How many card shops have become just like this......

[queencitysportscards]

I think there are a lot of factors on what defines a successful card shop. Yes, there are certainly less of them today then 5-10 years ago and the business has changed with online sales with less retail sales, but there are still plenty of thriving card shops.

I opened my shop recently and quite frankly, am really surprised at the traffic we are already getting. As of late, it's been really busy. People like the local card shop for many reasons, but also the human aspect of it...to interact with other collectors to talk about sports / collecting, selling and trading cards and just shooting the stuff. Its a nice place to get away for awhile. That's where the online market misses the mark...the stories, friendships & memories you establish at the "old card shop."

For us, it's our business and we are focusing on upcoming auctions and online sales, however, we opened to provide a nice place for collectors young and old to talk about the hobby and to build relationships with other collectors just like us...that's what makes it fun...and if you keep up with the hobby enough and adapt, you can make it a successful business too.

Happy Collecting!

[glenv]

Interesting quote about the National only being ~15% baseball cards. Wonder what percentage is vintage cards?

"At the annual National Sports Collectors Convention, which begins July 31 in Chicago, the inventory devoted to baseball cards will fall to about 15 percent from more than half in the late 1990s, according to Mike Berkus, the convention’s founder and executive director."

[tcdyess]

I wondered about that myself, 15%.... wow... I wonder how much Magic stuff will be there....

[bbcard1]

Not to sound unsympathetic, but you can take a quick glance and see what the problem is. She is displaying sheets of Tom Glavine and Dave Justice rookies. Many of the dinosaur shop owners have never gotten over the fact you can no longer sell Tommy Gregg rookies for $1, but they still keep them in their cases. Might come down to 90 cents in quantity. It is a vicious circle...they won't sell old inventory at market prices so they can't afford new inventory and conclude that the market is dead.

[Harliduck]

bbcard1...I couldn't agree more. I would walk in that shop, and walk right out...nothing in there would interest me in the least, and I won't even admit to my annual card budget, . I know vintage collectors are the minority, but one look at ebay traffic shows our hobby is alive and well, and growing. To gage our hobby by that pathetic shop is like gauging Blockbuster with the movie/dvd business. Markets change, evolve...either move with the times or be left behind. That shop looks like it should have been left behind in 1994...

[MattyC]

I find that article to be very poorly done; it is incredibly myopic, and lazily fails to try and gain an overall perspective of the hobby. If I had more free time, I would write a counter-piece to balance out that hackwork. Bottom line, that writer failed.

[Exhibitman]

Agreed. An intellectually lazy article not at all reflective of the reality of the hobby.

[ZenPop]

Don't you realize that I ate a fishstick, so fishstick sales must be up?!!

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Agreed. An intellectually lazy article not at all reflective of the reality of the hobby.

+1

Comical really, on the heels of an REA auction with around $10 million in sales, and more sports auction houses opening and thriving by the year.

That article was just like the Dave Justice rookies...not worth the paper wasted to print on.

I was at the 2011 Chicago National for 3 days. Absolutely no way baseball cards only made up 15% of the inventory or sales. No way. Don't know how these numbers are determined, but they are way too low. Maybe - just maybe - prewar cards were only 15-20% of what was at the show, but I was practically blinded by row after row of shiny new(ish) baseball cards everywhere I looked. I don't collect this stuff, so it was an annoyance to me how much of it was there...

Having said this, I'm not a defender of the B&M card shop in general. Most every one I've seen in the last 20 years should have been plowed under. Whenever I travelled to a new city 20 years ago I went to every card shop and bookstore I could find. Now I still buy as many (more in fact!) cards and books, but never, ever waste my time looking for a B&M shop. 95%+ of my purchasing is done online.


Cheers,
Blair

[camlov2]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Agreed. An intellectually lazy article not at all reflective of the reality of the hobby.

Are we talking about the hobby of collecting current baseball cards or vintage? The main focus of this board is vintage cards and I would agree that this segment of the hobby is alive and well. The article does give an accurate picture of current day baseball cards. Current cards have always been the largest part of the hobby, even if vintage is growing every year a drop in sales of current cards means a drop in the overall hobby.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by glenv

Interesting quote about the National only being ~15% baseball cards. Wonder what percentage is vintage cards?

"At the annual National Sports Collectors Convention, which begins July 31 in Chicago, the inventory devoted to baseball cards will fall to about 15 percent from more than half in the late 1990s, according to Mike Berkus, the convention’s founder and executive director."

It's been maybe 6 years since my last national but I find it hard to believe that baseball cards only comprise 15% of the show.

[ScottFandango]

Originally Posted by queencitysportscards

I think there are a lot of factors on what defines a successful card shop. Yes, there are certainly less of them today then 5-10 years ago and the business has changed with online sales with less retail sales, but there are still plenty of thriving card shops.

I opened my shop recently and quite frankly, am really surprised at the traffic we are already getting. As of late, it's been really busy. People like the local card shop for many reasons, but also the human aspect of it...to interact with other collectors to talk about sports / collecting, selling and trading cards and just shooting the stuff. Its a nice place to get away for awhile. That's where the online market misses the mark...the stories, friendships & memories you establish at the "old card shop."

For us, it's our business and we are focusing on upcoming auctions and online sales, however, we opened to provide a nice place for collectors young and old to talk about the hobby and to build relationships with other collectors just like us...that's what makes it fun...and if you keep up with the hobby enough and adapt, you can make it a successful business too.

Happy Collecting!

Good,luck to you....you are so rigght about the relationship aspect...my local card shop was always busy...he did a lot of giveaways...if you spent 20$ you got a ticket...on Sunday they would do a raffle with the tickets and give stuff away...there was standing room only on Sunday's!
Guy sold the store at its peak and the new guy ran it into the ground..this was only in 2004

[martyogelvie]

i visit a card shop maybe once a year... There is only one shop close to me and they don't focus on baseball cards as much as they do other sports trinkets. Hard to blame them, got to stay in business somehow.

[dabigyankeeman]

No good card stores around here at all. One good one closed up to sell on the internet only not too long ago. Nowhere to go anymore, just one decent show a month.

Cant believe the National is only 15% baseball cards? Geez!! Thats all i am buying now. I was intending to go up to Cleveland next year as i can visit a close friend who lives there, not sure about the show now if its so weak on baseball cards. Last show i went to was Dallas around 1990, boy, that was almost all baseball cards!

[insccollectibles]

My local card shop seems to be thriving. They have a great inventory of vintage cards and have been on ebay for a very long time. Online sales are critical to maintain in today's card market.

[Julz24]

I only have 1 shop that's near me at the moment and it's surprising to me how he stays in business. He almost never has new inventory and the cards behind the glass never get changed out. In the few times I've been there, I was the only customer.

The guy doesn't sell on Ebay either so its kind of a mystery how he pays the bills??

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by Julz24

I only have 1 shop that's near me at the moment and it's surprising to me how he stays in business. He almost never has new inventory and the cards behind the glass never get changed out. In the few times I've been there, I was the only customer.

The guy doesn't sell on Ebay either so its kind of a mystery how he pays the bills??

This is EXACTLY what I could have wrote about the 1 store in the Nashville area.
Not such an uncommon occurence I guess.