ot - card store

[abothebear]

There are three stores near me. One is a small dump of a place with stacks of cards everywhere, nothing pre-1950, and bad prices. The owner isn't very warm, but he isn't a total jerk either. Every time I go in there and ask if he has anything old he shows me a stack of early 60s exhibits in average condition and tries to sell them to me for Beckett's high value.

Another shares space with a gift shop. He is a decent fellow and he has some nice older cards, but nothing very old, and his prices are high.

But the one I go to fairly regularly is well organized and has tons of modern stuff for good prices. He doesn't have anything pre-war either, but he hosts a bid board so sometimes you can find some older stuff there. The owner isn't socially gifted, but he is a nice guy and he runs a good clean store. One thing I like about him is that he is often working on a non-sport set. Something that usually doesn't have a lot of value.

[polakoff]

So let me ask you all a question - what WOULD you like to see in a local card shop that would make you a regular customer?

I've seen dozens of local card shops close over the years, especially recently, and yet, a friend and I are confident we can make it work and plan to open one soon. One that's along the lines of what glchen mentioned. I've always hated the snarky card shop owners and the jacked up prices and the stores that sell nothing but ultra high end modern cards.

[vthobby]

I'd like to see a barber shop area and maybe even a game room area. Seriously! Never seen it and it would be expensive to set up but would consistently draw all ages and keep folks around a bit. peace, mike

[Econteachert205]

Growing up in northern Rhode Island there were 4 shops I frequented as a kid 6-15 all of which are no longer there. Two were in Pascoag, one run by a nice guy named Dan who used to have me make grab bags in the back room and who wasn't the most business savvy guy. I ended up buying out his entire 80s commons inventory for 100 dollars when I was 9 or so and he went out of business. Lots of 84 donruss that helped me turn a small profit at the time. The next shop that replaced his sold video games and non sport, was not a trustworthy place but friendly enough and had mostly new stuff. The two in Woonsocket were much better. One was run by a guy named Don who had a great business sense and was very friendly. He retired off cards and moved to Florida I think, very successful. The other was Joe 's moldy oldies , a record store mostly with cards. It was run by a great old time dj who was very fair with prices. The formula for success in the bigger shop in Woonsocket was a pleasant knowledgable owner with solid inventory and competitive though not low prices in a fairly busy location.

[bravesfan22]

Baseball card exchange in Indianapolis is a great card shop. Mostly modern but has some vintage as well. The owner is very nice guy and is ways helpful.
As far as making the card shop work they do case and box breaks every week, most his customers are into modern cards. He sends out emails about the breaks and card shows and any other info that may be important to his customers. Overall he runs it very well. From the stories on here and what I've seen, if the owner/workers are nice, helpful and genuinely interested in the hobby it's got a chance to survive. You got to go with the times though ie: box/case breaks, magic cards etc. I live about an hour from indy and if that shop was within a half hour Id probably go once a week or so.

I've always wanted to open up a store but the general overhead and start up costs have scared me away. Sure we all can talk on here about cards and buy cards off ebay and through auction houses but sometimes it's nice to sit down with people in person and talk about your cards or current things going on on the hobby. To me that's the best part about cards shops.

[paulcarek]

There are a couple of card shops near where I live (Marin County, California) that sell vintage, but they don't seem to get much new material. I like to stop in once in a while to chat with the owners and pick up supplies.

Near where I work, though (Silicon Valley), is one of the best vintage shops I've ever seen -- Stevens Creek Sports Cards. They're a big eBay seller, too. They're constantly adding inventory, and I stop in every couple of weeks.

Beverly Hills Sports Cards is also great. Whenever I'm in LA for work, I try to make time for a visit.

