OT: What happened to Smokey's?
 

if memory serves, the "main branch" of these franchised card and memorabilia shops was a sprawling owlet on the Las Vegas strip in the late 1980s. There were also Smokey's in LA, Seattle, Chicago and several other cities, and they used to run full-page ads in every issue of SCD. After a couple of years they all gone. What happened?

Bankrupt I believe. The big boom became a bust.

you are correct, however...
 

I fear the owlet never matured to become an owl...

If we are thinking of the same Smokey’s, they got busted for selling fake autographs in Operation Bullpen?

The book with the same name by Kevin Nelson covers it and is a highly entertaining read.


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I believe operation bullpen is what ended them, there is a really good book about it, and Smokey’s are mentioned.