The Old Brick and Mortar Card Store

[bigtrain]

Have a local guy who has a case in one of the antique co-ops in town. Same deal. He puts out a couple of T206 commons in fair condition for $100 bucks each. They are not really for sale. What a tease.

[mattsey9]

Originally Posted by bigtrain

Have a local guy who has a case in one of the antique co-ops in town. Same deal. He puts out a couple of T206 commons in fair condition for $100 bucks each. They are not really for sale. What a tease.

There's an antique store here in town that has a fake T206 Wagner, appropriately labelled, with a $50.00 price tag on it. I saw it, and didn't even bother to look at what else he had figuring it was similarly overpriced.

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by mattsey9

There's an antique store here in town that has a fake T206 Wagner, appropriately labelled, with a $50.00 price tag on it. I saw it, and didn't even bother to look at what else he had figuring it was similarly overpriced.

A card store in Eatontown, NJ back around 1989-91, had a fake Wagner with a $50,000 price tag. If you picked it up, and flipped it over, he had another tag the said something like "$50,000 for near-mint, this card is vg, so $15"

Apparently someone saw the card, but never saw the back. They broke into his store one night and stole the card. Not 100% sure, but I believe all he lost was that card

[peterose4hof]

Originally Posted by z28jd

A card store in Eatontown, NJ back around 1989-91, had a fake Wagner with a $50,000 price tag. If you picked it up, and flipped it over, he had another tag the said something like "$50,000 for near-mint, this card is vg, so $15"

Apparently someone saw the card, but never saw the back. They broke into his store one night and stole the card. Not 100% sure, but I believe all he lost was that card

When baseball cards where in their heyday (late 80s / early 90s) we had several break-ins and attempted break-ins. Often the thieves walked away with junk we couldn't care less about, but occasionally they got some good stuff. Fortunately, it was all insured.

Oftentimes customers would ask, "What is your most expensive card?" I cringed a little every time I heard this because it made me wonder if they were "casing the joint".

[Gamebits]

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

Oftentimes customers would ask, "What is your most expensive card?"

Easy answer: my credit card

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by bigtrain

Have a local guy who has a case in one of the antique co-ops in town. Same deal. He puts out a couple of T206 commons in fair condition for $100 bucks each. They are not really for sale. What a tease.

Tom, is this one of the antique shops in Somerville?

Judson, I think I know the store you were talking about. The changed names for like a month or two before closing the door. I was only in once before they shut down, but was actually really impressed with the inventory.

Dj

[hangman62]

I used to always visit two well stocked vintage stores in CHI area - Graffs on Miwk Ave and Zekes...both closed a few yrs ago and went the way on internet.
And in NJ..I see a place around Woodbridge NJ - Rookes and Stars.. just closed a few weeks ago..

[sycks22]

I was up in the mountains of NC a couple weeks ago and we stumbled on this tiny shop. I was expecting tons of newer stuff, but he did have a bunch of '80's uncut sheets and I picked up a couple '85 Topps Puckett / Clemens / Mcgwire sheets for $10 a pop. They're not worth a ton, but still pretty fun to have. You could tell the old guy was so excited to see anyone and make a couple bucks.

[judsonhamlin]

Hangman62 - Rookies and Stars was the second shop I referred to. Sorry to see him go under, but not terribly surprised. He had bought and then sold a second location in Westfield and had a huge theft a few months back. Tough business these days.
And the place on Rte 28 in Middlesex did change hands at the end but didn't last long.

[buymycards]

Hi Adam, 2-3 years ago there were two shops on the same road about 2 miles off of the strip on the edge of Chinatown. Both had some decent 50's and 60's cards, but they were more interested in purchasing cards for their ebay store. When I was in Las Vegas last year both shops were gone.

My wife and I like to take the bus and spend a lot of time away from the strip. We check out card shops and antique stores, but we haven't had much luck with pre-war cards.

If you use the hotel phone book to look up card shops make sure you call ahead before you make your visit. Most of them are closed. Same thing for antique stores, although there are several decent antique stores within walking distance or a short bus ride from the strip and the prices aren't bad.


Rick

[JollyElm]

I love going into baseball card shops just to soak in all of that old cardboard, but the business models of virtually every store I enter is just plain ridiculous. As others have noted, there is no doubt that if you went back to the same shop 5 years from now, the same vintage cards you see priced in the display cases will still be there...forsaken.

I'm trying to finish my 1961 set, so I stopped in at a local place. A big store with a ton of inventory, but 90% of it was shiny new stuff, so it took him forever to even find his 61's. Clearly there aren't a lot of people coming in off the street asking to peruse them. After I asked him how much he wanted for a few commons and a way off center high number, he went about his 'pricing policy.' First he checked a Beckett guide and I loudly scoffed. "What?" he said. And I answered him that a Beckett guide doesn't come anywhere close to reality in pricing cards accurately. His response was that he checks that guide first, then some huge annual pricing guide (I didn't get the name of it) and then he goes on ebay to see what each card is selling for. He went on and on about how the guides give you nr. mt. pricing, so you have to know how to raise or lower the price based on condition and what not. I said, "Sure. You have to take everything into account, especially any problems with the card."

Whoa...long story short. Sorry. It took him forever doing his 'research' and finally came back to me with prices that were at or above what's in Beckett and he wouldn't negotiate. His reasoning? Well, on ebay they're 'selling' for these prices. Again, these cards were all commons (well, one of them was a Yankee). I said, "Are you checking sold listings or just listing price?? Because listing price has no bearing on reality. And the high number is 90/10 o/c both ways." He just gave me a confused look and said, "That's what they're going for. If you don't want them I'll easily sell them to someone else." I chuckled, wished him a good day, and left.

I'm sure, much like the final scene in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' he went and put that box of 61's back in his endless warehouse of vintage card boxes.

[kkkkandp]

I almost want to cry when I think of two sportscard stores that used to be in my "neighborhood" in northern New Jersey. One was called North Jersey Sportscards in Fort Lee on Central Road and the other was Danpak on North Washington Avenue in Bergenfield.

North Jersey had an amazing selection of pre-war stuff. Although I wasn't in to it all that much at the time, I remember seeing a very large number of T206s and even Old Judges.

Danpak was mostly newer stuff, but the owner, Dan Schupak, did have some oldies but goodies and I did buy one of my first Old Judges from him - a pretty decent Paul Hines.

Since I worked in Englewood Cliffs (the neighboring town to Fort Lee) and lived in Bergenfield at the time I used to drop in to those two places pretty frequently just to shoot the breeze and usually buy a card or two. Most of my hand-collated 80s and 90s Topps sets came from Danpak and a few of my
T206s, Cracker Jacks and Goudeys came from North Jersey. Both of those places were extremely customer friendly and did a pretty good business because of it.

Norht Jersey is long gone, but Danpak is still in the same space, although he is almost exclusively coins and stamps these days.