How to run a good card shop
 

Good article by Rich Mueller.

I have a nice shop not far from me in NJ where the guy does all of this.

I particularly like the point about not complaining to every customer about how crappy things are. No one wants to feel like they are the last person left collecting cards.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...rts-card-shop/

Where is the NJ Shop?

Fair lawn, NJ. Only been there a couple of times but a cool place. America's Pastime.

I do wish there was a shop around me. I am getting sick of eBay! Anyone know of one near Fairfield, CT that sells more than just the shiny stuff?

Thanks
Mike

Does anyone have any suggestions in the DC/Northern Virginia area?

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Article
 

Good article. I'm sure there would be more shops around if they followed some of the quality business practices mentioned. We have a pretty good card shop in Jacksonville, FL. While I typically just go for supplies it's a pretty nice environment.

That's all good advice for most any business.

The only one I don't totally agree with is number 3. A lot of the places I used to really like to go were way on the other end of things, not always clean, and pretty disorganized. Clean is better for cards and stuff, but a lot of the other stuff I collect can get a bit grubby.
It's more the hunt for something "interesting" for me. If a place is too well organized and for non-paper stuff, too clean I know there's no bargains hiding there.

Steve B

A while back, I chatted with a guy who owned a card shop in Florida, after I purchased some cards from him. Basically, he went to a local card shop when he was a kid, and always said to himself that someday, he was going to buy that place. After he grew up and worked for a while, he did buy that card shop, and he's really enjoyed owning it. What he tries to do is to try to make his card shop a place to hang out, and not just to purchase cards and memorabilia. For example, he will do events such as fantasy football drafts where people can just talk about sports, and not feel pressured to buy things because they are in this store. He also tries to price his stock very fairly, even under market, where if the buyer decides to resell, they can even make a small profit on his stuff. That is, he doesn't try to wring every last cent out of his sales, so that his customers will feel that they have been treated very fairly and enjoy the shopping experience with his store.

I'm also in Fairfield, CT! I'm originally from Westchester NY which had a few but all are basically gone now. Not much in the way of card shops that I've seen in the area. Only one I've heard is good is JB Sports Cards in Orange, CT (15 mins from Fairfield). I usually try to just wait until the White Plains show comes up at the Westchester County center and go to that, always know there will be tons of dealers and can usually find what I want. Hope that helps

Berlin CT, Ken's Cards and Collectibles. Mill St.

Anyone ever in the area, check it out. GREAT clean store, w new, old, and e'thing in between and for Pro
Wrestling fans, a Great Wrestling room too.

There is one card store near me in NJ, which I think is still open. When I got back into the hobby a few years ago I was excited to find out there was an active card store. When I went there it was empty, save for the owner. He sat there the entire time I was in his shop, just staring out the window. I tried to talk cards and about the hobby with him a few times in the 15 min I was there, but he was pretty terse. It was a disappointing contrast to what I had been used to in card shops back in the day. Different time I guess, and to each their own, but I never went back to this guy's place, despite it only being 15 min from my house. Made me realize how much the camaraderie makes this hobby so enjoyable for me and it was not to be found at that shop.

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I stop by Ideal Cards in Cincinnati whenever I want a random vintage card or supplies. It's an old, cluttered shop, but the people who run it are friendly and there's always a mix of people in there. They even have a big table in the back, where every time I've been in there, there's a bunch of guys sitting around talking cards. If I was more outgoing, I'm sure it would be an even better place for me than it is now.

Augie & Bill & The Hawkes Nest
 

I am compelled to comment on 3 "Brick & Morter" stores that have survived and hold to very high standards of honesty and exceptional customer service ethic , In Tomahawk Wisconsin Augie's Collectables have survived three decades by selling the new shiny stuff, buying and selling the occasional vintage card and memorabilia that he buys ( I got a few T206 Tolstoi backs a few years ago) He also buys and sells coins, silver/gold for scrap or other value. Modern jerseys, hats etc. are also offered. Mike at the Hawkes Nest in Woodruff Wi. has a store that if 3 customers are in attendance ....elbows rub. New shiny and the occasional vintage with supplies and lots of tobacco top loads for sale!! Just ask our esteemed board member Frank "Whats Your Monster Number?" Burkett. Hawkes Nest also promotes local shows ( Denny Mclain last year) with autograph guests and used to hold a very cool monthly show at the Woodruff Senior Center until it burned down. He also has stated that he is an "Avid USFL football collector"...so let him know if your selling. Lastly ......Bill Diebold of "Everything Baseball" had (or still does) the coolest clapboard sided, old neighborhood grocery store styled bldg. and offered great vintage. I have no financial interest in any of these business's but just appreciate the selling format and the ability to lean on a counter and pontificate on the way it used to be ( and still should be!)