[EvilKing00]

Never walking into one yet, but if i did id like to see old cards, old advertising sports related, tobacco cards and advertising, old tobacco boxes and stuff. Also old collectables, like tvs, radios from the 30s to 50s, old typewriters, gum or nut machines, maybe an old gas pump, coke signs etc, etc. i can add more but too much to list

[callou2131]

I think one thing killing shops is wax. Look at 2014 Topps chrome football. It was selling pre order for $800 retail. It is now about $520 retail in just one week. That is less than wholesale. If you are a small shop, you cant take too many hits like that. The price of a lot of wax falls days after its release. People realize how massively overproduced things are compared to their numbers. Topps chrome production went up a ton this year. Only do preorder cases prepaid. You can lose your butt quickly otherwise.

[slipk1068]

V&M Sports Cards
5419 Merrick Road
Massapequa, NY 11758

Stopped in yesterday. Two guys running it. Mike was there when I visited. He is more knowledgeable about modern. His partner is more the vintage guy. They had some vintage which is always cool. Not a lot of material, but it looks like they are just getting set up and the other owner usually takes the higher priced stuff home with him when he leaves. Prices seemed high but as Mike explained, they are negotiable. I looked through maybe 15-20 T206 commons and almost bought a mid/low grade T202 because the price was fair. Saw some Bowmans including a mid grade 52 Mantle, Topps from the 50-70's, Gerald Ford and some other autos. We talked cards for an hour or so and I picked up fourteen 1959 commons for my set.

Again, they are just getting set up, so hard to gauge what type of material they will have, but it is what I expect in a card shop. Vintage, a place to stop by a couple times a month, maybe pick up a few things, and talk cards with friendly people. I will definitely check it out again in a few weeks after they are all set up.

I told Mike about net54, so maybe he will sign up and can contribute more information about his shop.

[vintagesportscollector]

Originally Posted by polakoff

So let me ask you all a question - what WOULD you like to see in a local card shop that would make you a regular customer?

I've seen dozens of local card shops close over the years, especially recently, and yet, a friend and I are confident we can make it work and plan to open one soon. One that's along the lines of what glchen mentioned. I've always hated the snarky card shop owners and the jacked up prices and the stores that sell nothing but ultra high end modern cards.

A place to hang out and talk cards would be cool, but unless prices are in line with what can be found on ebay or even N54 B/S/T, I am not spending money there. I am willing to pay a little bit more for instant gratification and the chance to knock off a lot of a want list in one stop - but only a little bit more.

[mattsey9]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

A place to hang out and talk cards would be cool, but unless prices are in line with what can be found on ebay or even N54 B/S/T, I am not spending money there. I am willing to pay a little bit more for instant gratification and the chance to knock off a lot of a want list in one stop - but only a little bit more.

Pretty much this in a nutshell. I recently went to a LCS in the Gulfport/Biloxi area and the prices were through the roof. I went in ready to spend money, and walked out in five minutes empty handed. Like many of us, I remember fondly the days when seemingly every town had a store or three that had a stranglehold on the business but ebay and the internet have changed that paradigm forever.

[vintagesportscollector]

Coincidentally I was just in the only surving shop near me on Friday. Was driving near by and had time to kill. I hadn't been there in 10 months, so I wasn't sure it was even still there. When I waked in the owner immediately recognized me because I think I am the only guy to come in there in years asking for vintage. I only started building vintage a few years ago, and this shop owner actually helped me build solid parts of a 51B and 53T sets.

Shop owner is a very nice guy, but I am not sure how he survives. Stacks and stacks of boxes and terribly unorganized. Mostly modern, but he has an aged inventory of vintage that he is sitting on. I am not even sure he knows what he has. I used to call ahead and give him a few days to dig through his floor to ceiling stacks of boxes to pull out stuff for me to look at. He is not acquiring any more vintage stuff, and probably hasn't for years, so when het gets rid of what little he has left, that's it. I don't think he even knows what he had into most of it, so is willing to give very reasonable prices - but he does know the value of what he has.

On Friday he said I should have called ahead because he couldn't get to anything that would interest me at that moment, but he did have a stack of 41PB and a few 33/34G and a couple T201s that were beat and split in half. Nothing that was priced very well so I just got a nice fix of browsing, some good talk, picked up a few 5x7 top loaders I needed and enjoyed killing about 45 mins.

