for something that is likely a pet peeve for many gamers.
“What’s one of the worst things for a gamer? When you get a game and it’s just the disc without any artwork or case,” he said. “If you look in this store, I challenge you to find even one game that doesn’t have at least some generic art. I have made sure if it goes up on my shelf it will have some kind of art and a case with it.”
There will be an almost endless amount of retro games available at Legendary Loot Gaming, including some “bootleg,” rare and import games. (Josh Boutwell)
Legendary Loot Gaming will also have an area specifically for “bootleg games,” something that has become a favorite for gamers in recent years.
“Beleive it or not, there are collectors that collect just bootlegs and some of those can be worth more than the real game,” said Lewis Howard.
The antique side of things will be run by Jennifer Howard, who was also born and raised in Troy.
“I’ve loved antiquing since I was probably 18,” she said. “My family didn’t have any heirlooms, so I’ve always loved thrifting. I just wanted to bring something different to the community. I know there are a lot of thrift stores around but I’ve picked barns and attics and all kinds of places to get everything you see here. We’ve even gone to Florida, I just want to bring something different.”
Troy Antiques & Collectibles will also offer a “little bit of everything.” (Josh Boutwell)
Like the game store, Troy Antiques and Collectible aims to offer a little bit of everything to thrifters and antiquers that stop by.
“There is really just a little bit of everything,” Jennifer Howard said with a smile. “I love a lot of carnival glass, I have a really huge collection of glass that I love.”
Legendary Loot Gaming will be open from noon until 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and will hold a special trade-in event this Sunday, July 6. At the trade-in event, customers will be able to come and get a sneak-peak of everything the store has to offer along with being able to trade-in games and systems for store credit. The official grand opening will be July 9 at noon.
“My goal is to be able to have served three generations of gamers,” Lewis Howard said. “I’ve already taken care of parents and grandparents with my previous job and now when they come back here I can take care of those grandchildren when they’re old enough to play games. Serving three generations of gamers is pretty awesome.”
The store is located at 816 S. Three Notch Street in Troy. Legendary Loot Gaming and Troy Antiques & Collectibles can both be found on Facebook.
