Is it my imagination or is retail non-sports slowly disappearing?

Brick and mortar stores are slowly disappearing, so there is that to start with.

I myself only come across retail trading cards in big box names like Target and Walmart and in drug chains like RiteAid and CVS. The selection I find is always poor, mostly sports and any non-sport is nothing I'm collecting. If its aimed at young children I think it might be a little better. I know some parts of the country seem to have discount stores that carry clearance cards, but I don't see a lot of that where I live.

Retail non-sport cards are good for major titles like Star Wars or anything else Disney, but manufacturer wise it probably begins and ends with TOPPS. I'm not really up on any other card makers doing big retail titles, but I see little of it and I do buy hobby boxes only myself, so maybe others knows more about it.

Anyway I wouldn't say retail cards are on their way out, so much as I would say the whole buying climate has changed and retail impulse purchases aren't healthy. The end result is the same though, fewer places and fewer cards.

I don't pay much attention to retail, but I have been thinking I've been hearing more people on hobby boards talking about a lot of the recent retail releases, especially Rick and Morty and Stranger Things, but also recently the Walking Dead releases with retail exclusive inserts.

Topps continues to support Retail with the Hunters and The Hunted Walking set set having retail exclusives and Wal-Mart exclusives. There's also a retail set of cards for Star Wars Resistance coming next year. Wackys and Garbage Pail also have had retail releases for every recent release as did Stranger Things.

Dynamite did retail for their Fallout set and Enterplay did 2 Zelda sets.

It does seem that the retail space at Wal-Marts and Targets are getting smaller though. And beyond those two there isn't a lot of venues for cards until they hit dollar stores at closeout.

Ed

In the UK it is the other way round. Hobby boxes and packs are now non-existent at retail and as good as non-existent in comic stores but sports and non-sports cards and stickers are still in every corner shop right through to the big supermarkets.

For the most part non sports are going the way of comic books. In 1990, comics and non sports cards could still be found at convenience stores and gas stations. Today, comics have been absent from gas stations for about 24 years as have non sport packs. The place by my house still carries Topps football cards, but that's about it.

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Originally posted by wolfie:
In the UK it is the other way round. Hobby boxes and packs are now non-existent at retail and as good as non-existent in comic stores but sports and non-sports cards and stickers are still in every corner shop right through to the big supermarkets.

I'm curious as to which sports cards do they sell?

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Originally posted by Studio-Hades:
The place by my house still carries Topps football cards, but that's about it.

That's amazing because Topps last produced physical football cards for the 2015 season

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Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:

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Originally posted by Studio-Hades:
The place by my house still carries Topps football cards, but that's about it.

That's amazing because Topps last produced physical football cards for the 2015 season

Yeah, Panini has the NFL license now, as well as the NBA and at least some baseball I think. That's why TOPPS got so tight with Disney properties and other non-sport licenses, they got out of a lot of the sports cards for whatever reason.

But in his defense, to a non-sport collector all sports cards look the same.

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Originally posted by Raven:

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Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades:
The place by my house still carries Topps football cards, but that's about it.

That's amazing because Topps last produced physical football cards for the 2015 season

Yeah, Panini has the NFL license now, as well as the NBA and at least some baseball I think. That's why TOPPS got so tight with Disney properties and other non-sport licenses, they got out of a lot of the sports cards for whatever reason.

But in his defense, to a non-sport collector all sports cards look the same.

I think it's more that Topps and Upper Deck couldn't stay in all the US sports cards markets as the professional leagues (MLB - Topps, NBA - Panini, NFL - Panini, and NHL - Upper Deck) all decided to go with one manufacturer each. Panini does baseball in association with the player's association but they can't use Major League Baseball names or logos.

I should have clarified better about the Topps football, I was thinking that even though it has been sitting on shelf for a couple of years now some of those players are still in the league and are stars so someone should have take a chance on opening them by now. I've had similar experience with seeing older "junk wax" products from the late-1980's, 90's, and 2000's at random convenient stores. Not sure if they're going the nostalgia route, but it's rather surprising to see when the product is over 10 years old and it's not a collectibles type store.

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Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:

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Originally posted by wolfie:
In the UK it is the other way round. Hobby boxes and packs are now non-existent at retail and as good as non-existent in comic stores but sports and non-sports cards and stickers are still in every corner shop right through to the big supermarkets.

I'm curious as to which sports cards do they sell?

Sports cards are done for football / soccer, also for WWF etc wrestling. Non-sports are for star wars, Marvel, Disney and all manner of things. Cards and stickers produced right across Europe and sold in retail stores everywhere at a cheap price point that children can afford or that parents are willing to pay for the child. The result is millions of collectors.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Sports cards are done for football / soccer, also for WWF etc wrestling. Non-sports are for star wars, Marvel, Disney and all manner of things. Cards and stickers produced right across Europe and sold in retail stores everywhere at a cheap price point that children can afford or that parents are willing to pay for the child. The result is millions of collectors.

Thanks. I saw smaller pack versions (4 cards) of sports card and WWE packs along with various stickers and albums by Panini last night at the Dollar Tree.

No More Target store here and the Wally has cut back the card section by half.
I never understood the appeal of retail packs/boxes - esp since most do NOT contain a hologram nor prop relic nor an autograph!?
I have noticed over the years that packs from the gravity boxes at Target never yielded any hits!?
Lately, I have noticed the same can be said for the gravity boxes and smaller 3-4 card packs at Dollar Tree -NO HITS. No foils nor prisms either.
If I am to spend my hard-earned $ on trading cards, I at least would like the actual CHANCE of getting a relic or autograph (the Golden Ticket rule).
I personally do not care for Sketch cards nor Parallels nor Patches nor virtual E-Packs either.

I got a sketch card from an IRON MAN 2 gravity box at Target some years ago. I'd only bought two packs so it was quite a surprise.

It's the Doctor Strange on page 4 of my sketch card thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:
...
I'm curious as to which sports cards do they sell?
...

Just to add to what Wolfie said; it's really Football (Championship Football, World Cup Football, Premier League Football ect.) which by far dominate cards/stickers being sold across the UK and Europe, they're everywhere.

In my area both Wal-Mart & Target have reduced their card displays by half, even sports.
Wrestling seems to have dropped single packs while maintaining blasters, hanger boxes and packs.
Star Wars has vanished since Last Jedi 1, and Walking Dead only has blasters. Occasionally, I see repackaged wrestling packs. Stranger Things had blasters only.
Overall, retail has diminished to a truly disappointing level.

In my parts, Targets and Wal-Marts have both been recently remodeled. The mystery pack figures have moved from the toy aisles to the card section, and Magic/Yugioh packs seemed to be taking more room as well.

Target tends to have a handful of Star Wars retail boxes, maybe some Walking Dead and a tad bit of wrestling. Overall most of their cards are baseball and football.

Wal-Mart's selection is smaller, and probably 85% baseball. A&G is in that ballpark, though they obviously have a lot of non-sports cards in that family. Non-sports lately they have had Stranger Things and Magic, and that's about it.