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 around town at certain establishments to make sure that everything was still okay… and it was. Within a few minutes of seeing their faces, in walked our character of a customer, Nathan, who we affectionately call “Prim” because he always leaves the “z” out of Prizm when he’s talking about the product. In addition to all of that excitement, our former part-time helper Matt, who was basically relieved of his duties recently as we’ve slowed down and need less help day-to-day, was M.I.A., too. We hadn’t seen him for weeks either, but his dad stopped in to pick up a few things and let us know that everything was fine there as well. When it rains, it pours as they say.
A somewhat reoccurring request happened a few times on the same day this week, which kept it top of mind with me. We had a customer call the shop from out of state who wanted to buy multiple boxes, if not cases of cards, and wanted us to waive the taxes that would be accrued. We run an above board business and pay more than our fair share of taxes. It’s something where we can’t look the other way or gloss over when it comes to purchases in our store. Shortly after taking a phone call, we had a guy at the register who asked me if he paid in cash if we could knock the tax off. Again, we’d love to not have to pay taxes, too. Unfortunately, that’s the cost of doing business on both hands of the spectrum as a buyer and seller.
2022-23 Prizm Basketball hobby dribbled its way into our shop this week.
I must admit, I’m less thrilled than I was in previous years for Prizm and all other new releases for that matter. I think there are a few reasons for that. One is that many of the hot shot rookies’ seasons are already over. It would be nice to pull cards and see these while Paolo Banchero is dunking, rebounding and swatting shots on the court, not while he is sitting at home like I am. Secondly, I’ve seen so much junk come out of boxes and packs over the last two plus years that it’s really hard to get overly excited for a lot of the products that I used to be really excited to see.
For a box that retails for right around 600 bucks, we might get half to two thirds of our loot back as our Shaedon Sharpe rookie auto is getting a little traction online. We didn’t see any of the big base or colorful rookies and our second auto was Kelly Olynyk.
Speaking of basketball, as the regular season came to an end and the playoffs are in full swing, some of the bigger young stars in the league have taken lumps in the hobby including New Orleans Pelicans one time phenomenon Zion Williamson and Dallas Mavericks wunderkind Luka Doncic.
Collectors have always had little patience with often injured young superstars or even veterans, for that matter. This is clearly the case with Zion at this point in his career as he’s missed more games than he’s played and even raised a few eyebrows with why he wasn’t playing late this season. The market on his cards is about as cold and low as it has ever been as you can find his rookie year stuff for almost pennies on the dollar in relation to pandemic prices. Unfortunately, there’s still room to drop and that’s exactly what will happen if the one year Duke baller doesn’t come back healthy and playing next year. It’s a very uneasy time to be a Zion “investor”.
Doncic averaged well over 32 points per game to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists, so his play and his stats are elite but his team inexplicably missed the playoffs, even after adding Kyrie Irving to the mix. The majority of Luka’s cards have taken a massive downturn recently, in part due to the lack of playoff viability and the volatility of the Mavs in the seasons ahead. It also doesn’t help that the modern sports card market continues what’s been a bit of a general downturn.
With that all being said, I am very much an optimist (really, I am) it’s a great time to be a sports card collector as the NBA and NHL Playoffs are heating up, the Major League Baseball season is in full swing and we are on the heels of the upcoming NFL Draft. All of those can impact the market. Fun and interesting times ahead for the hobby, no doubt.
Related Stories:
Shop Talk: Local Card Show Quietly Thriving, MLB Opening Day and NBA Alphabet Soup
Records for Soccer, Golf Cards at Goldin Auctions
Shop Talk: Hottest Card Products Year to Date
Shop Talk: Adding Icons to the Inventory, Hotlanta Braves Items, Wrasslin’ Sells
Curry, Kobe Jerseys Headline Goldin’s July Sports Auction
Shop Talk: Chrome Complaints, Slow Sellers, Weekend Warriors
Shop Talk: Taking Ownership, Communication is Key, Piles of Product
