Tony Reid offers his weekly dose of happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania shop where he works. —– This week started off with the announcement from Topps regarding the MVP Buyback program. The store's owner and I were on a Zoom call with various shops and Topps officials just a day prior to the announcement. We are one of the very few stores … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Topps MVP Buyback, Thanksgiving Day Cards, Black Friday Fun
Hobby Shop Talk
Brief Box Break: 2021 Leaf Valiant Baseball
It's dated 2021, but Leaf Valiant Baseball was actually released not long ago. For those who like products with plenty of autos and nothing else, Valiant does fit the bill. The five card box boasts four autographed cards plus one graded autograph card (BGS 9.5 or better) or a 1/1 pre-production slabbed autograph proof card. That's a mouthful. The primary … [Read more...] about Brief Box Break: 2021 Leaf Valiant Baseball
Shop Talk: Fishing for Trout, Holiday Prep, Local Card Show
The gentleman who stopped by the shop with a stack of cards last week including a nice 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout RC that I purchased, was back in the store this week, casting a line deep into the water and pulling more out of the Trout stream in his closet. This week, he was carrying another group of cards he was looking to sell, including another Trout Update … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Fishing for Trout, Holiday Prep, Local Card Show
Shop Talk: Online Sales Spike, Advanced Collectors, a Nice Walk-In
With the shop owner out of town, the rest of us pulled together to handle business this week and there was plenty to do. We had some new products to offer, a lot of stuff to ship thanks to a retail giant, a nice walk-in and a chat with one of the hobby's more advanced collectors who had just made an important decision. New Arrivals; Walmart Departures We saw a wide variety of … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Online Sales Spike, Advanced Collectors, a Nice Walk-In
What’s Hot: Honest Breaking and the Top 5 Sellers
I'm sitting down a bit later than I should be to offer up what's been hot at my shop over the past month (and ten days) after breaking a case of 2022 Panini Certified NFL (which took three hours from start to finish). The overwhelming amount of collectors in our breaks are regulars from the shop who I see each time they sign up and then pick up their singles. It means … [Read more...] about What’s Hot: Honest Breaking and the Top 5 Sellers
Shop Talk: Cheat Codes on Crown Royale Boxes, Scent of a Stafford (Wrapper), Phils Done Fightin’
One of the more interesting recent developments in the hobby is the apparent code cracking capabilities in determining what boxes hold the coveted Kaboom insert cards in 2021-22 Crown Royale Basketball. It seems the serial numbers on certain boxes are a key to knowing which box contains a case hit. It's an interesting matter for us on many levels and I wanted to dig in a … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Cheat Codes on Crown Royale Boxes, Scent of a Stafford (Wrapper), Phils Done Fightin’
Shop Talk: Taking Stock of New Arrivals; New Product Line; New Shop
It was another great week for sports card releases with new boxes from every major sport arriving in a short time span. Tipping it off, we got a few cases of 2021-22 Select Basketball hobby boxes. It's a higher end product at over $600 per box, our box rippers have been reluctant to bite so far as we've only sold a couple thus far, even with our price considered among … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Taking Stock of New Arrivals; New Product Line; New Shop
Shop Talk: Phillies Fever, Football Figures, Repacks and New Releases
We sit pretty much right between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh so we have a strong fan base for both cities and all of their respective teams in our store. As you might imagine, Phillies fans have been waiting for a team to get excited about again and Sunday night it finally happened with the team reaching the World Series for the first time since 2009. Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Phillies Fever, Football Figures, Repacks and New Releases
Shop Talk: Falling Prices, Distributor “Deals”, Silver Packs Distribution
It was a bit of a sobering week at the shop in terms of sports cards and prices.We probably don't comp and adjust the pricing of our sealed boxes and packs as much as we should. There can be a lot to do on any given day and with little help, sometimes this very important task falls through the cracks...until it cracks us right in the face. Well, we went down our lineup … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Falling Prices, Distributor “Deals”, Silver Packs Distribution
Shop Talk: Manic Monday, Playing Pickett, Slow Saturday
Tony Reid offers his weekly dose of happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania shop where he works. —– Although I was off last Sunday, the shop and the hobby was definitely on my mind. Being based in Pennsylvania, we're very much in tune with the Steelers, especially the quarterback situation. The fact that Mike Tomlin finally called on number 8 could be very … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Manic Monday, Playing Pickett, Slow Saturday