Are card shops making a comeback..? There's one just opened down the road from me with a good mix of sport and non-sport cards, packs, boxes and supplies. Is this the dream we've all been waiting for..?

Can't really say. One would think that in some areas all of the recent craze should open a few doors.

My area is still pretty much the same, sports or gaming with a dabble in non-sports. Still, on the plus side no one seems to be closing down either.

Not near me. There is a lot of unrented retail space in all the local shopping hubs. Stores of all sizes and merchandize closed up early in the pandemic, mainly due to rent increases and decreasing sales. A majority of those locations are still unoccupied and have become eyesores.

I would love to see a new card shop open. I've noticed advertising for a couple of new online dealers recently and I can see where there might be good opportunity in underserved places. The overhead to maintain a storefront in a popular shopping area still looks to be too much in my area though.

Just the other day a 99 cent bargain store shuttered up on the Avenue. When they are still closing, it's not a good sign.

I actually have card shop 2 blocks from me that somehow survived the pandemic. They sell mostly CCG and Sports, but do stock some non-sports. I buy my supplies from them though, great prices and immediately available, no waiting for the mail.

I can't think of one card based shop anywhere in the UK. As far as i know everyone is now online.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
I can't think of one card based shop anywhere in the UK. As far as i know everyone is now online.

Yes , there used to be three shops in Birmingham that sold non-sports , all are long gone and I would say zero chance of anything new opening .

There is one card shop in my area. It is mainly sports, but they do have Topps and Rittenhouse products. The pricing of supplies is similar to online. The staff working their are friendly and seem to have a good knowledge on non-sports.

My town has 9 pizza shops (seriously), but not a single hobby shop.

Rent is high here so I don't see a specialty shop like a card shop opening around here. I have see one comic shop move a couple of times as buildings either get demolished or rent gets increased. I did notice that there was a collectibles store I didn't know about but it closed "temporarily" early in the pandemic - might reopen. Another seller I discovered had to close as it was subletting from a store that had to close during the pandemic

There is a mall not far from my house that has never done particularly well. The pandemic killed off several chain stores, but the mall ownership has done a really great job bringing in small businesses.

I was in the mall recently for the first time in probably 6 months and noticed either 2 or 3 new collectibles stores. One had a handful of wrestling cards, but that was it card wise. Lots of Funkos and action figures.

Hopefully card shops will follow. . .

Regarding more card stores dealers etc
I have just received the NZ Cartophilic Scosietys latest issue and we are holding our AGM on 28/29 May
The interesting part is that there are at least 30 confirmed bookings for sales tables and this could go up to over 35 tables if space can be arranged as there are still sellers dealers waiting to see if they can get space
This is going back to the hey day of collecting as there has never been more than 15 sellers at this event for years
I do not know wether there are any that have store fronts or mostly on line or are just hobbyists
But this seems to be an indication that the hobby is starting to expand again in New Zealand if it keeps up
So it will be interesting to see what is available and wether the hobby is expanding and
these new sellers etc are going to be in it for the long run
I will post more info after the show
Afterthought apparently there ate 2 dealers or collectors from Australia booked.

I have a thriving card shop near me. Although they primarily make their money off of gaming cards, they do stock non-sports boxes. I buy all of my card supplies from them because I want to help keep them in business.(And it’s cheaper to buy from them than the internet).

nice one Electrawoman, great to hear you have a local you can support, you've inspired me to go get supplies from my new local card shop, help out a local business

I read about one local mall bringing in small businesses to at least partly fill an old Sears store that had been vacant for a couple of years. It's like an indoor mall within a mall. It's great for the mall and for the small businesses that have outgrown a kiosk or flea market space but don't bring in enough income to open and maintain a standard mall store. I hope it works because a collectibles dealer might try that out.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
There is a mall not far from my house that has never done particularly well. The pandemic killed off several chain stores, but the mall ownership has done a really great job bringing in small businesses.

I was in the mall recently for the first time in probably 6 months and noticed either 2 or 3 new collectibles stores. One had a handful of wrestling cards, but that was it card wise. Lots of Funkos and action figures.

Hopefully card shops will follow. . .

Not even talking about the malls, there are neighborhood shopping areas all around me that are lined with small businesses. Even before COVID, many were having trouble with the rent because the same landlord could own multiple buildings in the line, which usually had a store below and a few residential apartments above. In some areas it might just be a store if the zoning didn't permit more floors.

So once the leases came up the landlord wanted way more, not caring if the store was doing well enough to pay. They would find a new tenant. Only some of these local business strips aren't in great areas and the store stayed empty. Once 2020 hit, some of the good businesses were forced to close for a time and others were open but saw customer traffic drop off. When the leases expired, landlords still jacked up the rent, and now even the good ones couldn't do it when they were barely scrapping by. There are so many empty storefronts now all over NYC that you could set up shop in virtually any mainstream hub, but you have to pay crazy rent when business is nowhere near what it was for anybody with a small store.

The small businesses that have been able to hold on either own their own buildings or have a long term lease still in effect. It makes no sense, but I have seen this with my own eyes. Rather than work with a good tenant to accept the same or less money these landlords, who often don't live in the community, make them shut down knowing by now that the stores will remain empty without any rent from anybody.

Maybe it's a tax write off for the losses is about the only way I can figure it. Perhaps things are better in other parts of the country, but I see no way any collectables or hobby store can open by itself where I am. I would think a mall slot would ask for even more rent.