All good ideas for any business in my opinion.

American Legends on Central Avenue in Scarsdale, in Westchester County is great. Shiny Stuff, Vintage, and Pre-War coupled with cool people. If you ever go to the shows at County Center in White Plains; it's a 10 minute ride down the block.

He is still open? Good to know

Business model
 

I always felt like I was bothering the guy in my local shop, especially if I asked to see something that required him to get up. I brought my young son, and the owner would blare R rated movies, sitting watching TV. He couldn't wait for me to leave. All the cards in cases were sun bleached. I doubted he would sell more than $200 of vintage a week. I couldn't understand his business model. Then, I noticed two things. First, 3+ people an hour buying packs of magic cards (I thinks that what they were). Second, 2 people an hour walking in with boxes of cards to sell. He doesn't seem to buy anything after 1980, but it helped me realized that the card shop may not be there to sell at all. It is a focal point for low information or desperate sellers to come to and him to buy and flip on eBay or at local shows.

House of Cards in Silver Spring MD...... where I bought (in a different location then) a lot of stuff when I first got back into the hobby in the late 1970s and its still around!!!

My pet peeve is #5, price everything. It hold true for antique malls and flea markets:mad:

I second this. Have been there many times.

Huggins and Scott Auctions is affiliated with them as well.

jeff

True for BST here. Hate when people say stuff like "Make me a fair offer". Will not work out.

I buy stuff from him on occasion on eBay (Amerlegends) and have always had the intention on stopping in to his shop at some point. I know he has been easy to deal with on eBay and accommodating on price on a few things.

Mike

Great article and topic. In my experience, few card shops have anything out worth buying and most vintage stuff is ungraded; they may have stuff "in the back" that they have on their ebay store and would show you (once you prove you are not an idiot). Let me qualify -- I collect high-end/rarer cards, so maybe I am a bit biased, but it seems to me that the advent of grading and ebay have really hurt the sticks-and-bribks shop.

As far as DC/MD/NVA -- House of Cards is great. They have been there since at least I was 10 (and I am 42); although moved locations. They are old school and very friendly. My kids love the place. And Huggins/Scott is there so you can generally see stuff in their auctions (some of the good stiff). Sports Card Heroes in Laural is decent and there is a shop in Westminster (owner John, who is a great guy), which my bro-in-law loves. DC has nothing and NOVA has a few random places, but nothing special.

I have been to the ship in Westchester County (I think its in Scarsdale). Great people but nothing of particular worth. When I was there, the people working the shop were all women and they knew their stuff -- nothing coller than a woman who can talk cards!

All basic, common sense stuff in that article. Unfortunately, the businesses that should be reading things like that, simply don't.

If you really want to run a good card shop you have to do it the Japanese way. One shop here (Mint, in Shibuya Tokyo) has an actual bar in the store, so you can have a beer at the counter while flipping through cards. I haven't been to it yet, but THAT is a killer idea.

This is their website (its in Japanese but you can see some pictures of the shop and its bar)

http://mint-web.jp/?pid=39086084

Wow! But I'd expect no less from the nation that sits beneath Mount Fujiyama. (I was pretty thick with the Japanese in Hawaii for twenty years; excellence is a foremost virtue for them). Back in North America most card shops I have been in are dumps, and the nice ones are still pretty shabby compared to this Tokyo establishment. If I ever make it to Japan I will definitely check out the joint. And I'm a teetotaler so I'll keep my fingers crossed that they stock Dr Pepper.

LOL, yeah its actually a "cafe and bar" so definitely geared towards non-drinkers too (soft drinks seem to be the main thing, though they do serve beer too). They have drink and time limits too so its definitely not a place you would have to worry about other customers getting drunk at.

I have been to a few other shops here in Japan and they generally meet all the standards in the article in the original post. The only critiques I have had is that prices tend to be high and some of them (not the one with the bar) are quite cramped (as everything in Japan is!)

Mark, Donna and their staff are good people. I miss them :)