Business question about vintage baseball cards

[Bestdj777]

I go to a brick-and-mortar card shop in NYC at least once a month. I've never purchased a card--they have only had one card I wanted but were only selling it as part of a set. I know that, personally, I would never pay more for a card in a store than I could purchase it for online. Now, if they had something I did want and couldn't find elsewhere, I'd certainly pay the price for it.

Where card shops do get my business is in selling supplies. Whenever I get a card, I go to the store and get a toploader for it. I don't like buying them in bulk and it is convenient and cheaper to get online instead.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.


Chris

[drcy]

Where I live there was a shop attached to a house. Except I never realized there was the house half, until I looked around the fence.

If you live there and are already dealing online in the stuff you are selling, a shop might be reasonable.

I think vintage baseball cards is too narrow to run a store on its own. In fact, I'm sure it is. But if a shop of some sort is used in addition to your already successful online business, I could see that. If you're already going to be there sorting and cataloging cards for your online business, I can see how it would make sense to allow someone to walk in through the door and buy something in person.

Starting a business for purely sentimental reasons rarely works. It has to be business smart too. I only see a physical shop as viable if you're already doing very well selling online and the physical shop is just an addition to your already successful busness, or really anticipate having it as a coffee shop.

For most people, owning a baseball card shop really is just a quaint sentimental idea from childhood that has nothing to do with business sense. I'm sure many women have also always wanted to own a pony too. Amazon started selling books, because Jeff Bezos coldly calculated books was the best product to sell online. It was irrelevant whether or not he was a bookworm.

But, as I said, I can see instances where opening up a physical shop could make business sense. If you own a unopened box wholesale distribution business, I can see how opening up a small retail shop at the site could make sense. You could not only sell smaller portions to the locals, but it could serve as local advertising to your wholesale side. Similarly, a small shop could help get the word out to locals about your online eBay and website selling. Even for locals who prefer to shop online, it would still be cool to see the items in person and to pick them up in person.

[steve B]

I think the store part really depends on your area and location.

Overall success depends on a lot of things.


The stamp +coin guy I go to also does other collectibles, and always had interesting advice.

One of the first was that you don't have a store to sell, you have a store to buy. That's changing, but at the time many people were uncomfortable selling in their home, and online or by phone just didn't work well for anyone. Online sales have changes a lot, but the store is still a benefit on the buying end.

The other advice he had was that you can do well with anything if you can buy it right.
Along with having the ability and mindset to move it along quickly.


The shops I see that are still around have figured out how to use all of the three main venues. The shop, the internet , and shows.

My local card shop looks like a typical one. Mostly new stuff, and a lot of that is boxes and packs. They also carry a good selection of supplies and memorabilia like pennants. (Plus autographs and toys and some soda and candy)

But they have vintage. They usually have a handful of graded T205s or T206s under the counter. Apparently they have a regular customer who buys them. The pricing is always a bit more than I like, but not silly.
They're very good at using the internet, Ebay now, and some dealer to dealer wholesale thing at one point. When Curtis Martin signed with the Jets they moved their entire inventory in one sale to a dealer in northern NJ. Great for both sides, they cleared out what had just become dead inventory and the NJ guy got an instant inventory of saleable stuff.

The stamp guy does more business before a show opens than he does during the show. Watching him work was amazing. One box was full of envelopes full of stuff that got taken to particular dealers and simply handed off. Second lap of the room was collecting the money. All of it stuff that was turned fairly quickly for a small profit. Probably did $3K during the hour while I was setting up his stuff. Not sure about net, some items he does insanely well with - Like 10-20X cost others maybe only 1-2% it all works out in the end.


So if you're in an area with a good amount of stuff to buy the store would make more sense.
The rest depends on how you do things.

Steve B

[drcy]

I've joked about the antique furniture dealer who furnishes his home with the furniture he sells. Part of his profits is he saves all the money on furnishing his home.

There's a business model for you.