It was yet another week full of shipping and receiving at the shop...and I'm not just talking sports cards. Midweek, we received our semi-regular shipment of skids of bags, purses, and similar non-sports items. Our shop carries a line of backpacks, purses, wallets and other similar accessories that are in various licensed categories from Disney to Nickelodeon, Marvel, … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Beyond the Cardboard, Wishing for Wembanyama, “Dog Water”
Hobby Shop Talk
Shop Talk: New Prizm Basketball, Falling Stars, Trying to Tangle with the Tax Man
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– It was a really fun week at the shop as a few of our long-term customers we hadn't seen in awhile made their way back into the store. We were beyond excited to see Jeff and Harriet as we hadn't seen them in since before Christmas. I became so concerned that I even asked … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: New Prizm Basketball, Falling Stars, Trying to Tangle with the Tax Man
Shop Talk: Stocks and Restocks, Teenymates, T-Law Treasures, Collectors After Adley
It's been a great start to the month for restocks on current and previous years' baseball, basketball and football cards. From hobby to retail, we've gotten a bunch of stuff in lately (this single picture doesn't do it justice). I was talking to my coworker early this week as we checked in piles and piles of new products. I was thinking how sad the state of affairs has become … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Stocks and Restocks, Teenymates, T-Law Treasures, Collectors After Adley
Shop Talk: Chromey Club, Slow Sellers, Feasting on Fusion, Easter Basket Execution
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– It was another great week of new card releases across many major (and minor) sports. We saw the shiny new and delayed 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Baseball the first time this week. With Shohei Ohtani being the cover athlete the box itself is a great … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Chromey Club, Slow Sellers, Feasting on Fusion, Easter Basket Execution
What’s Hot, Merging Edition
Bluto: "What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is!" Usually I use this space to share What's Hot in my card shop or shops overall. This time I'd like to share a slightly different report and also apologize for not contributing as much as I should have recently. I've been a bit distracted and I hope this sheds some light as to why … [Read more...] about What’s Hot, Merging Edition
Shop Talk: PSA Return; 2020 Contenders Football Left Behind; What’s Hot–and Not
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– Throw this into the "we should have done this ten years ago" file but we were excited to receive our first PSA return from our newly established dealer account. Yes, it is hard to believe that we didn't have a dealer account for the past few years but that was not my call … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: PSA Return; 2020 Contenders Football Left Behind; What’s Hot–and Not
Shop Talk: Redemption Ridiculousness, Big In-Store Spenders, Prizm Football Drops
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– One of the things that caught my eye this week didn't happen in our shop but it has heavy hobby-wide implications and has for quite some time now. I'm talking about the hobby wide car wreck that is the redemption process. One story on social media caught my eye. … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Redemption Ridiculousness, Big In-Store Spenders, Prizm Football Drops
Shop Talk: End of the Line for the Big Collection, Sudden Walmart Baseball Card Sales, Thin Margins
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– This week, we saw what would be the last of the customer with the incredibly large sports card collection for sale. Long gone are the four and five row boxes. Now in recent trips, we've been seeing the small shoe boxes, the 100, 200 count boxes full of random, dusty … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: End of the Line for the Big Collection, Sudden Walmart Baseball Card Sales, Thin Margins
Shop Talk: New Arrivals; Lost and Found; Vintage Time Capsule Walk-In
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– It was a sports card heavy week at the shop, which as you know by now, is my favorite kind of week. We got a ton of restocks, new releases, and all kinds of cards to fill our shelves. We recently did box breaks on 2022 Bowman Inception Baseball (gorgeous product), 2022 … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: New Arrivals; Lost and Found; Vintage Time Capsule Walk-In
Shop Talk: Taking Ownership, Communication is Key, Piles of Product
Tony Reid chronicles the happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania store where he works. —– The shop's owner was in the Carolinas again last week as he continues the process of remodeling a recently purchased retail spot for a future Sports Zone location. I haven't really gone too deep into this aspect of hobby shop management in past pieces, but when the owner … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Taking Ownership, Communication is Key, Piles of Product