LCS seem pointless to anyone else?

[Mantlefan]

Let me start out by saying I love going to card shops. I’ll go miles out of my way on a road trip to visit one , but sometimes I just don’t see the point

I stopped by a new one that opened up within a month. It had a very weak selection, and the singles I comped were 30% ish maybe more over eBay

I just don’t get it. Especially now that I’ve been going to the Dallas card show where you can find great deals below eBay comps and basically find anything I want. I just can’t understand why I would go into a card store and spend over a eBay on a very limited selection. I totally respect the fact they have to make money.

I see where guys like Cardcolllector2 that go to Dallas and make deals at 80% , so he could sell at 100% of eBay and still make money, but it seems like these small stores are just buying stuff on eBay and hoping you’ll pay over comps ? Personally I’d rather save my money and go to a show

Also back 10 years or so ago you could go in and see all kinds of affordable hobby boxes. Now it seems like most shops I go to just have over priced retail blaster boxes.

[jduds]

I like the idea of one more than actually having one. Local comic stores though I find absolutely necessary for my enjoyment of comic reading ad collecting. Outside of pricing issues, I haven't quite figured out why one I find indispensable and the other I find bothersome.

[ThoseBackPages]

i wish there was one here to hate lol

[NCWolf]

I have one locally. It’s fairly new but the sole owner is not very friendly and charges about 15-20% over eBay comps for practically everything.

[mossoholic]

Originally Posted by Mantlefan

Let me start out by saying I love going to card shops. I’ll go miles out of my way on a road trip to visit one , but sometimes I just don’t see the point

I stopped by a new one that opened up within a month. It had a very weak selection, and the singles I comped were 30% ish maybe more over eBay

I just don’t get it. Especially now that I’ve been going to the Dallas card show where you can find great deals below eBay comps and basically find anything I want. I just can’t understand why I would go into a card store and spend over a eBay on a very limited selection. I totally respect the fact they have to make money.

I see where guys like Cardcolllector2 that go to Dallas and make deals at 80% , so he could sell at 100% of eBay and still make money, but it seems like these small stores are just buying stuff on eBay and hoping you’ll pay over comps ? Personally I’d rather save my money and go to a show

Also back 10 years or so ago you could go in and see all kinds of affordable hobby boxes. Now it seems like most shops I go to just have over priced retail blaster boxes.

There was a time in late 2021 I did some driving to card shops. Visited probably about a dozen in a 3 state radius. Every single store was priced above ebay. I don't think any of them were less than 20% over ebay. One guy was selling junk retail for double ebay. I was at DAC store and watched a guy spend over $2000 on wax he could of bought for probably around $500 less online. Just shows you what you see every day. Countless stupid people in this world.

It's kind of just like the big 3 now. Card shops and the big 3 used to be great. Best prices available online were the big 3. Card shops were a bunch of fun and you could open wax at great prices you at least wouldn't lose endless amounts of money on. Now big 3 more often than not are the highest price online or certainly not the lowest. Now card shops have the highest prices.

[Stech36]

There’s good and bad ones, the one you went to sounds like the latter.

[Coach Ditka]

Originally Posted by Mantlefan

Also back 10 years or so ago you could go in and see all kinds of affordable hobby boxes. Now it seems like most shops I go to just have over priced retail blaster boxes.

Don't most shops struggle to get any more than a few boxes of just about everything nowadays? They are left with no choice but to sell a lot of crappy retail blasters.

[hermanotarjeta]

Local card shops are great for being pawn shops.

If you want to trade in boxes or singles for other product, they are willing to deal.

If you need cash, they are willing to buy instantly.

Great source for supplies, and a fun place to hang out.

If you need something NOW, you can get it.

I don't mind paying a bit more for wax.

Then again, I was told I was one of the dumb ones.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Local card shops are great for being pawn shops.

If you want to trade in boxes or singles for other product, they are willing to deal.

If you need cash, they are willing to buy instantly.

Great source for supplies, and a fun place to hang out.

If you need something NOW, you can get it.

I don't mind paying a bit more for wax.

Then again, I was told I was one of the dumb ones.

i thought "stupid" was used?

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

i thought "stupid" was used?

LOL, see how dumb i am? I can't even get the insult correct!

My apologies to the others who are dumb out there.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

LOL, see how dumb i am? I can't even get the insult correct!

[RedLabelRecords]

I love checking out my local shop. But the truth is they’re pointless. Take for example a hobby box of heritage high number. They’re going for $100 at my lcs. Stadium Club goes for $140. I can’t remember which but a target exclusive $25 product is being sold for $55. This guy buys up the local target and Walmart packs leaving us out.

He lost my business when I saw target exclusives on his shelf. I’ll just buy online and save the markups.

[no10pin]

Maybe your LCS is pointless, there are at least two in my area that aren't.

[hermanotarjeta]

Honestly, I don't think I would spend as much money in this hobby if it weren't for shows and shops.

Then again, my shops will sell me product for lower than BO.

I can understand if your local shop is significantly higher than BO.

[halflife78]

4 shops 25 minutes from my house, out of the 4 one has almost all cards at comp prices and boxes cheaper than buying here or the same price. I pretty much get everything their now to help support them and they cut me deals on case purchases.

[LVDan]

Operating a financially successful AND customer friendly priced LCS requires a skillset that few have. Uber knowledgeable hustler in all sports and non categories with a work ethic that won’t quit. Ability to decisively make large $ moves in either direction based upon opportunity and gut instinct. The need to whittle your hard costs like rent, utilities and labor down to an absolute nub to offset available cash layouts for big buys at all times. Then add in the personality factor and how integral that is in both buying and selling relationships with both one offs and regulars. It’s a rare human who possesses the entire package.


