The Further Decline of Brick & Mortar...

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by Tanman7baseball

My question is, what is going to happen to the card market when the average 45-55 year old "kicks the bucket"? Will card prices plunge? I know about 2 other people who enjoy collecting vintage baseball cards that are my age. I am finishing up college here at Oklahoma State University and have talked to hundreds of people about the baseball card world. No interest. The last 6 months I have tried to help a man start up a local card shop. Within that 6 month span I did not meet one person my age who collected baseball cards (modern or vintage).

My ultimate question is who will I sell to in 40 or 50 years?

I think that overall the demand will fall as people forget who the more obscure players were. However, the big names will always draw a big dollar.

[sylbry]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

I think that overall the demand will fall as people forget who the more obscure players were. However, the big names will always draw a big dollar.

I agree with this 100%. Collector's will always be interest in the big names/big cards. As far as high grade commons go... that is just throwing money away. Set collecting is a dying passion.

It is easy to gripe about card shops/owners but what about sellers at card shows. I attended my first card show in nearly two decades. Flew to Chicago for the Sun Times show. I found the cards I was looking for to have an asking price of 2 to 3 times current ebay auction prices.

Found the show to be nothing more than a live version of the overpriced BINs on ebay. I didn't buy anything and left after an hour. Needless to say I have no intention of ever going back to another show. What really irks me is passing on a few cards on ebay thinking I would spend money at the Sun Times show. After all, should be a better selection at the show. At that point I realized if the hobby was still card shops and shows I would not have re-entered it.

[billyb]

I am 65 years young and start collecting cards when there were penny packs and nickel packs had 6 cards. I would open the packs and move that top card very slowly to first view the team logo because that Yankee loge may be Mantle, or Red Sox could be Williams. However, my collection was thrown out by my parents while I was in the military, thousands of cards were gone.
I started collecting again when I viewed my first baseball card show in 1984, and made every garage sale and bought every collection I could until the 1990s when like everyone else, was turned off by the mass production.
I again have the feeling of collecting again since I found this site, it was like going to my first card show again. Only a member for several months, I have not made a decision of picking up where I left off or go vintage, but am learning a lot just by reading these threads everyday.
My point to this story, I believe the hobby will stay strong and the youth will mature and want to grab a piece of their past. Historical artifacts, like baseball cards, will always be that piece of their history, and draw them into the hobby. Many collectors do not even start until later in life, and so will they.
By the way, does anyone have any unopened penny packs? That's a stretch, but if there is any around, I am sure it would be here.

[jimhopkins82]

There was a card shop in the next city over that was open when I was a kid. I remember going there many times when I was 8-11 and the owner always treated me and any other kids as a nuisance/waste of time. I finally quit going to the shop and it closed eventually. Fast forward 15 years and I was living in that city and a card shop had opened. I had not collected cards in years but decided to go in and bought a few things. i would go in there 1-2 times a month and probably spend $50.00 a month or so. This went on for probably close to a year. I went in there for what turned out to be the last time and overheard another customer say the owner's first name. I had somehow never learned the owner's name. Anyway, it was the same name of the store that I went to as a kid. I asked the guy if the owner was the same one that had a shop in the late 1980 and early 1990s. He said it was. I remembered how the owner treated me as a kid and I walked out and have never returned. Jerk.