The Old Brick and Mortar Card Store

[frankbmd]

Visited 2 shops on my recent road trip.

Both owners were willing to chat.

Both stayed in business with large framed modern display pieces for affluent mother's and dad's to buy for their kid's bedroom walls. The cards were not their bread and butter.

One guy had a few 50 Bowman FB cards in G/VG condition. I asked him to give me a price on 4 together. He went in the back room to look at the price guide , came back with a $900 figure (NM), but said he would let me have them for $180. The lot included Graham, Groza and two other minor stars. I passed, but he was very close to what I would pay. When I got home, I still had some money in my pocket. Maybe I should have had 4 cards as well.

The other guy says occasionally he gets old stuff in. He said he will email me when that happens. When I said prewar only, he said which war.

[bigwinnerx]

Here in Northern VA, we have the modern equivalent of a card store in Blowout Cards' retail operation. No or very little amount of singles of any kind, tons of wax, and supplies. (Disclosure: I'll buy a box of Heritage, not going to lie.)

That said, at least we also get the Dulles show a few times a year, so, definitely not complaining. Already have my supply shopping list ready to go for April 5-7.

I've looked at prewar at Dulles before and haven't bought, but, maybe will keep my eyes open for some deals this year.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Two shops near me that have each been in business nearly 30 years: Sports Collectibles of Houston and Houston Sports Connection.

Sports Collectibles of Houston has some nice 50's and '60s stuff, but no pre-war. They cater to the set builder. They have boxes and boxes of commons from the '50s on up.

Houston Sports Connection is the same, but he does have some pre-war. However, he doesn't display it in the cases, he keeps it put up. You have to ask to see it and I get the feeling that he just really doesn't want to sell it. He'll pull it out when I'm there to show me any new acquisitions, but I think he really wants to keep it for himself although he might part with something if the price were right. He doesn't need the money - there are plenty of other things in the store from which he generates revenue.

[Oil Can Dan]

Originally Posted by bigwinnerx

Here in Northern VA, we have the modern equivalent of a card store in Blowout Cards' retail operation. No or very little amount of singles of any kind, tons of wax, and supplies. (Disclosure: I'll buy a box of Heritage, not going to lie.)

That said, at least we also get the Dulles show a few times a year, so, definitely not complaining. Already have my supply shopping list ready to go for April 5-7.

I've looked at prewar at Dulles before and haven't bought, but, maybe will keep my eyes open for some deals this year.

Have you ever been to AJ's in Vienna, VA? I worked in that shop when I was 12 years old back in 1983, and my understanding is that it's still there today. I moved from the area in 2004 and haven't been back, but would love to know what became of it. I'm quite sure the owner, Jim, is long gone as he was in his 50's back then and smoke like a carton of cigarettes a day.

[t206blogcom]

Originally Posted by Oil Can Dan

Have you ever been to AJ's in Vienna, VA?

I've heard about AJ's, but could never seem to locate it. Where exactly in Vienna is it?

[bigwinnerx]

Funny, never heard of AJs and thought "It's Vienna how hard could it be to find it?"

So I loaded up Google Maps and placed my little guy in the 3D mode and sure enough, couldn't find it. Until I started zooming around the view a bit. Took someone's note of "a small little store" and sure enough, found it.

Picture should leave enough area awareness.

[Wite3]

When I sold my 1993 Chevy Cavalier in 2008 (after 200,000 miles), I cleaned out the glove box...it literally had 100s of ripped out yellow book pages. Wherever I visited, I would tear out the baseball card store page, make calls, and visit. Found some great stuff.

Still do it sometimes. In Vegas about six months ago and went to a store about 4 miles off the strip going west on Maryland I think that had some decent vintage and was willing to work on price. Picked up a psa2 t206 crawford batting pose, a '33 goudey, a bunch of early bowman for a decent price. He had a huge zeenut collection that he purchased when pawn stars turned it down. Not sure how much longer the store will be there because he was trying to expand and compete with Blowout Cards and Dave and Adam's to become the west coast dealer in wax. Risky.

Going to be in Colorado in a month and looking forward to ripping out a couple pages from my hotel room's yellow pages!

Joshua

[sox1903wschamp]

I visit a shop every few months for supplies in the Minneapolis area. Been doing that for 10 years. The owner and his Wife are nice. I check out his 50's and 60's selection but the only time I ever purchased cards was about 5 years ago when he had just purchased a cache of raw 62 BB Highs.

He had multiples of most of the Rookie cards (most above #581) and they were very nice. I picked out the nicest of each and most upgraded my set (which is around NM). A very cherry Twins team card and an awesome #598 (last card) were the highlights. Probably should have purchased them all but chose the best copies. The prices were reasonable, maybe around ex-mt pricing. Got lucky because I was in the store like the next day after he purchased. They were all gone in a few days.