Where Alex McCord's Kids Play Board Games in Carroll Gardens

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New York City has more stores than anyone could physically tackle, but somehow we always keep returning to the usual suspects. To break out of the rut, we've asked some local shopping and fashion gurus to provide their hidden retail gems—those unique stores around our fantastic city that we might not all know about. Cue the Beatles: We're about to get a little help from our friends.

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"I've always had opinions, but now people know it," Alex McCord announced over the opening credits to The Real Housewives of New York City, season four. McCord was one of the cast members for four consecutive seasons, but now this designer, writer, and mom of two stars with husband Simon van Kempen in Couples Therapy on VH1. When she requires some alone time, she sends her kids to this Carroll Gardens spot, where board games and lemonade go hand in hand.

My husband and I are constantly thinking up ways to get our two boys off electronic devices, and one place in our neighborhood has been a big help since school started. The Brooklyn Strategist is a place to buy new, vintage and obscure board games (I mean, have you ever heard of The Royal Game of Ur? Yeah, me neither).

In addition to the retail end of it, there's a room where you can sit and play games. All day long. On a Saturday, or a school holiday, you can send the kids over to play Risk and Battleship for hours, and they can run a tab of lemonade and cookies at the cafe. When you pick them up and see how many Mah Jongg and Mancala sets they want to buy, you can have an espresso (using beans from D'Amico's Coffee) to kill the pain.

· The Brooklyn Strategist [Official Site]
· VH1 Couples Therapy [Official Site]
· All Shopping Confidential Posts [Racked NY]

The Brooklyn Strategist

333 Court Street New York, NY 11231