Does WalMart Still Sell Sports Cards?

[T.S. OConnell]

I like to buy a blaster box or two of most of the Topps Heritage baseball releases, and later give the cards away to kids in bricks for Christmas stockings. I can't find any sports cards at all at WalMart or Target. Did the large retail stores get out of the sports card retailing gig?

[quinnsryche]

They still sell them but good luck getting them. Local dealers and guys who set up at shows know EXACTLY when they are putting them out and buy them up the instant they are on the shelves. I have seen these guys lined up like jackals waiting for the blasters. My son heard Walmart was considering putting a limit on the number of boxes one person can buy but have not seen this take effect as of yet. That said, forget about EVER buying another blaster box at Walmart!

[T.S. OConnell]

Thanks for that, but at the WalMart and Target near me, there's no indication that there have been any boxes from any sport on the shelves for several months. I guess I'll have to go online, which I hate to do.

[sthoemke]

WalMart has no card sections here.

Targets here have been getting Topps 2021 Baseball, Garbage Pail Kids Food Fight and Magic. Not much else.

[steve B]

The Wal-Mart near me has a card section, but it's mostly empty boxes.

The Target used to have a good selection, but reduced it a couple years ago.
This year they were selling so much they actually had Topps team sets - from 2016. My guess is that Topps doesn't have anything in the back corners of the warehouse anymore.

[slidekellyslide]

So far this year I have seen 2021 Topps baseball at Scheels Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble, and even Cracker Barrel restaurants. Check those places out. The flippers haven't discovered them yet.

[uwfootball1]

show up early and see if you can beat all the guys trying to flip them for more money.

[tulsaboy]

The Targets and Walmarts near me have had plenty of baseball. It's the basketball and football that has been super in demand. I've just laughed at the grown men desperate to grab hold of all of that. Some of them have scooped up baseball but they can't make the margins on it that they can on the basketball and football.
kevin

[Rich Klein]

Topps 1 was sitting, not very much, on the shelf at the Walmart I usually go to.

I suspect wait a few weeks and when people realize Heritage retail is not that easy to flip then you will see them on the shelves at Wally World, Target, etc.

I will also note that some of the big box stores may no longer carry cards because of the aggravations of the people gathering to buy those blaster boxes.

Rich

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by tulsaboy

The Targets and Walmarts near me have had plenty of baseball. It's the basketball and football that has been super in demand. I've just laughed at the grown men desperate to grab hold of all of that. Some of them have scooped up baseball but they can't make the margins on it that they can on the basketball and football.
kevin

I would expect a lot of the stuff that doesn't sell to be returned and to end up back on the shelf.

[bmattioli]

This year is the worst, can't buy a single 2021 product anywhere for the retail price. SMH..

Just last week I found a shelf full of boxes and hangers in Walmart and in Target. Same week. I've seem lots of 2021 Flagship product since it came out.

[Rich Klein]

I went to the Walmart previously referenced yesterday and there was not one Sports pack other than stickers in the store. NOTHING Card related.

Rich

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

In my area, this is one Target store, five Walmart locations, and multiple Walgreens locations. I have looked repeatedly in all of these locations and found zip...until Friday. On Friday, I found a lone blaster of S1 in two different Walmart locations. There's been a lot of discussion regarding the bubble and its impact on the price of cards, but I have still been surprised how this has impacted the availability of retail boxes and packs. Hopefully when this ends flipping retail won't be quite as lucrative, and we can all return to the days of sneaking the occasional blaster box into the Walmart shopping cart in hopes that the wife doesn't quite notice.

[buymycards]

I have 4 young grandsons who collect cards. Last October, I went to Wal-Mart online and purchased 4 2020 Topps Update BB 65 card boxes for them @ $9.98 each. Toward the end of November I purchased 4 more for Xmas presents, again at $9.98 each. In January, I thought that I would buy 4 more, because we haven't been able to attend card shows. I was shocked when I saw that the price had jumped to $20.99 each. I checked again a few minutes ago the same product is now at $27.52. Most of the Wal-Mart cards are being provided by a company call "Get Dealz Daily.

[jiw98]

The stores in the area where I live have had limits on cards purchases for a few months. Meijer stores have it set up so that you can only purchase packs or boxes after 3:30pm on Friday with a max of 2 items.

[tulsaboy]

Target is in the process of clamping down to where cards will only be stocked on a particular day at a particular time, and people in line before that time will each be able to buy one box per person. Mostly this is a response to the absurdity of dozens of people hanging out in the stores waiting and hoping for someone to come stock the cards section.

I'm pretty convinced that, specifically in regards to Topps flagship baseball, all of this is just stupid panic buying. The flippers really want the premier football and basketball cards, as there is a huge margin to be made in those on ebay, marketplace, and other apps like discord. When they can't get football or basketball, they are buying baseball and trying to flip it too. Then people like us wander into Walmart or Target trying to buy a blaster or a few loose packs, and the shelves are empty. It causes us to perceive that Topps baseball is hard to find or scarce. Perceived scarcity, not actual scarcity. Then we all jump onto marketplace or ebay and are willing to pay $30 for a $20 blaster because we are afraid of missing out. I think flippers are sitting on huge piles of this stuff, doling it out online and benefitting from a perception that this product is hard to find. And it shouldn't be, based on production.

Just my two cents.

kevin

[rjackson44]

Its sad

[Chicosbailbonds]

I haven't seen any sportscards at my local Meijer since last July. There were no series 2 Topps last year to be had. The speculators have been hitting the collectible markets hard, the section is empty within an hour.

[Gary Dunaier]

Last Wednesday I went into a local card shop hoping to buy a few packs of '21 Topps Heritage. They were selling full boxes only, and the price was $140 or $149. They also had the smaller boxes, I guess they're the ones that "normally" sell for $20 in Target and Walmart, for $29.99.

Needless to say I didn't buy any '21 Topps Heritage that day.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

Last Wednesday I went into a local card shop hoping to buy a few packs of '21 Topps Heritage. They were selling full boxes only, and the price was $140 or $149. They also had the smaller boxes, I guess they're the ones that "normally" sell for $20 in Target and Walmart, for $29.99.

Needless to say I didn't buy any '21 Topps Heritage that day.

I get where you are coming from but today, 2021 is far different than anything we've seen in a long long time.

f I really wanted to open an Heritage Blaster and could not find one at the big stores, I'm OK with $29.99. I know it's supposed to be $20 plus tax (or so) but that does allow the store owner to make a small profit.

Rich

[Chicosbailbonds]

Check Target.com or Walmart.com, they will ship to you.

[scmavl]

Stopped by the local Target yesterday. They had two types of 2021 Topps Series 1, jumbo hangers and 3rd party assembled multi-packs. I got three of each, as the sign says "Only three of each item". However when the cashier rung me up, the register beeped and she said "I can't sell you more than three because they're sort of the same thing".

So I asked for the manager, threatened to sue, and blasted them on social media. Nah, I just bought three and went home to open my lackluster packs.

[Malibu39]

Originally Posted by Chicosbailbonds

Check Target.com or Walmart.com, they will ship to you.

Be careful on walmart.com as they have 3rd party sellers, in addition to Walmart Inc., who gouge unsuspecting shoppers horribly. I was able to buy 3 Heritage hanger boxes on the site, but they were gone in an hour.

I have been shifting to per-release purchases and waiting.

GOOD LUCK!