[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.