You can view the entire Spenard Landmarks Series here.
Spenard Landmarks Series #1: Roll of the Dice
Welcome to the First Stop on the Spenard Landmarks Series! I adopted this cache from PenTrek in February of 2026. Here's the original cache description:
This is my first cache hide, and I'm placing it at one of my favorite stores in Anchorage. I'm here practically every Thursday to play Dungeons and Dragons (yes, I'm a 57-year old nerd), so I figured it would make sense to combine two of my favorite past-times. This store used to be a few blocks down the road, but recently moved to this new location, which opened in February of this year. I encourage you to go during a time when the store is open so you can stop in and see what they have. If you ever looked at comics when you were a kid (or, if you have kids, or still are a kid), or played games, or had any interest in science fiction or fantasy, there is probably something here for you.
I talked to the owner of the store and he was enthusiastic about placing a cache on his property. Although it may be that not all the employees know about it, the location is kind of in the back so should not be too much of a problem. I made this a relatively large cache in order to provide room for trading. I've stocked it with gaming dice to be moved and traded in other caches. I'd like to keep the tradable items in this cache related to the theme of the store: gaming, comics, science fiction or fantasy, etc. It could be pins, figures, game tokens, cards, whatever you think is appropriate. Make it fun! Should be plenty of room for travel bugs as well!
This should be a fairly easy P&G; the cache should be available in the winter, although if we get a lot of snow it will be hard to access. There may be lots of people around during certain times of the day, so you may need to be somewhat stealthy. Please put the container back in the same location so it will not be spotted by passersby.
I've placed a geotoken in the cache for the FTF.
What history! Now here's the history of this location. This location was even easier to research than most because Bosco's website has a full and complete history, which you can read here. They recently celebrated their 40th anneversary in one building or another in Spenard, and Anchorage Daily News did a full write up on them. You can read the full article here, or enjoy my technicolor summary of it below.
Bosco's journey began in Fairbanks in 1983 and wandered south to Spenard in 1987. It began as a small section in the back of a shoe store but quickly outgrew that space and opened up a 1,000 square foot store next door the following year. The business continued to expand and moved around different buildings in Spenard until it found its final location in 2014. They opened a second location at the Dimond mall in 1988 and bought Basement Baseball Cards in 1991, opening it up as a larger store in Eagle River. That store moved again in 1999 before closing down in Eagle River in 2004. "We had a good run," the Boscos history page explains.
The page goes on to explain, "On Valentines Day 2015, the Spenard BOSCO'S moved to a new location just up the street a bit. A derelict old carwash was expanded and revived to a larger store with a tremendous Events Room for our growing schedule of events. The new store allowed us to vastly expand our board game selection. The Card Shop at BOSCO'S got its own room that is bigger than most freestanding sports card shops. Collectible card games, roleplaying games, and strategic miniatures games got their own room. We were busier than ever at this shop and look forward to our 40th Anniversary in May 2024!" They have done that and more. A huge part of what has made them successful is an obsession with serving the community and their customers.
The employees of Bosco's work hard to offer what the community wants. This is demonstrated in the large gathering space at the back of the current Spenard location. This used to be a car wash that was later abandoned. If you look at the side doors, you'll see large roll-up garage style doors from its days sheparding cars through. Now, community members flock to this room for Magic: The Gathering meet-ups, card swapping, trade events, book signings, and more.
Bosco's owner has also made growing and taking care of employees a focus. ADN reported: "Many of the Bosco’s employees have been with the store for decades, developing connections and institutional knowledge. Helmick started working at the store in 1992 when he was still in college and Mykham has been there since before Bosco’s moved into its current location in 2015."
Weddleton credits his staff for much of the evolution of the store done over the years.
“We reinvent ourselves constantly,” Weddleton said. “If they have an idea to do something my answer is, ‘Let me know how it goes. Let me know what you need from me.’ They’re smart. If you don’t try things, then you don’t innovate. You get stale.”
Part of that innovation an expanded events room that allows the store to host swap meets and game competitions.
“It’s fun for us to host events,” Weddleton said. “Our staff and I are gamers and collectors and so these are our people. And for a lot of our customers it’s a big part of their life to come here, meet with their friends and play this game. To offer that to people is really amazing. It’s so cool.”