What’s Hot (Besides the Broncos) in the Shop

As I’m sitting here trying to decide what the rank 1-5 on this installment of What’s Hot, I’m torn between picking five releases and offering a slightly different slant on things.

For those of you who know me well, you of course know that I’m going to go with the different slant on things. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

1- The Denver Broncos – Am I biased? Yes. Do I care? Nah. For the first time ever in my What’s Hot column, a team comes in at #1 instead of a product. While I do not expect the Super Bowl champions to be on the top of the charts for shops throughout the land, in Aurora where my shop is located, the Von Miller led champs not only get the pleasure of a call from the President, but top billing in this area.

Back in 1998, when they took down the 14 point favorite Green Bay Packers, while my friends were screaming about how John Elway finally had a championship, I was jumping up and down yelling, “I’m rich! I’m rich!” While it might have temporarily changed my tax bracket, winning that night and the year after legitimized Johnny, Terrell, Sharpe and so many more players for the last two decades.

Thursday night, we were scheduled to host Broncos kicker Brandon McManus and if our autograph session a month ago with Derek Wolfe is any indication, I’m warning my neighbors that there will be a line in front of their stores for an hour or so.

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Since winning earlier this week, we have had to work hard to keep our Broncos single card case from having more gaps than the dental records of David Letterman, Michael Strahan and Madonna combined.

2- Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day – Yup, swerve #2. In case any manufacturers or leagues are paying attention, please feel free to work with your exclusive manufacturers and offer a National MLB, NBA or NFL Card Day yourselves. Just let shops purchase 50 packs, throw in a stellar rookie as a bonus card and offer some randomly inserted autographs.

This past Saturday, in 10 hours, my store moved 97 boxes of Upper Deck NHL cards and had a five digit day with hockey cards when everyone in Denver was getting ready for some other game that was going to be played the next day.

3- 2016 Topps Series 1 MLB – Yeah, yeah, yeah I can only talk about things that affect my store and loads of shops in Canada for only so long. 2016 Topps 1 baseball arrived last week in time to signal the changing of the sports seasons. In particular collectors have been amped to bust jumbo boxes with three hits each as they work to complete their sets.

It is a testimonial to the popularity and staying power of a product when shredders know full well that a factory set will eventually release with all the series 1 & 2 cards and they still come in on release day to work on their annual set quest.

4- 2015-16 SP Game Used NHL – Back in the same style as last year with four or five hits per single pack box, we are flying through boxes and cases as breakers chase the elusive Connor McDavid rookies as well as the numerous different autograph and relic sets.

We hosted a 10-box break as part of our NHCD promotion and filled it up without any problem. While we were not able to #CollectConnor in our case, we did not suffer a shortage of star players and autographed rookie lettermen.

5- 2015 Donruss Signature Series NFL – After taking 2013 and 2014 off from offering Panini Prime Signatures, Donruss Signature more than satisfies those looking for signed singles. Instead of the one autographed card with three other cards, It instead offers four autographs per single pack box with one being a signed relic card. So far we have seen our fair share of stars coupled with some names you know if you play deep in fantasy football. Either way, it has remained a strong seller since hitting a few weeks back.

So there you have it, the freshest What’s Hot In The Shop. I’m guessing the shops in the Carolinas might feel a bit differently than I do and you know what, that’s ok too. Now to hope the line for Brandon blocks the entrances for the shops a few down from me for a good hour or so.

Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, CO. Normally, his column focuses on what products are selling best in hobby shops. He’s got thousands of cards for sale on COMC.com under the ID cardmn5150. Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter. Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook and you can email him at [email protected]