What are your favorite card/hobby stores from your youth?

[Seven]

We all started collecting when we were young, I feel that's more or less a given when it comes to our hobby. I think all of us also had a place where we bought our packs of cards, no matter where we grew up.

Whether it be a pharmacy, a hobby store, a grocery we all had certain spots to go to. I grew up when Hobby stores, or card stores were a little more prominent. There used to be many in my area of New York, there still are to a certain extent, but not like it used to be. My personal favorite was one about two miles from where I lived, called Alex's. It was close to my Aunt's and Uncles house as well, so I was always able to stop by and buy a couple of packs or purchase a vintage card after a bit of saving. If I had to pick a store that started me on the collecting journey, it was probably that one.

As a side note, another favorite of mine, but also one I wasn't able to frequent nearly as much, was Baseball Nostalgia, up in Cooperstown. I really felt that every time you walked into the store, you were transported back in time. The handful of times I have been to Cooperstown, I would always make stopping there, one of my priorities both as a child and as an adult. I purchased one of my favorite, non Mantle, cards, in my collection there, which is a 1953 Topps Willie Mays that I still own to this very day, along with numerous other things, throughout the years. I was saddened to hear the physical store was closing at the end of 2021, but will definitely cherish the memories of going into the store and talking about the hobby.

What was your spot growing up? What is your spot now, if you have one? I'd love to hear about it. The more stories, the better.

[Exhibitman]

I didn't bother with card stores much. In the late 1970s, the real action was beating the bushes at antique stores, secondhand stores, garage sales, etc., for cards. Stores were at best a place to get some current cards and learn about where the shows were (before SCD and Beckett had them listed). I got most of my new cards at local convenience stores and gas stations. In NYC, I used to go to a mom-and-pop corner store at 84th and Lexington, and there was also a drug store on 2nd avenue in between 74th and 75th that had current cards and a barrel of older packs that was fun to dig in. During the summer, I was in Mahopac, a town about an hour outside NYC and I used to get cards at the ice cream store in the Baldwin Place Mall and also at a market near our house. There was also an antique store that had a giant box of older cards that the owner would let me buy at 12 for a buck. I spent hours there digging through that box. The one I recall the most in LA was West Coast Cards. Nice owners who also ran the West Coast Card Club; I used to set up at their monthly meetings. Might make as much as $75, which was righteous bucks to a 13-year-old in 1978: I bought a 1952 Bowman Mantle at one of those shows for $3.25 and bought my first Aaron RC for $20, which puts it into perspective.

[jingram058]

Vendor's Mall in Chareston, SC became my most memorable go-to. This was a former grocery store, I believe, that turned into an antique mall where sellers rented or leased space. Some were quite elaborate, like separate stores unto themselves. There was one fellow, a retired Navy Chief, who sold baseball cards and memorabilia. His cards were very inexpensive, and I bought quite a few. But more memorable to me was that this fellow was very knowledgeable about baseball as well as cards. Well, as time went by, he decided to retire for good. He was going to sell his entire inventory to Rammouillat Auctions, a thriving Charleston based auction in those days just prior to the internet. I left on a mobile training team cruise on board one of the Charleston ships, doing workups in the VACAPES Oparea. When we got back into port, his space in the mall was empty. The fellow in the soace directly across recognized me from my numerous prior visits, and asked me if I was James, and I said I was. He said hold on, I've got something here for you. He came back with a paper grocery sack full of cards for me! All old cards, many of which I have posted images of on this forum. How can you ever even attempt to repay an act of kindness like that?

[ALBB]

Used to go to one outside of Philly ( NJ side) one of those totally unorganized / boxes everywhere places, back room always smelled like weed, front of store smelled liked cigarettes and cologne !!
He wasnt fooling anybody ! LOL

[andyr31]

I make it to Cooperstown a handful times a year being that it makes for a nice day trip. I was really disappointed when I went last weekend and baseball nostalgia was closed. I really enjoy Yaz’s in Cooperstown as well.

[Louisville_Hugger]

I grew up in Milwaukee and I remember my mom and dad would always take me to a little card shop called Ball Four Cards over in West Allis. I would religiously spend my 5-10 bucks a week there every week. I have some really great memories of that place. When I got older we moved to Hartland and I found a little LCS in Oconomowoc called Brothers Archery. They had archery supplies/bows and whatnot but 90% of the store (which was actually their house) was sports cards. I wasted all my weekly earnings there, and I do mean wasted as this was early 90s junk wax.

[GrewUpWithJunkWax]

Our town of 10,000 had 3 card "stores" all on the square. One was an antiques store that was located in a basement shop. There was a furniture store where the owner's son set up display cases at the back of the store. The other was a trophy shop that converted a room to display cases.

