Shops worth visiting

[Wite3]

Rob at Burbank has moved his shop. It is still in Burbank but is now housed in a warehouse, literally. His first storefront was a small shop that he started in his father's coin store. It grew from there into a very nice retail space that was super organized. Once his internet sales started to outpace his brick and mortar store, he decided to move to a warehouse. It has a very small store front, the size of a small hall with several sorting rooms and a few display cases. The most impressive thing I saw was the actual back part where he has 15 foot high shelves that go on forever...imagine the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they put the ark in the warehouse and pull back to the large area...now imagine that with boxes of cards, unopened material, safes (yes, safes), etc. It is really impressive. You can walk in and ask for a card and he has nearly everything in the computer. Sort of sterile and not the way I like my card stores.

Matt at Beverly Hills on the other hand has had the same store front for years. Over the years I have been lucky enough to rummage in the back and find some great stuff. He has a great hobby knowledge and is very nice and his store has that old time baseball card shop feel.

Another Los Angeles store that has a decent mix is Valley Baseball Cards. The original owner, Max, was the one to introduce me to vintage Topps when I was just a kid by giving away a free card "from before the year you were born" with every purchase you made (I had about 1/4 of the 1970 topps set when all was said and done!). The new owner has kept the same feel and they have a decent mix of new, old, oddball, and always a few vintage prewar cards. Max just recently passed away...very sad.

There were a few other shops in the greater Los Angeles area that were good but they are long gone now including Baseball Cards, Etc., TriplePlay Sportscards, Simi Valley Sportscards, Granada Hills BB card shop, Canyon Country Sportscards. Oh well...

Joshua