It’s been an interesting few weeks in the hobby.
Auctions launching– and succeeding– during a pandemic. Grading companies stopping and starting and stopping again. Trading card makers working on future products but not able to ship. Hobby shops forced to close and hunting for ways to keep the revenue flowing.
One long-time store that’s seen the hobby’s best and worst of times is D.J.’s Sports Cards in Renton, WA. Owner Don Joss is making it work thanks in part to a strong time in the hobby.
“It’s almost like nothing has affected the sports card market. A lot of card prices have gone up,” he told Art Thiel of Sports Press Northwest. “It’s almost been immune, and maybe helped, by the fact there is nothing to watch.’’
Read the rest of the story here.
In Buffalo, Bases Loaded Sports Collectibles owner Jeff Szczesek has gone to a drive-thru approach to selling items from his shop. He’s also putting more items up for auction. One of his recent buyers was Jed Lowrie, the Mets infielder who’s an avid collector. While not having customers in the shop is a challenge, it beats being totally closed.
A few miles away, Dave and Adam’s co-founder and CEO Adam Martin says the company’s giant retail location is obviously hurting from a government ordered shutdown and the company has turned its attention to its online business. “With everything bad that’s going on there still are people at home who are buying. The demand on Amazon has been incredible,” he told The Athletic, which visited with both businesses this week.
Earlier this week, I spoke with Rick Limpert, host of The Tech of Sports podcast, about the hobby in this unusual time. You can listen below.
The market for Michael Jordan memorabilia is heating up ahead of the much-anticipated ESPN documentary on the 1990s Bulls.
Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune wrote about it Wednesday.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has reached the $100,000 mark in donations to support the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) 100 Million Mask Challenge through the sale of Dr. Anthony Fauci bobbleheads.
In less than a week since launching the bobblehead to honor Dr. Fauci, people from all 50 states and over a dozen countries have purchased the bobblehead. On Tuesday night, Dr. Fauci’s bobblehead became the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s best-selling bobblehead of all time, surpassing Sister Jean’s bobblehead, which went viral during the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
The Bobblehead Hall committed to donating $5 from every Dr. Fauci Bobblehead sold to support of AHA’s 100 Million Mask Challenge through the new Protect the Heroes Campaign. The bobbleheads are only available for pre-order through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store for $25 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order. Five dollars from every bobblehead sold will continue to be donated in support of the 100 Million Mask Challenge.
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