Category Archives: card shops

Finding a Good Shop

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Shops do serve a unique purpose in our hobby, mainly because of the assumed retail expertise that they are supposed to carry with them. People like to go to their local shop, hang out, open some packs, and really just take it all in. The problem is, not everyone has the luxury of knowing how to find a shop that is worthy of spending your time in. I have gotten many emails over the years of people asking me what shops they should check out. I think its about time that I list my criteria that I look for, especially when I just want to spend some time around people with similar interests.

Find a Shop In a Good Area

For a lot of people out there, there arent many choices in terms of what local shop you can frequent, even more so now that so many of them are closing their doors. If you live in a big city, there should be more than one, so I would not venture into “that part of town” just to buy a few packs of cards. When I got to California, I searched on google for shops in the area, and boy did I find some that were not in great areas. I drove by a few of them, but I didn’t stop. Why even waste your time? At that point, waiting the few days for your stuff to arrive from eBay or the internet is well worth the inconvenience.

Find a Shop That Takes Care of the Storefront

If the shop owner doesn’t care about his store, why should you? I went to a shop in Minnesota a few years back where I had to step over trash to get into the store. That is unacceptable. Then, the guy had old empty boxes strewn across the store, with his display cases in shambles. I didn’t even say hello before I walked out. Seriously, if I am going to spend more than five minutes in your store, its got to be clean and in tip top shape.

Find a Shop With A Nice Staff

This is almost the most important thing on the list, because without a nice staff, its almost impossible to have a good time. I have said before that shop owners fall into two categories. Old curmudgeons and nice people who will bend over backwards for you. There is no in between. I frequently stop by the Baseball Card Company in Chatsworth here in California, and the guys there are awesome. They know the ins and outs of the business and have really made an effort with each person that comes into the store. They will not hesitate to shoot the shit with you, and they are surprisingly good at remembering repeat customers. On the other hand, I worked a summer at a store in Minnesota that I thought would give me access to good prices on the stuff I liked, but the people who worked there with me were such jerks that I couldn’t stand it. Another store near where I used to live was owned by a guy who was infamous for being an asshole. I didn’t want to give him business because he sucked so much ass. If you are a shop owner reading this, be nice to your customers, even if it seems to be without benefit.

Find a Shop With Current Product

If the shop cant stock the latest releases for whatever reason, its tough to find justification not to go to another store that does. There is a shop in Woodland Hills here who only had wax from two years ago, and it was all way overpriced (ill get to that in a second). If you are going to force me into deciding between 2006 Triple Threads at 300 bucks a box or 2007 Topps Jumbo at 30 bucks a pack, im leaving. If you cant sell what you bought for your store, it’s a you problem, not a me problem. Slash the price, get some money out of it, and stock new stuff. Bottom line.

Find a Shop That Doesn’t Jack Up Prices

There is a difference between a premium retail price and charging way too much. Ill pay a 10-20% premium for retail shop wax because I know people gotta pay rent. But I am not paying 50% more than I would normally spend just because the shop owner thinks he can take me for an idiot. There is no reason for me to be punished for shopping at your store, especially when I can go a plethora of other places that don’t do it. Blowout cards is one click away, and I can order on my cell phone. You may cite that Panini is instituting a minimum retail price point, but I don’t think that will happen for the same reason why I wont pay a ridiculous price for wax or packs that shouldn’t be sold at that price. People hate high prices, so figure out other ways to make money elsewhere.

Find a Shop That Doesn’t Go By Book Value

I hate book value because many of the prices are drawn out of a hat by a disconnected person in texas. That person also answers to a bunch of other factors, like their advertisers, so BV becomes completely irrelevant. A card is worth ONLY what someone will pay for it, so don’t thump your price bible when you want to sell me something. I have gotten emails from numerous shops that have stopped carrying Beckett for that very reason, and they are much happier because of it. Customers are much more willing to barter on sell value than they would be on book value, and most of them think poorly of Beckett these days anyways.

Find a Shop That Treats Its Regulars Like Royalty

Its nice when you find a shop that understands that repeat business is the key to success. I have come across a lot of different people in my quest for a home shop, and I always go back to the ones that help out its repeat customers. A soft price on wax here, free supplies there, etc, etc. All of that is important with building a customer base, because people like feeling important, and people LOVE good prices. I was talking with an owner here in LA that actually would drive cases out to his “whales” when they couldn’t make it out to the store. THAT is customer service.

Find a Shop That Keeps Its Packs OUT OF REACH

This goes double for stores that sell more than cards. People like to search packs, find the thick ones, really get down and dirty in the box. If the boxes of packs are behind the counter, its much better. I think its also important to make sure that the shop doesn’t search the packs itself, as that is always a concern of those tiny shops in shadyville.

Find a Shop With a Communal Area

I have seen shops with leather couches, shops with HDTVs, shops that hold super bowl parties. All of these things are awesome. Couches cost nothing when you have the space, and makes everything seem like that much better of a place to hang out. Plus, with customers hanging around the store, they usually buy stuff, too. Win win situation.

Find a Shop With Food and Drinks

This is playing off the communal area thing, because having a fridge of soda and snacks can be really handy when hanging out. It prolongs my visit, and when you prolong my visit, my credit card takes a few extra punches. This isnt essential, but its nice.

