Box busting parties, loyalty discounts and giveaways.
Trade nights with free pizza, reasonable prices and a big inventory.
All hallmarks of a fan friendly shop. All things that my local card shop doesn't have.
I dropped by the other day because I needed a couple of 5000 count storage boxes. They're overpriced, but I don't want to pay shipping to buy two or three at a time.
I usually pick up a pack or two of something just to satisfy the itch. My LCS will usually have a small variety of recent packs, all extremely over-priced. The owner actually had three unopened boxes of 2013 Allen & Ginter. They were priced at a cool $129.99. That's right, a full $50 over the price you can get them from Blowout or Dave and Adam's Cardworld. When they don't sell, you might think he would lower the price. Nope. They'll be sitting there, dusty, when next year's Ginter comes out.
I settled on a pack of 1996 SP. It turned out to be a fairly good pack, provided you define "good pack" as one that doesn't have any cards you want.
Boring package. I took the price tag off so you wouldn't know how much I overpaid.
It looks like Upper Deck had two designs that made the final cut and they decided to mash them both together into one card.
The most notable thing about this Carlos Delgado card is the fact that I need to clean my scanner.
I like how little Nomo is cutting his eyes at the wind up of big Nomo.
Hey...it's an Expo. Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else to say about this one.
Maybe it's just me, hopefully it's just me, but this card seems to be all about Percival's ass.
Ok, on to the good stuff. Relatively speaking. We got a Billy Wagner Premier Prospects.
The Special FX inserts were a 1:5 pack find. This Salmon will probably end up in a package to my local Angels collector.
Last, but not least, a Cal Ripken Collection insert. These were inserted 1:45 packs. So not too shabby for one pack. This card actually looks better in person. Don't they all?
I don't have a reasonable alternative to this LCS so I'll keep buying the occasional supply from him. Just in case the overpriced Ginter didn't convince you of the ridiculous prices, I've got one more piece of evidence. While I waited for the owner to finish with another customer, I was scrolling through one of his rotating display cases. I happened upon a row of the 2011 Topps 60 Inserts from a couple of years ago. They were priced at $4-$10 each. That's ridiculous. On Check Out My Cards they sell for 30 or 40 cents.
Maybe I'll open my own shop. Ha. That's a laugh.
Having no actual LCS myself, I've actually found halfway acceptable prices on supplies on Amazon. A couple years ago, when I was buying diapers and stuff for our kiddo, we signed up as Amazon Prime members, which gets you free 2nd-day shipping on everything. I kept the membership, and just this week I got 2 100 count boxes of binder pages and two BCW "Super Shoebox" boxes. I think the pages were $15 per box (same price @ blowout) and the boxes were $6 each (blowout only sells bundles of 25). So, for $42 and zero shipping, I was able to stock up.
ReplyDeleteOverpaying sucks, and it sucks that your LCS doesn't seem to care, or even adjust prices. I'd check out some of the alternatives out there. Paying for Amazon Prime, upfront, might seem more expensive, but getting hundreds of dollars in free shipping each year seems to even it out, at least for me.
DUDE! Am I your local Angels collector?? Great post. Shows you how desperate we can get when it comes to scratching that constant itch.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks. You should move.
ReplyDeleteI don't have one either but I may save your description in case I ever think about starting one.
ReplyDeleteMy LCS is like your LCS ... except with fewer cards.
ReplyDeleteI use Amazon for a lot of things outside of books and movies, including card supplies. There is usually plenty of selection and decent prices to be found on most things, especially considering the gas and time it takes to go out of my way to the LCS, which often doesn't even have the card supplies I want on-hand. Card pages? Sorry, all out. Penny sleeves? Nope. Card boxes? Check at the comic shop on the other side of town.
ReplyDeleteMy local LCS is much the same way. Last time I was in there I was looking at the boxes they had on hand, all behind the counter of course making me have to squint, and they wanted $85 for a hobby box of 2012 Topps S2 and $220, (TWO HUNDRED TWENTY!!!!) for a 2013 Bowman jumbo box. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThe shop is run by a father and son. The son is pretty knowledgeable but he is almost never there when I stop by. The father on the other hand seems to know next to nothing about the hobby. Its just a business to him.
It is sad that so many LCS have closed and likely will close. But many of the owners bring it on themselves with their asinine pricing practices. They can't compete with the online retailers/resellers and the retail scene and it is, at least in some cases, their own fault.
Time to name names. These reviews need to show up on google when people search for the shop.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of card shops close by. One is great and the other sounds a little like you are describing. Not the prices, but the guy who owns it can be annoying sometimes. He's rude to customers and doesn't know what he's talking about some of the time. I would love to own my own card shop, hence the name of my blog.
ReplyDelete