Topps Test Stores?
 

In searching for a non-sports Topps test card from the ‘70s, I was told the cards were sold at “Topps test stores,” as in plural.

Does anyone know if these were a thing, where were they located, and how long they operated?

I believe that they meant the mom-and-pop convenience stores in which Topps commonly placed test issues.

:)

I think the 68 3d test issue was released mainly in NYC candy shops near topps HQ (Brooklyn Mainly I think it was?)

So maybe the same, just a random idea.

That certainly would make more sense — thank you. Does any evidence exist of how these were chosen?

I was told the 71 Topps Greatest Moments cards were sold only in the New York area. But lately there are those who state Chicagoland also.

What about the dice game cards, of which I have only even seen a few. The year was 1961? Is that right? Were they limited to any certain area? Did they really even make it into packs, or did they leak out of Topps?

Supposedly the 74 deckles were in white hen pantry stores at least in Arlington Mass which was just across a rail line from their headquarters.

That was 3 years before I moved there and was told o me by the local shop.

Supposedly it was part of Topps slowing testing, since whatever was there got bought the day it was released, making the test sort of useless.

The 61 Dice were not released, and were more likely from 63 as per Dave Hornish's great Topps Blog. I only have one. Other unissued Topps test items include 55 Stamps, 66 Punch Outs and 70 Rookie Artists Proofs. I do not think the 71 Greatest Moments were released in packs but I do have a wrapper



https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/sea...%20Dice%20Game

From Dave's Blog on 71 GMs and 68 3Ds

https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/sea...test%20Moments


https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/sea...8%20Topps%203D

I have a set of the 68 3Ds, a wrapper and easel, but only one of the 3 proof cards and no B Robinson Prototype. Note there are two true front variations to the Maloney and Fairly cards. Also interesting that despite the apparent test isuance of the 3Ds some of the subjcts seem scarcer than others.

Only have one example of the 55 Stamps and 66 Puch Outs. Have 2 of the 70 Cloth, another unissued product. Do have a set of the 80 Topps Coins, also unissued

The 74 Deckles were defintely sold in packs in two different wrappers

Topps Test Issues
 

Just to confirm above, there were no stores called "Topps Test Stores.” They test marketed in the retail chains or mom/pop shops who would usually sell their cards.

Their testing was not consistent. I have been told some sets were limited to some places in and around New York City (makes sense since Topps was in Brooklyn) while others saw testing in other areas. I would imagine they picked areas where their cards sold best.

I have never seen or even heard of of any official info come out of Topps regarding their market testing.

I thought in the 60s Topps was outside Philly in PA.



QUOTE=petecld;2476482]Just to confirm above, there were no stores called "Topps Test Stores.” They test marketed in the retail chains or mom/pop shops who would usually sell their cards.

Their testing was not consistent. I have been told some sets were limited to some places in and around New York City (makes sense since Topps was in Brooklyn) while others saw testing in other areas. I would imagine they picked areas where their cards sold best.

I have never seen or even heard of of any official info come out of Topps regarding their market testing.[/QUOTE]

I really wish this set had made it beyond the test stage!

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...ce/Jeannie.jpg

;)

No, Topps was not. Bowman though was in Philadelphia and Topps continued to utilize Bowman's Philadelphia manufacturing facilities for a number of years after purchasing Bowman in early 1956. Topps didn't completely discontinue Bowman's Blony Bubble Gum brand until the 1970's.

Fleer was also in Philadelphia. And the Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation (Swell) was located in Havertown, a western suburb of Philadelphia.

:)

I grew up in Arlington Mass and was 12 in 1974. Had a lot of friends who collected. Never saw a 74 Deckle. There was a White Hen on Summer St by the rail road tracks, but I don't think White Hens headquarters was anywhere near there

Anyone know where 1975 minis were sold?

I seem to recall they were issued in more than one region. Was one of them the Detroit area, or am I just confusing this because Frank Nagy ended up with so many of them?

Of course I did not know this at the time, but down the street from my house in Saddle Brook was a "stationery" store named Hobans and I know I bought 68 Plaques and a 69 Topps Team Poster there.

I could not find any photos but

On Saddle River Road, there were Mund’s at 269; and Hoban’s, now Riccardo’s Pizzeria.

I can tell you that the Quik Stop on Route 62 (Navarre Road), across the street from Richville Elementary School in northeast Ohio, sold 1975 minis. I bought a lot of packs there as a 12 year old.

That would make sense if what I said about Michigan proves correct.

My next door neighbor spent the summer of 1975 in San Jose, California, and he brought back a bunch of 75 Topps Minis with him. I still have many of them in my collection.

A friend of mine spent a bit of time in Sacramento in the summer of 1975 and brought back a lot of minis when he came home.

What was Topps looking for or testing with the 75 minis? Could a full set be put together?

You can do a complete set of tne 75 Minis and there is a long dedicated thread on them on the CU Registry Board. You cannot however build a complete set of the Topps 85 Minis

I don't remember the name of the store but I know I picked up the 1969 Topps Stamps in a store in Ft Lee NJ where my aunt and uncle were living at the time.

