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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kennywood,

I think that caption is a bit deceiving because I know of no such thing as a baseball card shop owner now and I don't think I ever did. No card store that I ever saw only dealt in baseball cards, not even in the good old days when baseball cards were worth something and there were a lot of baseball card collectors. They always carried all types of sports cards to keep them going throughout the year and if it was a true hobby store they also had comics.

Now it was different with non-sport cards, they could truly be hard to find, even in my big city area. Few card stores carried non-sport products prior to, I'm guessing here, maybe 2000. I think I knew two small dealers that specialized in them and they had no stores.

But I do agree that being a general hobby store owner today is quite difficult and the only way to be profitable is to have a business model that doesn't limit you to baseball cards or anything else really. Any type of adult or youth collectible item should be open to be included if it is hot and moving.

Some advice might be:

Know what is selling to adult collectors and kids in your area.

Don't put a lot of money into inventory when you don't know if you have ready buyers.

Diversify your inventory so you can ride out a dip in one type of item.

Don't buy from walk-in collectors unless what you are buying can be flipped for at least twice the price you paid and fast. Sorry collectors, but this is from the owner's point of view, and dumped collections often collect dust.

Use the internet for added sales, but don't rely on it. If you have a real live store you need real live customers.

Treat your customers well and they will keep coming back. Give breaks to regulars, they will spend even more.

And finally as with all businesses, it's location, location, location.

After that you just pray for good luck.