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
Shop Talk
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
Shop Talk: Walk-in Card Sales, Chocolate Covered Jordan RC, Sounding Board for 1/1 Pull
Tony Reid offers his weekly dose of happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania shop where he works. —– It was a busy week at the shop, full of the buying and selling of cards of all kinds, but sometimes we also serve as a sounding board for collectors. In a recent break of 2022 Optic Football, a collector and good friend of mine had recently bought into a 2022 … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Walk-in Card Sales, Chocolate Covered Jordan RC, Sounding Board for 1/1 Pull
Shop Talk: Chrome Complaints, Slow Sellers, Weekend Warriors
The biggest piece of baseball card news this week was the missing SSPs from 2022 Topps Chrome Hobby boxes.The company recently announced that, through a communications issue, the short print rookie cards were never inserted. As you may have read in these pages late last week, Topps is going to release silver packs that will be handed out to those who ordered or bought boxes … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Chrome Complaints, Slow Sellers, Weekend Warriors
Shop Talk: 2022 Topps Chrome Baseball, Football Figures and Entertaining Customers
Tony Reid offers his weekly dose of happenings inside Sports Zone, the Central Pennsylvania shop where he works. ----- It was another week full of new releases at the shop. We managed to secure a solid amount of 2022 Topps Chrome baseball. One of the more popular products by any measure, we received hobby boxes, jumbo boxes and blaster boxes, all filling our shelves. A few … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: 2022 Topps Chrome Baseball, Football Figures and Entertaining Customers
Shop Talk: Fired Up for Football
It was a big new release week for sports cards, which is always a good week in my book. Like most shops, we have collectors who are ready to pounce when new products hit the shelf. 2022 Panini Donruss Elite Football is among the early arrivals for the new NFL season. It's sort of a middle of the road release in terms of price point and quality but it has always been a solid … [Read more...] about Shop Talk: Fired Up for Football