How hard was it to find new Topps series in 1950s, '60s and early '70s?

[Brianruns10]

My Dad and I know a fellow who collected Topps and Bowmans from 51 for the next two decades, including assembling a complete '52 Topps on its original release. And he lived in the suburbs of Kansas City, on the Kansas side. this would seem to confirm that the high series made it west of the Mississippi. He did note that he had EXCEPTIONAL trouble finding the high series 52s, before finally locating a lone drug store in the KC area that stocked the new series. It seems that either penultimate series did not sell so well that most did not restock when the sixth and final series came out, or they mostly all concluded that the high series would sell poorly because the season was winding down.

My Dad came into collecting a little later, starting with Bowman 55s which were lost along the way, then starting in earnest with Topps 57-63 (which he still has). He described getting cards as something of a scavenger hunt, with all the neighborhood kids trading info on which stores had the new series in stock. The information was evidently pretty good, because he managed to assemble on their original release a complete run of sets 57-63, and all but ten cards from a second 57.

[bradmar48]

Growing up in a small East Texas town there was only one store Perry Brothers
5 and 10 that ever had baseball cards. I purchased packs there from 1956 through 1962 but looking back I see they only sold the 1st three series each year except for 1959 and 1960 when it was only the 1st two series. Since I only had checklists for the series they sold I really never knew that there were more cards in the sets until I begin collecting again in the mid 70's.

[Tomman1961]

I too, filled in a lot of holes through Card Collectors Company back in 1973. If they sold commons at 5 cents, cards that ended in a "5" or a "0" were 10 cents. So regardless of player, you had to shell out 10 cents each for a 1970 Seaver, Mays, Aaron, or Clemente.
In 1973 I bought only cello. Not sure if my local candy store(Bloomingdale, NJ) sold both wax and cello, but I bet I went after the cello based on the players showing.Opening day 1973 I bought about 8 cellos. As the season went on, I bet I only bought cello with players showing I did not have.
The last series for me was impossible. I had a cousin about 15 miles away who was buying wax with high numbers.I talked my parents into giving me $ to go to the store in Elmwood Park,NJ. I bought as many wax as I could and opened them up to find some 5th and some 6th series.
Back at home, my candy shop no longer had BB. There was a town over (Pompton Lakes) that had a Kressgee's that had a bin of cello. They must have been store returns, that were repackaged, or some Topps rejects. 10 cello packs got me 40 Fred Kendalls.
So for me, high numbers in 1973 did not exist in my local store, but were 15 miles away.

[Tomman1961]

BTW-talking about 1973 cello. I never forget when my Dad told me to buy 4 cellos at 25 cents each and never open them. What are their value now? Always listen to your parents.