Since the last time I wrote, we celebrated a wonderful Christmas Day with our close family. Most importantly, we had another magical day with our daughter Isabella. To see a four-year-old enjoy Christmas morning is pretty spectacular in every way. With the holiday falling as it did, we enjoyed a three-day weekend, so that was pretty special as well.
Even on even on Christmas Day itself, I couldn’t fully escape the shipping process as my daughter opened up her Shopkins mini toys and found a few objects that look very familiar with my everyday routine at the shop.
I just can’t escape shipping boxes and packing tape.
Did I Write That?
I also wanted to follow up on a topic I addressed here about a few weeks ago and not be ashamed to admit I was wrong about current card demand. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the amount of Topps product we were receiving and how I couldn’t see us selling everything we were bringing in but in fact, we are completely sold out of the 2023 Allen & Ginter Baseball hobby boxes that I thought we were heavy on.
Since then, in-store and via our online shop, we sold down much of our inventory of 2023 Museum Collection, 2023 Topps Tier One, and even our 2021 Topps Platinum Anniversary Edition to the point of just having a few boxes on our shelves and maybe a few more in the back room.
So, it turned out that, we as a business, were able to make a few bucks on each box, we got to supply customers with something to open or give as a gift. It turned out the market was absolutely able to bear the amount of product we got… and maybe even a bit more. Of course our pricing helps–we’re always among the lowest in the country– but I was happy to be wrong in this case.
Adley Aggregation
It’s always fun when collectors open boxes in the shop so we can see what they pull. Our friend and longtime customer Zack dropped in and asked me to pick him a box to buy. After choosing the one that shouted out to me, he proceeded to pull an Adley Rutschman on card rookie auto numbered to 199 copies. No, I’m not clairvoyant, but it was fun to think so for a minute or two.
Later that day, I was on my lunch break and got a text from another good customer, John Cole, who sent me a picture of you, guessed it, an Adley Rustchman on-card rookie auto numbered to 199 copies that he just pulled from one of our boxes while I was at lunch. At that rate, I’m tempted to open my own box to add one of those awesome Adley autos to my PC.
New Arrivals
I can only speak for myself, but I know I was really excited to see the new 2023 Prizm Football blasters make their way to the store. To add to our fun pack ripping stories of the week, let me throw this one out there. I decided to grab a blaster out of a full case and my cousin Dave was here, too. I hit a nice Puka Nacua base RC early on. I had a thick pack that held a Stetson Bennett Rookie Gear Prizm memorabilia card and low and behold, I pulled an Orange Lazer parallel of Houston Texans superstar rookie C.J. Stroud. We were both excited and shared a laugh and a first bump. And then Dave decided to join in on the fun and open a blaster of his own. I walked away for a second and I hear him let out a little bit of a yell and as I look over, I see he’s pulled Stroud’s silver Prizm RC in the very next blaster box out of the case.
Technically, I pulled both boxes, so I maybe I should have kept my hot hand going. I stopped while I was way ahead.
For whatever reason, Thursday was the day of customers bringing in cards to sell to the shop. I always say I’ll buy any collection at the right price. I purchased a 17-binder, yes 17-binder, collection organized by team of mostly football cards with a bit of baseball included.
My mind was telling yes but my body was telling me no. Mentally, I was thinking about how I could break this collection down piece by piece, grind it out and sell cards individually. But then my body realized I would be the one doing the work.
Of course, I’m going to do just that.
The owner was out of the shop this week down at the beach house in the Carolinas (I think he’s about to become a Panthers fan he’s down there so much), so we banded together as a team and had a super smooth week in all aspects of business. We were looking forward to another three-day weekend and ringing in the New Year with our friends and family and hope you had a great holiday as well.
Related Stories:
Shop Talk: Prizm Prowess, Whatnot and What Not, Shady Online Return
Notes: Big Stroud Pull; $3K Card Theft at Walmart; MA Show; Leaf Signs HS QB; MeiGray Expo
May Was a Record Month for Trading Card Grading
Shop Talk: Price Barrier Concerns, Restocks and a Young Vintage Card Fan
Shop Talk: Prizm, Pre Sales and Power Slams
Shop Talk: Let’s Talk About Flex, BGS and UPS
Shop Talk: 2022 Topps Chrome Baseball, Football Figures and Entertaining Customers
Shop Talk: New Products, Walk-Ins Welcome; Long Awaited Ohtani and Trout Returned to Sender
