The pain of looking for vintage while traveling

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Posted By: Ed McCollum

I don't go to the most exotic of places, or even the most populace. But almost everywhere I go, I try and call local card shops to see if they have any vintage. This past weekend just reminded me of how discouraging this is...

There were nine card shops listed in the yellow pages. All but three listed Beanies, Pokemon, etc., so I figured they would be out right off the bat. The first shop I called wasn't open on Saturdays or Sundays, the second shop had had the phone disconnected (the phone book in the hotel was only three months old) and the third shop answered.

"Do you have any vintage card in you store, such as tobacco cards?"

"What?"

"Vintage cards, such as tobacco cards?"

"No. Why would I have that? I've got new Topps."

Does anyone ever have any luck with just calling the places in the phone book, or has eBay taken all the vintage market and left the local stores with lots of shiny stuff?