SMP Sportscards of Grapevine, Texas began in the back of a gas station. Now, the shop is the national champion in the NBA's "Hobby Shop Makeover" contest. Ever box up 61,000 wrappers?
There should be no shortage of 2006-2007 NBA basketball cards in the marketplace. One shop alone collected the wrappers from 61,000 unopened packs. It was enough to give SMP Sportscards a makeover, courtesy of the league.
The NBA Hobby Shop makeover contest (inspired by either Oprah or Divine Design--we''re not sure which) drew plenty of entries. Thirty-five shops from across the country were finalists in a promotion that required them to collect wrappers from opened packs of consumer's NBA trading cards. The promotion officially tipped off Dec.1, 2006 and ran through Feb. 28, 2007. Participating hobby shop owners reported a 40 percent average sales increase of NBA trading cards over the previous year due to their shop's participation in the promotion.
"There are bigger shops out there, but none of them have customers as great as we do," said SMP owner Scott Pierce.
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SMP Sportscards of Grapevine, Texas began in the back of a gas station. Now, the shop is the national champion in the NBA's "Hobby Shop Makeover" contest. Ever box up 61,000 wrappers? 
