I’ve joked (it’s not really a joke) for quite some time now to anyone that would listen that we are in an era that reminds me a lot what was happening in the hobby about 35 years ago, just with shinier cards. This week only moved to solidify that thought and expand it to include non-shiny stuff, too.
Over my five- plus years working every day in a card shop, there has been an endless tug of war, a non-stop carrot dangling or some version of give and take when it comes allotments in the trading card world. Whether it be direct from the manufacturer, distributor or other third party, that’s always been one of the biggest challenges in supplying our customers and stocking our shelves with sports cards. Even with a product hungry customer base, we could never get what we wanted.
Until now.
Our shelves are overflowing with Topps Baseball product for the first time that I can remember, and when I say overflowing, I mean we have our shelves beyond full and we have multiple cases of nearly every single current Topps product in our backroom. Getting it sold is another story.
To clarify, excess product has generally not been the case for us or for most other shops. In the past, we’d typically get our initial allotment and maybe a second chance to reorder at an increased price and that was pretty much the end of it.
We have, even today, more 2023 Topps Heritage blasters than we could ever sell. We were able to restock case after case after case. We now them for $10 on our shelf and can’t sell them. We’re into them for right around $8–a pretty great price for any box. They’re everywhere in stores and online, typically at discounted prices.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. A product I used to really enjoy, Allen & Ginter has made its way to our shop no less than seven times so far in 2023 and the quantities we can order keep getting larger and larger and larger. Initially, we got a case or two. The next order we were allotted four. A few orders later, we had the opportunity to grab five cases and most recently, we could grab no less than nine (more) cases of Ginter. We’re a relatively small store so I can’t even imagine the quantities of product that a huge card shops could get on these products. We’re selling them at under $100.
One one hand, we appreciate the opportunity to have product available to anyone who wants it, but with the declining market and the eye opening example that Heritage has set, most of these restocks might be a losing proposition.
Sadly, this just isn’t limited to low end products as 2023 Topps Tier One and 2023 Topps Museum Collection have also been made available for almost unlimited reorders. These are two mid to higher-end releases and generally attractive products but we just have cases and cases of each in the back and plenty online and that’s never, ever been, no pun intended, the case.
On Thursday alone, we received upwards of 40 cases of Topps product after multiple reorders, so it just keeps flowing. The owner even pulled up an email he received offering additional quantities we could get from Topps and he was excited to do so. My first thought was how scary it is that we can continue to get this much product. Right now, the demand is not meeting the supply–at least in our shop.
I feel like I’m looking at the wood-paneled 1987 Topps baseball cards now when I look at anything from 2023. Collectors want access to product at reasonable prices, but they don’t want a flooded market, either.
Will Someone Plug in the Charger(s)
Thursday evening offered up one of the craziest Thursday Night Football games in a long time as the Raiders hung 63 points on the hapless Chargers. With some quick turnovers and splash plays that game was over before it started. Unfortunately for the Chargers, they were without their star wide receiver Keenan Allen and their franchise quarterback Justin Herbert.
I understood the hype surrounding Herbert for a time, but his career isn’t off to an encouraging start. He’s putting up some incredible stats as a young quarterback but so are ten other young players. Now he’s on the sidelines due to injury and his team is about as sad as it gets. A few weeks ago, I was talking to someone in the shop and I said I wouldn’t be surprised if Justin Herbert is Philip Rivers 2.0 or even Dan Fouts 3.0. All incredibly talented quarterbacks that put up mind-numbing stats but were never able to make it happen in the playoffs, let alone in the Super Bowl. The former Oregon star could easily be a top five all time leading passer, but he’s a long way from raising a Lombardi Trophy. I hope collectors who went heavy into his cards during the crazy days that surrounded his arrival aren’t in too deep. Such is the life of gambling on prospects.
Holiday Madness
After a crazy busy time shipping orders that weren’t sports card related on Friday–much of it done in the chilly air outside our shop for space reasons–I was back at the store Saturday. The holiday season had customers flowing in non-stop. I was the only one on the sales floor, and there were anywhere between four and 12 people there for a few hours straight.
So, trying to keep up with the young kids that wanted to look at 20 different stacks of cards, our regular customers, new customers and people who need things throughout the store, made Saturday a rather busy shift as well.
This was the bookend on a week that started on Monday with nearly 600 orders to open the day. We literally filled up the USPS truck and the UPS truck that day, with everything from remote control cars to action figures and, of course, cards.
Our good buddy John Simpson surprised our staff with Christmas presents mid week. It was so nice to see one of our special customers take the time to buy each of us a thoughtful gift.
He bought me a blaster box of SAGE Artistry football cards, of which I pulled a few nice rookies. This really made our day and I wanted to thank John here in Shop Talk.
That wraps up my rather long week. After work on Saturday, I met my wife and daughter at the gym and then spent the weekend doing holiday stuff and enjoying each other’s company–something I am greatly looking forward to during the next couple of weeks, cherishing every moment.
Here’s hoping everyone reading this is trying their best to enjoy the bright spots of a blessed holiday season.
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