How many card shops have become just like this......

tcdyess · #1 07-03-2013, 08:37 AM

My thought is that the industry as a whole needs to succeed with new product in order to ever grow interest in vintage. How many of us collected cards from our local stores as kids (I remember going to the local Caldor with my parents hoping they would get me a few cello packs) and then expanded back into vintage as we grew through adulthood. Kids need to get into the hobby... period. Players like Trout, Harper, Strasburg, Machado, and now Puig have given the game a youth boost it hasn't seen in some time. Topps seems to be providing a lower priced avenue for kids to get in. Will they, who knows, but I have to say when I visit Wal-Mart or Target, I always see some kids checking out the card sections. If they do enjoy the hobby, those are hopefully the vintage collectors of the future as they leave college, start their family and look for their personal hobbies. MLB seems to be intent on cleaning up the game and focusing on marketing the new young talent. Over the next decade as the ARODs and other PED players retire, the game will hopefully enjoy and focus on some of the new and great true talents..... one can only hope....

As far as B&M, there isn't much left around me and although I miss going in and chatting about baseball and collecting, that's what NET54 is for!!!!

With rose colored glasses and glass half full....

Tim

larrie804 · #2 07-03-2013, 09:21 AM

In the early 1990s there were 32 card shops in the Richmond Virginia area...today there are only three. The owner of the best is ill and planning to sell or close! Very sad!

slidekellyslide · #3 07-03-2013, 09:45 AM

There is only one card shop left in Lincoln and I think he's still doing pretty well for himself. His focus is new product with insert cards and local sports heroes like Alex Gordon and Ndamukong Suh. He has very few pre-war cards, and he still has a whole wall filled with Starting Lineups that don't appear to have been touched in a decade or two, but he's doing something right because he's still here and he almost always seems busy on the few days a year I come in to purchase supplies.

barrysloate · #4 07-03-2013, 09:53 AM

I think future hobbyists will go directly to collecting vintage cards, and bypass the current ones altogether. Opening wax packs to put a current set together is dying, but collecting vintage is popular and will continue to attract new collectors.

slidekellyslide · #5 07-03-2013, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I think future hobbyists will go directly to collecting vintage cards, and bypass the current ones altogether. Opening wax packs to put a current set together is dying, but collecting vintage is popular and will continue to attract new collectors.

I don't believe this is true at all...most people start collecting current cards and as they learn the history of the game become attracted to vintage cards. I agree that putting together sets may be at an all time low but I also tend to think there are many more people out there in search of a Mike Trout or Yasiel Puig card than a Ty Cobb card...we may not recognize that as fact though because most of us here don't venture outside of the vintage hobby.

queencitysportscards · #6 07-03-2013, 12:09 PM

Thanks to a Net54 board member for making the connection, but Ryan Ludwick, came in today and signed a career home run ball and ticket that a friend of mine, Ryan King, caught...Ryan suddenly passed away recently. Our staff offered the ball to Ryan and instead he offered to sign it for us too keep it in memory of Ryan. Super Nice guy and even better to talk about collecting...you never know who is going to walk in the door...

BruceWayne · #7 07-03-2013, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by queencitysportscards

Thanks to a Net54 board member for making the connection, but Ryan Ludwick, came in today and signed a career home run ball and ticket that a friend of mine, Ryan King, caught...Ryan suddenly passed away recently. Our staff offered the ball to Ryan and instead he offered to sign it for us too keep it in memory of Ryan. Super Nice guy and even better to talk about collecting...you never know who is going to walk in the door...

Very nice to hear that Ryan Ludwick would do something so classy.

Also, my condolences regarding your friend Ryan.

barrysloate · #8 07-03-2013, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I don't believe this is true at all...most people start collecting current cards and as they learn the history of the game become attracted to vintage cards. I agree that putting together sets may be at an all time low but I also tend to think there are many more people out there in search of a Mike Trout or Yasiel Puig card than a Ty Cobb card...we may not recognize that as fact though because most of us here don't venture outside of the vintage hobby.

I don't think kids are buying packs of new cards anymore. Maybe adults are, but not kids.

wonkaticket · #9 07-03-2013, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I don't think kids are buying packs of new cards anymore. Maybe adults are, but not kids.

+1

The front end trading card business of the big boys i.e. Wal-Mart, Target, Toys-R-US is getting smaller and smaller each year. I know this for a fact. This isn’t being cut and reduced because business is good…or just a bit down.

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