ot - card store

[abothebear]

The shop that is successful where I live has several things going for it:

- It is in a good location, but the rent probably isn't too bad.
- the shop owner has two guys working for him, one is full time and the other is a retired postman who probably works for minimum wage.
- The shop is well organized and well lit.
- he has a TV in there running sports all day.
- He has tons of cards in penny sleeves sorted by teams and sells them for something like 50 cents a piece. And he has bad weather half-off deals.
- Same as above but for rookie cards that haven't "hit" yet.
- the shop knows his customers and stocks and sells modern according to his customers tastes (The modern pack sales is where I think he gets most of his profit). Football seems to be a big deal.
- he knows what sells well on ebay and has an ebay store.
- he has a good eye for grading and sends some stuff to beckett for grading so he can then sell it on ebay.
- he has his vintage cards in the case at the front of the store. I don't think he sells much, but I think it plays to the nostalgia of the customers pretty well.
- *the bid board is the key* he has space and a system whereby folks bring in their stuff to auction by Thursday, he has it on the board on Sunday, people bid all week until Saturday, and then the auctions close and he deals out the wins afterwards (through the following week). Customers come in each week to see what is up for auction, sometimes twice a week (to see what went unclaimed by the following Friday). And people can sell their stuff through the auction. The shop gets a dollar per sold item (unless it sells for over $10) so the income isn't great, but it doesn't cost him anything, and it creates regular customers, regular visits, and an event to center his store around.

[bn2cardz]

I stopped in a local shop a couple of month's ago as it is next door to a florist I get flowers from for my wife.

When I went in it looked like my bedroom when I was a young kid with baseball cards in non protected stacks and sprawled out everywhere. The cases were sparse of anything actually in them. Everything was on top and not laid out to be shopped through but litteraly just like stacks of cards had fallen over and never picked up. I saw a case had a dozen cards in it (this is one of those large display glass front cases) the cards were from the 60's. He asked if I collected or was just looking. I told him I did collect but I mainly enjoyed the vintage stuff and added "but I guess you don't have anything older than those cards (indicating the case with a dozen in there) or anything from the 50's or prior?" He said "yeah I have some from the 50's in there." After he looked for a minute at the cards and I pointed out that they were from the 60's he replied with "Then I guess not"

I wasn't rude, but it was obvious he doesn't use the store to sell cards. I told my wife that I felt like the store was front for something else because there was nothing of value in there. The only thing I may buy was supplies, but even those were covered with a thick dust layer.

I asked him if he did shows, he said he didn't because he has the store so he doesn't need to do shows. So, again, I have no idea how this guy is making any money staying open. I know he does IT for the other stores in the strip mall so maybe that is how he makes money and uses the store front to buy collections.

The store has been there since I was a kid (I am now 33) and I only recall being in there once or twice as it wasn't convenient for my parents (there were more choices back then) but I know at that time there were several boxes to look through.

There is one other store I know of that I liked, but it just isn't convenient for me and last time I was there aprox 10 years ago, they stayed open by appeasing the gaming community.

[Jayworld]

We are blessed to have two really fine Sport Card Shops here in the Dallas area; Nick's Sports Cards in Richardson and Triple Cards and Collectibles in Plano. I usually go to the Plano shop due to location, but both are well maintained, well-stocked, and family run. While both cater mostly to the "new card" crowd with box breaks, pulls, etc., they also carry vintage, mostly from the 1950s-1980s. Both also carry a smattering of signed memorabilia, football mini helmets, pennants, posters, and non-sports.

Triple Cards within the past month put out a new table featuring 1950 Bowmans singles and mid-to-late 1950s Topps singles. He has started to buy collections and now sell them in the store. He also carries vintage and new "Pokemon" singles, which appeal to my sons. My youngest looks forward to getting a new pack of Star Wars cards whenever we go, so there is a non-sports market for the younger for sure. It is nice for me to pick up the supplies I need at reasonable prices and add a few 1951, 1952 Bowmans to the collection.