Brenda and I returned earlier today from an overnight stay in A.C. and we stopped in Jim Episale's store in Barnegat, NJ on the way back home to Brick.

If you have not visited Jim's expanded store in the past couple of years ... you are missing a treat. I can say without exaggeration that this has to be the best kept secret regarding the largest casino collectbles store in the tri-state area since Bob Mera's store on the Boardwalk closed.

Jim has chips, cards, posters, dice, pinback buttons, cups, plates, swizzle sticks, matchbooks, photos, slot glass and all kinds of casino memorabilia in what is primarily a very large antiques store.

Tavelling Southbound on the Garden State Parkway, get off at the Barnegat exit and take a right at State Highway 9 and you're there. Coming north on the GSP, get off the Waretown Exit. Go to Highway 9 and make a left to "Unshredded Nostalgia" at 323 South Main St. (Route 9) in Barnegat. It's a nice side trip that I'm sure you won't forget or regret.