Was NJ the epicenter of the card boom?

[Rich Klein]

Although the biggest shows in the megalopolis were in the Philly area or in White Plains,

I do believe the New Jersey and Long Island areas had the most dealers/collectors/shows/stores on a day to day basis. Before I moved to Texas we had either a show or an auction almost every single night.

Regards
Rich

[Yoda]

I remember those days well. I only set up at one Willow Grove show, and many at Ft. Washington in subsequent years. (Ted, do you remember chasing those cockroaches around at night at the awful Howard Johnsen motel at WG.) NJ, in those days, had some real hobby heavyweights, Lew Lipset, Alan Rosen, RIP, Rob Lifson and many others whose names I can't recall. There was also one lightweight (me) starting his business in Shrewsbury, NJ. Fond memories of those days,

[glynparson]

Deserves some recognition as the Queen of show promoters, and the best there was in the late 80's early 90's. Ran some GREAT shows in the NY/NJ area.

[Donscards]

New England had some great shows in the 80's---Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH was the leader in the early 80's--The Greater Boston Card Club in mid 80's and Walter Hall in the 80's in Boston---they used to be 2-3 deep at tables in those days---In 1988, at Portland, Maine, we had Roger Clemens signing for $10 a auto with 4000 people at the show. Old Timer Bob Thing was always at these shows.---Times have changed!!

[tedzan]

Major New York Shows that I set-up in are the Cooperstown Show on HOF weekend which started in 1980; and, is still in operation.

And, the Statler Hilton Hotel (now Hotel Pennsylvania across from MSG) Show promoted by Bob Lemke and Steve Ellingboe (circa 1982 - 1984).


TED Z
.

[Rookiemonster]

I always feel New Jersey has had a ton of collectors for years . They still have a few shows and I still attend one . My son and I are planning on getting a table soon .

[skelly]

Yes, Bill Mastro a Bernards High Mountaineer! New Jersey is the most densely populated state and many sports fans and collectors can be found. Despite this, I agree with one of the posters above. I think Pennsylvania might be the pulse of the hobby ( at least in the mid-atlantic region ) these days.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Donscards

New England had some great shows in the 80's---Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH was the leader in the early 80's--The Greater Boston Card Club in mid 80's and Walter Hall in the 80's in Boston---they used to be 2-3 deep at tables in those days---In 1988, at Portland, Maine, we had Roger Clemens signing for $10 a auto with 4000 people at the show. Old Timer Bob Thing was always at these shows.---Times have changed!!

Yep. Arlington, Ma where Halls shop was had 2 maybe three shops that had cards by 1981. And at least one 5+10 that stocked lots of current cards.

That last one was sort of my fault. I asked a friend of mine whose dad owned the 5+10 if he could get me a deal on a box of Donruss. They said they'd have to buy something like 10 boxes, and I said I'd buy two. My friend talked up my then fairly small collection and they bought some boxes. About a week later I stopped in and they had all three brands! And better still they'd sold something like 6 cases that week at full retail and had sold a box or two at above retail. So they gave me the one box for free.

Steve B