Good summer memories when us kids could ride our bikes around town and go buy packs and maybe an individual card with what little money we had saved.

[toppcat]

Bob Sevchuk's Baseball Card & Collectors Exchange in my hometown of Hicksville, Long Island. A great store and where the infamous PSA 8 Wagner was dealt a long time ago. I started going there in January 1981 and only stopped when he sold all his inventory and moved to Arizona, probably 11-12 years later. Bought my 53 uncut strip there from the infamous garbage hauler's find.

[gabrinus]

Lucky enough to grow up in Fort Smith, AR area with two great card shops run by John England and Dick Delong...bought a T213-2 Tinker right out from under Tbob back in the early 80s from Mr. England when I was a second grader...Jerry

[rugbymarine]

All Star Cards on Harford Rd in Northeast Baltimore.
Baseball Card Outlet on Eastern Ave in Dundalk (still there I believe).

Most of my packs were bought at 7-11, probably 5 packs a week on the way home from school with pops.

[Rhotchkiss]

Collector’s World in Gaithersburg, Maryland and House of Cards in Wheaton, MD. House of Cards still exists, but has moved, and is also ground zero for Huggins and Scott Auctions.

[nat]

Originally Posted by rugbymarine

Baseball Card Outlet on Eastern Ave in Dundalk (still there I believe).

It is indeed. I bought a 51B Kell and 73T Clemente from them a few weeks ago.

There wasn't a card store near me until the 90s, but before that I'd buy packs of Topps from a Chinese grocery store that was a few blocks from my house. My parents used to give me 50 cents and I'd walk up there alone and buy cards at ages that would probably get child protective services called on you these days.

[Shemp]

Lally's Drug Store on the corner of Higgins and Neva on the far northwest side of Chicago in the late 1960's. I lived on Neva 6 houses away from the corner where the drugstore was. Would buy as many packs as I could - unfortunately that usually meant 2 packs cause I typically only had a dime - stand outside the store next to a garbage can, open the packs, chomp the gum, put the cards in my shirt pocket, walk back home, and sit on my back porch reading each card. A miscut card would never make it home and would end up in the garbage can. I still have all the ones I bought back then.

[NiceDocter]

Im another guy who visited House of Cards in Wheaton, MD at their original store.... initially owned and run by John Scott (still a principal owner) and Nick Schoff ( had been running shows in Northern VA not sure if he still is) . Bill Huggins ( I believe actually a relative of Miller Huggins) took over for a while and now Huggins and Scott have a storefront and auction house in Silver Spring MD. I bought a lot of stuff on and off from them in the early 1980s.... and did a private deal with Nick for an uncut sheet of 1952 Bowman high numbers framed ( which I still own) for $800 which was big bucks back in those days. When I picked the sheet up at his apartment he showed me an uncut sheet of 1933 George Miller cards with the rare Ivey Andrews (sp?) ... I think he was asking $10,000 at the time which was way out of my league. Wonder what ever happened to that sheet???? By the way John was very kind to me back in those early days and I still remember and appreciate it! Hope to pass some of that on to others as I go along.

[VoodooChild]

I started collecting around 1983 or so. Growing up outside of Pittsburgh in the eastern suburbs, we had two shops in Monroeville where I pretty much bought all of my cards. One was TNT Collectibles and the other was American Coin that was actually in the Monroeville Mall. TNT had a big sign with a '55 Clemente on it that you could see from the highway. My dad bought me one there around 1986. The best card I remember buying from American Coin was a Yount RC that was in the front display case.

Here's the Clemente RC from TNT. I still have the Yount too but I'd have to find it:

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Im another guy who visited House of Cards in Wheaton, MD at their original store.... initially owned and run by John Scott (still a principal owner) and Nick Schoff ( had been running shows in Northern VA not sure if he still is) . Bill Huggins ( I believe actually a relative of Miller Huggins) took over for a while and now Huggins and Scott have a storefront and auction house in Silver Spring MD. I bought a lot of stuff on and off from them in the early 1980s.... and did a private deal with Nick for an uncut sheet of 1952 Bowman high numbers framed ( which I still own) for $800 which was big bucks back in those days. When I picked the sheet up at his apartment he showed me an uncut sheet of 1933 George Miller cards with the rare Ivey Andrews (sp?) ... I think he was asking $10,000 at the time which was way out of my league. Wonder what ever happened to that sheet???? By the way John was very kind to me back in those early days and I still remember and appreciate it! Hope to pass some of that on to others as I go along.