Find a Shop With Events

Events are fun for everyone. Player signings, parties, pack wars, release events, all of these are fun to go to because there are usually a lot of people all there for the same thing. Here in LA, there are shops that have entire weekends built around the rookie premiere, and it is fucking sweet. Last year I met Beanie Wells, the year before, DeSean Jackson. This year should be no different, and I hope I will still be around when it happens again.

That’s what I have for now, but Im sure there are more reasons to go to your local shop. In all honesty, places like Blowout have made retail shops look silly with their prices, especially because they do so well with advertising. I will never hestitate to buy my big orders online, but when I just want a few packs and a place to hang out, the LCS is a much better solution. Im not going to go and spend hundreds of dollars there, but Ill spend enough to make it worth MY while. Plus, its torture to not walk out of the store with a few packs when you have to stock up on snap cases or something similar.

A Horrible Look At The Hobby Shop and My Ranting Response

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Last week I read a pretty interesting article over on VOTC about the reasons a card shop would be having problems and I couldn’t help but feel angry over the way this guy wrote the article. It was written like a timeline and detailed the state of the shop from the 80s through now. Basically, I got such a vibe off it that it made it seem like the whaaaaah-bulance was driving right by my window. I believe quite a few other people got the same vibe because Rob, in addition to a few others, wrote their own piece in response.

Im not going to sit here and lay out my plans for opening a shop, because in this day and age, it’s a credit death sentence. Yet, for some reason, in this article, this author thought that shop owners were arrogantly entitled to a castle despite the fact that this scenario had shown that little to nothing was done to ensure this shop’s survival other than an ill fated attempt at a pack war. In any other industry, even those that are thriving, when you fail to move with the times, you will get swept under the riptide. All I got out of this recount was “eBay sucks.”

Instead of going out and finding new ways of getting customers through the door, all I saw this hypothetical owner tried in the article was relying on his “whales” to drum up cash to run the store. He even went as far as saying that he couldn’t afford a web page. Give me a fucking break. I pay less than 10 bucks a year for SCU.com and you are telling me you cant find anyone willing to help you with that? Give me five minutes and ill find someone on a message board with the know how to do it, and ill have the page up in less than 4 hours.

See, the problem is that you can never expect someone to do shit for you, you have to do it yourself. Just going into work everyday at the shop would never be enough, as everyone needs marketing and a community. Luckily for everyone, building a reputation and followers is easy through sites like FCB, blogs, and even SCF. If he had taken the time to account for new directions instead of relying on tactics that were good 20 years ago, things may have turned out different.

Normally I would have simpathy for someone who is losing their business, trust me. However, when post on a national site that you are pissed that things tend to happen this way, all while showing little evidence that old fashioned owners are trying to turn the tables, I lose that sympathy. At least show me that eBay consignment was considered, that a try at a bid board in the shop was done, or even had low cost events that were publicized on the internet, rather than saying “he just went into work each day.” No one says that the american dream is realized by just showing up, you have to work harder than you ever thought possible to make it work. Then when the going gets rough, you either move on, or you adapt, you don’t complain about a changing world. Yes, the 90s were good because everyone and their mother had a baseball card shop and there was demand to match the supply, but that doesn’t mean you have a license to rest on those laurels. Its offensive to read an article like that, mainly because its meant to imply the sky is falling on a once great industry when really the hobby itself is in no danger as long as you know how to tap those resources. If you don’t know how to tap the resources, then you need to learn, and that comes through the massive community of people we have built.

Arrogance and entitlement are turn offs, and you can bet that people catch on to that very quickly. If you sit in the shop all day talking about the good ole days and how you are losing touch, people will echo your feelings by leaving. Ill give you an example. I was in a shop in woodland hills, california a while back and all I could see wall to wall were overpriced singles. In fact, the shop didn’t even have recent boxes or packs for sale, most of the wax was older than the beginning of the year. Then I hear the employee in the back leaning against the cases, talking about how eBay has put a dent in his sales. Maybe its because you are relying on singles priced at hi book rather than investing well in your store. Instead of buying thousands of cards at 1/4 book when they sell for about that much, maybe buy at below eBay price and sell for more? Don’t tell me you are trying to sell me a 5 dollar card for 30 bucks because you paid 10 for it.

Listen, I know its expensive to keep the walls stocked with wax, but that’s where shop owners need to build on their previous business models. You will not be able to survive without new wax, mainly because people wont come if you don’t have it. That means dumping singles sales and focusing on more important things that will bring more people as well as more money. There is just no money to be made in singles anymore, so stop spending that cash when it could be used elsewhere. Focus on providing services for customers who may be in your previously uninformed position. If someone comes in with a box full of 1987 cards, don’t buy them for the store, consign them to sell for the customer and take a percentage from the eBay sale. Chances are, even the crappiest of cards can sell on eBay, and all you need to do is charge for the service.

Im sorry for the long, poorly written rant, I just get quite worked up when someone acts the way this “shop owner” did in the article. I get that my ramblings are just that, but there is truth in what the net has been saying. Basically, if you live by the rule that the internet is your friend rather than your enemy, things will be that much easier for you. That’s the bottom line. Beckett isnt the number one authority anymore, they are just a disconnected magazine in texas with problems. The internet community can make or break your shop. Play your cards right.