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[Chris P]

Originally Posted by RedLabelRecords

I love checking out my local shop. But the truth is they’re pointless. Take for example a hobby box of heritage high number. They’re going for $100 at my lcs. Stadium Club goes for $140. I can’t remember which but a target exclusive $25 product is being sold for $55. This guy buys up the local target and Walmart packs leaving us out.

He lost my business when I saw target exclusives on his shelf. I’ll just buy online and save the markups.

Yep my LCS charges 60 for 2022 topps series 1 blasters..but hey you can get $10 off when they run a sale!

[Mantlefan]

Originally Posted by LVDan

Operating a financially successful AND customer friendly priced LCS requires a skillset that few have. Uber knowledgeable hustler in all sports and non categories with a work ethic that won’t quit. Ability to decisively make large $ moves in either direction based upon opportunity and gut instinct. The need to whittle your hard costs like rent, utilities and labor down to an absolute nub to offset available cash layouts for big buys at all times. Then add in the personality factor and how integral that is in both buying and selling relationships with both one offs and regulars. It’s a rare human who possesses the entire package.


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I agree I have one shop in my area that is very good, but feel like they have WAY more capital and then the other shops, but I can go in there and buy things at eBay comps or below. Where the other shops they can’t make money selling that low … going to a shop and buying sometimes seems pointless, because the selection is limited. If I’m hunting a certain player they might have a handful of cards for me to look at
If I collect a certain player they aren’t going to have but maybe a handful of cards. Whereas I can go on eBay, and find anything I want

[Skipscards]

Nope.

[BigSeph]

I can only give examples of the last 3 card shops I've been to, let's just say it's been a while since I felt like paying these owners my money.

Shop #1 - The guy has mostly soccer and retail, he's the one who goes to Walmart and buys up all the blasters and fat packs and then resells them for 2x in his shop. He also has silver coins (which I'm typically a buyer on too) but he marks up generic silver rounds for $10 over spot. He always seems confused when I don't want to pay $400 for a hobby box of SP Authentic hockey right after release when they are $250 online.

Shop #2 - This guy has mostly singles and older wax, I won't lie I've bought some Optic holo basketball RCs off him before because he thinks Prizm is the best and hates Optic so he prices it low. But he has cases on the wall with cards that have been in there for 20 years and still haven't sold at his asking price. They are dusty and yellow. He has a sign on his shop that says "BUYING SPORTS CARDS" but when I walked in with a 2-row of cards in toploaders he said he already has too much inventory and won't even look at them. His singles are essentially his pulls - that's it.

Shop #3 - Mostly a bunch of kids in there playing Pokemon and Magic but they are more reasonably priced, they have weekly trade nights and you can even join in-person case breaks for high end stuff. They just get very little in and by the time you stop in a day or 2 after release day, all of their Topps/Panini products are sold out. Probably because their stuff is reasonably priced. But they never have anything good.

Those are my experiences, I haven't been into a card shop in years for various reasons above but the first 2 guys were real scumbags to talk to, the last guy was nice and I would love to spend some money with him but he never has any wax worth buying.

So I just join group breaks and order stuff online. But mostly I buy singles from the anonymity of my home and stock up on prospects I believe in. I don't think we have a traditional hobby anymore, and as someone who used to work at a card shop in the mall and then helped the guy run it when he moved to a standalone shop, I can tell you that LVDan is 100% spot on.

It takes a very unique combination of traits and deep knowledge across all sports in order to run a card shop, and it helps to have a background in ordering (grocery or retail) so you can keep things in stock and it helps to not be an introvert and be able to shoot the breeze with customers. I think any random off the street could do a card break on Youtube with a HD camera and basic knowledge. I would bet 1 out of every 10,000 people could be a good card shop owner.

Chris with Cards Infinity had a shop that was awesome whenever I was in Wilmington I would stop in, but he moved to online breaks-only. He was an awesome card shop owner and the kind of guy that could crush it if he opened one in a midsize+ city.

[base set]

Local Card Shops are all - different.

[Astros19]

I like my shop. Prices are a bit high but I'll get thrown a deal now and again. The plus to buying singles from him are that I can see the card up close, and no wait for shipping.

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[djolley86]

We have one longtime store in the Charlotte area, and 4-5 that have popped up in the past few years with the card boom. Three of those are 10 minutes or less from me, and I have visited those three stores exactly one time each in the past three years.

Their prices are too high. Selection is too limited. If I want a single card, I'll just buy it on eBay for 50-60% of what my LCS would charge for it. Most of our LCS's here barely sell individual packs anymore, so that is out for me. For boxes, I'll typically find one of the online storefronts that sells cheaper than the big guys. The big online stores have left a bad taste in my mouth with their prices. They used to be the cheapest option, and now they are consistently the highest. Reeks of price fixing/market manipulation to me.

All in, I don't see a need for card stores myself - but as others have said, there are less educated buyers out there who seem to keep them alive.

[sandyfrank]

The one here is really not good for buying sealed stuff, once in a while a nice non sports product will still be here after the hype dies down. I do enjoy looking through the bargain bins though. Also can't beat looking over cards in person rather than trying to do it with online pictures.

[zworykin]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

i wish there was one here to hate lol

There are LCSs all over Long Island!