It seems like we have more and more people each and every day calling, inquiring and stopping in the store in person to ask about us purchasing their items. Once in a while it’s cards, memorabilia and other items we actually sell but more often than not, it’s stamps, trains, planes, NASCAR diecasts, McDonald’s paraphernalia and just about everything else under the sun.
It’s getting noticeably tougher out there in the world with the rising cost of so many daily necessities that many are looking to sell those non- essential items and in many cases, we happen to be the first stop. We try to be fair to those attempting things we can use and although we can’t buy everything from everyone that stops in, we do what we can and we try to offer advice to those from whom we can’t purchase anything.
During a rainy period last week, one man came in with what I assume was his young baby in a stroller, joined by another grown man, a woman who I assume is the baby’s mother as well as a few other young kids in tow who were running around the store. He had a number of items for us to take a look at including some of junk wax era cards.
He was clearly getting flustered and agitated as the kids were running around more and more. I tried to go through his stuff as fast as I could and be as open as honest as quickly as I could. I ended up buying a small stack of Star Wars cards from him just for stopping in. It’s not something we carry. Its not something we typically sell and nothing I’m interested in personally but I felt like he probably needed the few bucks more than I did.
We did buy a sizable card collection from Glen, one of our regular customers, this past week. He’s bought from us regularly over the years and he also manages to snag a lot of retail stuff that’s out in the wild. We managed to make a deal on the multitude of singles and other items he had and spent the better part of the day sorting and organizing singles in baseball, basketball and football.
Like I’ve mentioned many times before in this series, there is nothing I like more than going through five row boxes on a mini treasure hunt. As shop owners all know, sometimes those boxes can hold some cards that have become real gems since they were first put in the box who knows how many years ago.
New Arrivals
There have been some pretty notable card releases since my last column. Our initial shipment of Topps Series 2 Baseball was rather small and it was to the point where we actually had customers leaving voicemail messages before and after business hours to reserve boxes of hobby and jumbo versions. By the time we opened the door we only had a few left on the shelf, which all sold rather quickly.
We also got 2022 Panini Absolute Baseball the same day but we still have plenty of that on the shelf. It was a case of bad timing for Absolute to release the same day as an iconic product such as a flagship Topps product.
On the football side, we scored a few boxes of 2021 Obsidian Football, all of which sold rather quickly online for right around $500, with four hits promised in each box.
At the moment, we are completely out of stock on the newest football releases, which seem to sell almost as quickly as we get them. There are a number of big ones on the horizon, so I think we will be OK.
For the second weekend in a row I had a Saturday off (imagine that!). After a busy week, my wife and I made the trek to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh for a country music concert to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We decided to go it alone whereas we usually have friends and family with us. It was nice to spend the evening with her and her alone.
Here’s to many, many more anniversaries and many, many more Shop Talk pieces.
Related Stories:
Shop Talk: For the Love of the Game
Shop Talk: Heritage Auctions Visit, Prizm WWE Release, Walk-In Collection
Shop Talk: Serving Up the Goods–and Bending an Ear– During NFL Playoff Time
Shop Talk: Holiday Shopping and Shipping, Employee Appreciation, PSA 10 Packs
Shop Talk: Rain Problems, New Product, Breaks, UPS Changes
Shop Talk: Becoming a Shop with Teeth, Basketball Bricks, National FOMO
Shop Talk: Investing in Junk
Shop Talk: Vacations, Basketball Busy and Bear Clawed Babe
