STOCKTON — Josh Lawson is a Star Wars geek.
But that’s a good thing. He also enjoys the Battlestar Galactica television series and He-Man Masters of the Universe cartoon.
Josh Lawson, who, along with his teenage son Andrew Lawson, is an owner of JNA Collectibles at 821 W. Fremont St., Stockton.
They’ve been at the same location since May 2010.
“We used to be at Buckeye Appliance, where our display consisted of three cabinets,” said Andrew Lawson.
His grandfather, Tom Lawson, is the owner of the business featuring vintage stoves and antiques. The family used the space that now occupies JNA as storage for some 20 years.
“It took us a good month to turn it into our store,” said the younger Lawson.
His father started playing with Star Wars action figures at a young age. “Everything that I had back then was bought from my allowance,” Josh Lawson said on Thursday.
Over the years, he’s amassed so many action figures – try somewhere in the thousands – from the George Lucas movie trilogies that more than half of his business is Star Wars.
“Anything Star Wars always sells,” he said. “That should come as no surprise since there’s four generations of fans.
Lawson added: “What I’m doing is selling memories of our childhood.”
What character is among the best seller?
“For some reason, the bad guys such as Darth Vader and Darth Maul are always popular along with Clone Troopers and Storm Troopers,” Josh Lawson said.
He and Andrew and gearing up for Sunday’s Stockton-Con 2.0 at the Stockton Arena. This second-ever event hopes to once again raise awareness and funds – in conjunction with the United Way – for the St. Mary’s Dining Room.
They were caught by surprise at the strong turnout at last ye ar’s inaugural Stockton-Con held at the University of the Pacific Spanos Center.
“We were expecting 1,000 but instead got about 4,000 in attendance,” Andrew said. “The (Spanos Center) floor was too small and too crowded that we had trouble setting foot in our (vendor) booth.”
The surprising success of the first-ever Stockton-Con forced organizers to seek out a larger venue.
The Lawsons like the proximity of the Stockton Arena to their place of business. Both father and son are thrilled with the guest list. Included are an array of illustrators and animators coupled with actors such as Jon Provost (Timmy and Lassie), Kevin Dobson (Knots Landing, Kojak), Susan Olsen (Cindy from the Brady Bunch), Linda Blair (The Exorcist) and Richard Hatch (Streets of San Francisco, Battlestar Galactica).
As fans of Battlestar Galactica, Josh and Andrew Lawson are looking forward to meeting Hatch, who starred in both the original and remake of the sci-fi series.
Andrew, in fact, has been sporting his Battlestar Galactica T-shirt as the days near for the upcoming Stockton-Con.
JNA Collectibles will have three booths featuring action figures from Star Wars, Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man, Marvel/DC super heroes at Sunday event that’s scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is $10 with $4 off for those bringing gentle used clothes.
For more information on JNA Collectibles, call 209-547-0577 or click on to Facebook.
— VINCE REMBLAT
209 staff reporter
Star Wars collectibles: In a Stockton store, far, far away