National recap WNBA booth

[jab72]

2024 National recap from a WNBA exhibitors perspective.

Last year when I selected my booth for the 2024 National I set a goal to procure enough inventory to sustain an almost entirely WNBA booth (which I’d never seen before). Prior years W collectors would see a few cards here, a few cards there and some stuff in dollar or quarter boxes. I began sourcing product thru bulk purchases in WNBA Facebook groups, eBay, trading with friends and other collectors. As the year moved on and Caitlin mania rose to insane levels buying became a little more of a challenge (which for the W community is a good thing) but I continued to buy. Creating a “something for everyone” booth was a task and much more time consuming than I’d anticipated but I think we were able to pull it together…. that’s not to say that I didn’t have to take inventory back to the hotel every night to price (it’s still not all priced).

The show— yes 75% of the people that came up to the booth initiated conversation with “do you have Caitlin Clark cards” which is cool because A) I do and B) they are showing interest. Was pleased to hear from so many people (even if they didn’t buy) this is so cool to have a space like this — I’ve never seen this type of booth at a show before. Tons of parents buying cards for their kids who weren’t there with them. Had one dad buy a CC Panini set and a few CC cards for his daughter and he came back the next day and bought more for her friends who were jealous (he said he spent almost as much time shopping for her as he had for himself). Met one of the most amazing couples who just started watching WNBA this year and were so excited by what they were seeing on the court decided they wanted to collect every WNBA rookie card — not just of this years players but of every player ever. They wrote out in a spiral notebook every player name followed by their RC # and year it was such fun talking to that couple and offering some hobby advice and insight … that’s the type of collector that makes me want to discount purchases (even when they don’t ask) and we did give them deals and free stuff when they stopped by multiple times over the week.

What was selling — almost everything -obviously Clark, Bueckers, Juju, Brink, Angel, Hildago were leading the way but A’ja, Sabrina, Bird, Stewie, DT were moving too. High end stuff was flying if priced right. Did tons of buying and trading - some cards that I bought and traded lasted less than an hour in the showcase. If priced right I bought almost every Caitlin card offered to me by people walking up to the booth. I sold every Rittenhouse rookie card I brought (I didn’t have tons but they all sold). I’m worried about being able to source cards for next year already — I guess that’s a good problem to have.

Community— W collectors and women’s sports collectors as a whole are the most kind and friendly group out there. I met so many people that I’d thus far only had very minimal Interaction on collector groups who greeted me and chatted like we were old friends. I want to thank AnneMarie, Kelley, Angie and Tai who all hung out and helped me at the booth throughout the week… it got super busy at times and while it was fun having them breaking packs, trading and snacking on bagels it was great to have them help watch the booth while I was tied up with other customers.

Conclusion— The WNBA collecting community is in a GREAT place and it is growing … it’s not just growing with CC collectors (it may seem that way) there are new collectors appreciative of the league and history — let’s welcome them and help grow the hobby together. See everyone in Chicago!!!


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[Stats]

This is awesome! I wish I had come across your booth