13 Months and counting

[scotthenrichs]

That’s how long since I’ve last seen/bought retail basketball card packs (19-20 Prizm blaster) at retail prices, how crazy is that? Since then, it’s been empty shelves except for the occasional Pannini baseball product (and of course, Topps Update, lol)

[jlin2563]

Nice.

[drobfan8]

Which is scary because it means Panini could ramp it up even further.

We got a very small amount out here in Australia.

[gomiamigo]

18-19 college prizm was the last I saw in the wild.

Oh, that one day 2013 panini had like 4 packs out this spring. I left them for the kids.

[hanstess]

Only reason the prices keep going up is people are still buying them. I went to my local card shop today for supplies and they had multiple blasters with the tops cut off, selling individual packs. Crazy...

[mossoholic]

Basically every time I open facebook this is what you see from countless people in different sports card groups. This is one reason why I can't stop going out looking even though it is impossible for most of us.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Cr4AAOSwuUJf7oTG/s-l1600.jpg

[Pacmeyer]

I'm in SoCal aka sneakerhead central. No Prizm or Optic but have found Donruss, Contenders, and Mosaic sitting on shelves with no one else around. I can also count less than 10 times I went to Target and WM actually looking for basketball cards. Never staked out a store or followed a rep either.

If you're in the midwest somewhere and continually struck out you need to try some different stores or go further afield.

[DajuanWagner]

I'm in SoCal aka sneakerhead central. No Prizm or Optic but have found Donruss, Contenders, and Mosaic sitting on shelves with no one else around. I can also count less than 10 times I went to Target and WM actually looking for basketball cards. Never staked out a store or followed a rep either.

If you're in the midwest somewhere and continually struck out you need to try some different stores or go further afield.



I am in the midwest. Looks like I will be moving to SoCal to hunt for retail. Thanks for the heads up......

[kobebeast2020]

I'm sure others can relate, I went 23 years in btwn ripping packs :)

[Pacmeyer]

I am in the midwest. Looks like I will be moving to SoCal to hunt for retail. Thanks for the heads up......

haha you're about 6 months too late for having any hauls around here to yourself.

What I said still stands though. If you found hardly anything since last January try checking some other stores. There's a reason why your go-to Target a few minutes from your house, convenient to the freeway, near lots of other shopping etc. is always cleaned out.

[Topherfoy]

Gave up hunting for retail w my little dude not long after Prizm/ Optic, but just randomly scored. You will all be happy to know we ripped it all. We’re not in this hobby for the flip.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210101/0601b28b8c4d0112ba5fe09c3d0eef93.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stackfan]

Been about 13 months here as well.

I do like the idea of the hobby shop, selling blaster packs. I know my card store; has had issues keeping anything in stock as well, unless grossly inflating prices.

This is a hard fix... the simply answer is probably a direct to consumer approach, eliminating retail for the time being. I could see why they wouldn't want to do that. The stores can only "police" it so much. If it's been 13 months since finding any... i can't fault anyone for buying as much as they can afford. I know me personally... i'd rather all the retail gets moved to hobby shops... and they can sell as much as their customers dictate. Hot products have limits, where as the less desired stuff can be bought at a higher frequency. I know this help areas, without hobby shops... but maybe more would spring up, if this is the case.

Personally i've just switched to the hobby boxes. It's not worth driving to 20 stores, wasting my time/money, risk getting covid to seek out retail. I hope all those people that do, enjoy their few extra bucks they made this year... while spending hundreds of hours waiting, driving, and packaging and shipping blasters and other retail products.

[Brobocop]

Been about 13 months here as well.

I do like the idea of the hobby shop, selling blaster packs. I know my card store; has had issues keeping anything in stock as well, unless grossly inflating prices.

This is a hard fix... the simply answer is probably a direct to consumer approach, eliminating retail for the time being. I could see why they wouldn't want to do that. The stores can only "police" it so much. If it's been 13 months since finding any... i can't fault anyone for buying as much as they can afford. I know me personally... i'd rather all the retail gets moved to hobby shops... and they can sell as much as their customers dictate. Hot products have limits, where as the less desired stuff can be bought at a higher frequency. I know this help areas, without hobby shops... but maybe more would spring up, if this is the case.

Personally i've just switched to the hobby boxes. It's not worth driving to 20 stores, wasting my time/money, risk getting covid to seek out retail. I hope all those people that do, enjoy their few extra bucks they made this year... while spending hundreds of hours waiting, driving, and packaging and shipping blasters and other retail products.

The only “fix” to this is for demand to fall or supply to exceed demand, neither of which I foresee happening any time soon.

[suknives]

haha you're about 6 months too late for having any hauls around here to yourself.

What I said still stands though. If you found hardly anything since last January try checking some other stores. There's a reason why your go-to Target a few minutes from your house, convenient to the freeway, near lots of other shopping etc. is always cleaned out.


Trust me, even in the Midwest, every single store is accounted for lol

[DajuanWagner]

Trust me, even in the Midwest, every single store is accounted for lol



Agreed. I bet even my Illinois stalkers are hitting Wisconsin Wal-Marts......

[MaoAsadaStan]

Trust me, even in the Midwest, every single store is accounted for lol

NE Ohio Sports cards said every Monday at his Target there's 11 people waiting and they had to develop a digital check-in system to split the haul evenly.

To answer the question, I was able to pickup quite a bit of Illusions and Chronicles, havent seen any Prizm Draft or Hoop Chrome tho.

[asujbl]

I bought a pack of cards in 1997

Memories

[pharmboymatt]

Thought this was gonna be about a different kind of drought...

[Scottish Punk]

There are three Targets close to me. I found a couple hangers of NBA Prizm draft and that has been it for a loooooong time. I don't make trips there anymore to check. Only go when picking up other stuff. The whole shelf has been empty save for Baseball series 3, Upper Deck Hockey series 1 a couple of times, and Garbage Pail Kids.