So who knew how many other stores in North jersey were test stores.

Rich

store
 

and 100%..1975 T mini's were in NJ area in 75

Topps Punch-Outs were sold in/around Baltimore.

Whoa … I didn’t even know there was an ‘85 mini … I’ve never seen one.

I had a friend in the Los Angeles area who bought 1975 Topps Minis there. He gave me some duplicates, which I still have.

Brian

The latest edition of Beckett's Vintage Collector Magazine (Pete Rose cover) has a nice article about this set

The '85 mini's came from sheets salvaged from a dumpster and did not contain an entire set.

I believe this is correct. I discussed this issue with Len Brown one of the early Topps employees (post 1959 era) and he said they had select stores not owned by Topps where they distributed test product to see how well they sold

An example of a Topps 85 mini and it's corresponding base set card

Not sure if above numbers on sheets is a accurate or not. I have completed the set in regular backs ( green and red ) and in blank back ( blank backs can be brown or white, brown being much scarcer). I have 51 cards in red back only. Best guess is only one or two sheets of them survived

The Ryan and Schmidt are ussually the priciest of them, but some are very condition sensitive

Fascinating stuff. Interesting that they made them barely smaller than the regular issue, unlike '75.

When I moved in in late 77 White Hen had corporate offices just across the tracks in the little office building behind the store. Same parking lot as where Shattucks hardware is now.

They were pretty much my local convenience store as the really close one had grumpy owners.
Halls were the ones who said there had been 74 deckles there. Of course it's possible they were "inaccurate" or had been the ones that bought them all.

I met a candy salesman around 1981 who claimed to have boxes of test cards at home including greatest moments. Gave him my number, but never heard so I can't say if he was full of it or not.

My one pack of 75 minis as a kid came from my local store in Dalton Ma. The owner had NY "connections" * so they probably originated there.

* in every sense of the word. I missed that day but the FBI busted him for football cards. Something that concerned and confused me for a few years.

Yes, I remember that store. Didn't know about the corporate offices, but there were offices there. Halls should know. It would kill be that there were Deckles a mile from where I lived. I usually got my cards at Balich 5&10

I suspect we ran into each other at some point.
Paul Balich was one of my High School friends.

I was there from late 77 until I think 83

I bought an unopened box of 1975 Minis when it came out at a 7-11 store here in N California. I thought Topps reduced the sizes of the cards. I later bought regular 75 packs at the same place and I was a totally confused kid..lol.

Ricky Y

I know that the 1967 Pirates stickers and the 1969 Team posters were sold at the little mom & pop store in the central PA town I grew up in.

One test store at least has been confirmed by Mark Newgarden at 231 Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. I posted about some test areas awhile back:

https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/202...me-dealer.html

and find Rich Klein's Fort Lee, NJ comment very interesting as that town is literally at the other end of the George Washington Bridge from New York, I'm sure many of you have, like me, been stuck in traffic there over the years!

Dave:

I also mentioned Hoban's on Saddle River Rd in Saddle Brook as a Topps Test Store. That one I remember the name of

I got 68 Plaques there and a 1968 Topps Tim McCarver Poster there.

Rich

Even more interesting. Len Brown, who was responsible for tracking test sales, moved to New Jersey around then. And there is some evidence that the test stores also sold the more obscure issues such as the posters. I wonder if there's a connection with Len?

Symmes Mini Mart on Summer Street in Arlington MA had the 67 Red Sox Stickers

I bought 77 Topps Cloth Cards in a small store in Maryland, near DC, when visiting my aunt

In Cloverdale, 82 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, Mr. Gambetta's sporting goods store only had the 1975 Mini cards.

I didn't realize that regular sized cards existed until years later when my travels started allowing me to hit card stores across the country, and I was looking for individual cards to finish my sets.

Michigan seemed to be the other place with minis.

Does anyone have knowledge of distribution for the 1966-67 Topps USA Test hockey set, "Printed in USA"?

Rumor always was a California release, the year prior to the six team expansion with two California teams.

I've never read anything definitive on where they were distributed. Back in the "olden" days, the word was there were less than 100 sets, but there is no way that is true.

I can't add much but there's some great info in this thread. Thanks for sharing, guys!
.

Dave,

I believe there is a connection. He told me that he used to regularly check test stores not only to see how the product was selling but to get their reaction when kids first saw a new product.

As much as I like them, cloth stickers seemed like a really strange idea.

Kind of amazed Topps didn't run with the 3D idea, though, considering the big success Kellogg's had with them. Out of curiosity, did Topps manufacture the Kellogg's cards, and if so, I wonder if they opted against doing so themselves as a result?

I remember I had read in SCD that the 1981 Topps Scratchoffs were being test marketed at some 7-11's. So when I found some I bought entire boxes. I was sure I was going to be rich. But those seemed to be everywhere and were never in demand. Does anyone know if these were actually only test marketed, or were they sold across the country? PSA's website doesn't say anything about them only being a test marketed issue.