[abothebear]

The shop that is successful where I live has several things going for it:

- It is in a good location, but the rent probably isn't too bad.
- the shop owner has two guys working for him, one is full time and the other is a retired postman who probably works for minimum wage.
- The shop is well organized and well lit.
- he has a TV in there running sports all day.
- He has tons of cards in penny sleeves sorted by teams and sells them for something like 50 cents a piece. And he has bad weather half-off deals.
- Same as above but for rookie cards that haven't "hit" yet.
- the shop knows his customers and stocks and sells modern according to his customers tastes (The modern pack sales is where I think he gets most of his profit). Football seems to be a big deal.
- he knows what sells well on ebay and has an ebay store.
- he has a good eye for grading and sends some stuff to beckett for grading so he can then sell it on ebay.
- he has his vintage cards in the case at the front of the store. I don't think he sells much, but I think it plays to the nostalgia of the customers pretty well.
- *the bid board is the key* he has space and a system whereby folks bring in their stuff to auction by Thursday, he has it on the board on Sunday, people bid all week until Saturday, and then the auctions close and he deals out the wins afterwards (through the following week). Customers come in each week to see what is up for auction, sometimes twice a week (to see what went unclaimed by the following Friday). And people can sell their stuff through the auction. The shop gets a dollar per sold item (unless it sells for over $10) so the income isn't great, but it doesn't cost him anything, and it creates regular customers, regular visits, and an event to center his store around.

[bn2cardz]

I stopped in a local shop a couple of month's ago as it is next door to a florist I get flowers from for my wife.

When I went in it looked like my bedroom when I was a young kid with baseball cards in non protected stacks and sprawled out everywhere. The cases were sparse of anything actually in them. Everything was on top and not laid out to be shopped through but litteraly just like stacks of cards had fallen over and never picked up. I saw a case had a dozen cards in it (this is one of those large display glass front cases) the cards were from the 60's. He asked if I collected or was just looking. I told him I did collect but I mainly enjoyed the vintage stuff and added "but I guess you don't have anything older than those cards (indicating the case with a dozen in there) or anything from the 50's or prior?" He said "yeah I have some from the 50's in there." After he looked for a minute at the cards and I pointed out that they were from the 60's he replied with "Then I guess not"

I wasn't rude, but it was obvious he doesn't use the store to sell cards. I told my wife that I felt like the store was front for something else because there was nothing of value in there. The only thing I may buy was supplies, but even those were covered with a thick dust layer.

I asked him if he did shows, he said he didn't because he has the store so he doesn't need to do shows. So, again, I have no idea how this guy is making any money staying open. I know he does IT for the other stores in the strip mall so maybe that is how he makes money and uses the store front to buy collections.

The store has been there since I was a kid (I am now 33) and I only recall being in there once or twice as it wasn't convenient for my parents (there were more choices back then) but I know at that time there were several boxes to look through.

There is one other store I know of that I liked, but it just isn't convenient for me and last time I was there aprox 10 years ago, they stayed open by appeasing the gaming community.

[Jayworld]

We are blessed to have two really fine Sport Card Shops here in the Dallas area; Nick's Sports Cards in Richardson and Triple Cards and Collectibles in Plano. I usually go to the Plano shop due to location, but both are well maintained, well-stocked, and family run. While both cater mostly to the "new card" crowd with box breaks, pulls, etc., they also carry vintage, mostly from the 1950s-1980s. Both also carry a smattering of signed memorabilia, football mini helmets, pennants, posters, and non-sports.

Triple Cards within the past month put out a new table featuring 1950 Bowmans singles and mid-to-late 1950s Topps singles. He has started to buy collections and now sell them in the store. He also carries vintage and new "Pokemon" singles, which appeal to my sons. My youngest looks forward to getting a new pack of Star Wars cards whenever we go, so there is a non-sports market for the younger for sure. It is nice for me to pick up the supplies I need at reasonable prices and add a few 1951, 1952 Bowmans to the collection.