Rocky, Nick Schoff is still running shows in Northern VA. And, Bill Huggins told me many years ago that his is a distant relative of Miller Huggins.

As as kid growing up in the west end of Alexandria, VA, my 3 collecting buddies and I bought our Topps cards (1955-1960) at a 7-11 and a drug store we could walk and/or ride our bikes to. There wasn't a LCS in our area that we knew of. We traded cards, and we played games with our cards (flipping, "sail touch," and "knock down") and card games (blackjack & poker) to win each other's cards.

In the mid-to-late 1980's when I resurrected my childhood collection that, fortunately, Mom didn't toss out many years earlier after I left home, I went to my first card show and discovered the existence of pre-War baseball cards. Soon thereafter, I obtained my first pre-War card, a T207 Recruit of WaJo, in a trade for some 1960 Topps with Bill Huggins at his card shop in Wheaton, MD. Not too long thereafter, my collecting focus became almost entirely pre-War cards.

[icollectDCsports]

Gerhardt's World. Originally located in the Crystal City Underground Mall in Arlington, VA, just across the river from DC, they relocated for a brief period to the Clarendon section of Arlington in the mid-'80s. Absolutely loved that place. Really stoked the flames of my passion for cards and also non-card memorabilia.

[JimC]

Growing up in Richmond I spent many hours looking through cards at Ernie White's shop, called Collector's Corner. In the early 80s I witnessed a lot of amazing collections walk into his place. I used to get dropped off there before I was old enough to drive. There was also a general antiques guy named Jess Holder in Richmond. Just a great guy. Jess had a booth at an old antique mall where he sold everything imaginable, but he always had good cards from the 50s through 70s. I still have a ton of cards we got from both places.

My Dad and I also visited House of Cards and other spots on our regular visits to DC and Maryland.

Val, I too used to get cards at the 7-11s in Richmond and NOVA but as a younger kid in Florida it was the local Li'l Champ convenience store that always had em.

[HexsHeroes]

Old Cardboard member Tim Zwick had a wee shop in Lansing (Capital City Cards) before expanding to much larger/nicer premises in Haslett Michigan. He had the best range of collectible cards IMHO. I sold him the majority of my vintage HOF candy/gum/tobacco cards and about 30 each of vending box fresh Brett and Yount rookie cards in the 1990s. Most of the hand collated modern sets I acquired came from a tiny card shop called The Sportstop. A friend started (still owns) a shop in Mason MI named Extra Innings. Lots of fond memories from those days decades ago.

[pawpawdiv9]

All we had was a SEARS, and our mom bought us a beginner set with binder and all of TCMA immmortals for Christmans one year.
It was one of the best-est day ever sharing with my brother. Still have it till this day. THANKS MOM!

[benge610]

Originally Posted by Shemp

Lally's Drug Store on the corner of Higgins and Neva on the far northwest side of Chicago in the late 1960's. I lived on Neva 6 houses away from the corner where the drugstore was. Would buy as many packs as I could - unfortunately that usually meant 2 packs cause I typically only had a dime - stand outside the store next to a garbage can, open the packs, chomp the gum, put the cards in my shirt pocket, walk back home, and sit on my back porch reading each card. A miscut card would never make it home and would end up in the garbage can. I still have all the ones I bought back then.

So cool Joe,
I was feeling it when reading your post.
My dad used to pick me up (from "baby sitter") on his way home from work each day. He had to have the late edition newspaper; stopped at a convenience store; attached to the gas station near our house; a new subdivision off IL Rt. 31; Oswego, IL; south of the Caterpillar plant.. He would buy me a pack of cards; '69T to '72T era. Dupes and trips automatically went to the bicycle spokes with clothes pin, if they were just a "guy". Dupes of "somebody" went to the trade stack. Mom kept all my cards; hardly seen the light of day. Ex-Mt to Nr-Mt. And people wonder how we have the passion for collecting we do.

Ben

"I love baseball history backstory; especially when it involves cards."

[runbrett]

The Sports Collectors Store in Chicago was amazing. I went there lots of times in the mid-1970s after some friends found out about it. I spent most of my money in the $0.25 box of damaged cards. This box contained Mantles in poor condition.

Behind the counter, the east and west walls of the store were stacked floor to ceiling with boxes of cards that were perfectly organized. I have a vivid memory of asking for a 1963 Fleer Clemente. The guy pulled out a box that had at least 100 of them to choose from. I still have that card.

Many times I spent my bus money and then just walked/ran the seven miles home.
I don't remember my last visit there, but it was probably in 1981 or 1982. A great shop, run by many of the big names in the hobby.