Starting a New Shop **UPDATE IN OP*
gene1978
Posts: 772 ✭✭✭
Our area does not have a local card shop, I have been looking into opening one but I am not for sure in today market that it can survive. I owned one back in the early 90's but closed it once I graduated high school and went off to college. Just looking for thoughts.
UPDATE
Well it appears someone else has they same thought as I did as I just read an article online about a new store opening. It appears they are going to concentrate mainly on gaming cards but will carry sports cards also. I am planning on going this weekend to check them out. I think I might just try to do the card thing via internet/local card shows that are within a hour or so drive.
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What area?
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stupid print dots
Do it online. Unless of course you live near me, in which case brick and mortar.
First thing I would ask myself: "why aren't there currently any card shops in my area?"
give it a shot, with any luck it will take off. maybe you can get some good buys from people coming in to sell
collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.
looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started
It's very tough to run a profitable shop today. You have to do a lot more than just sell wax to survive. I worked at a shop for close to 15 years.
Tips:
1. When you get a "whale" who spends money on wax, treat them right. Try to match/beat online prices for cases, especially if they have been breaking cases for more than a couple of years.
2. The whale who has been doing it for a long time is the exception. Most whales don't last more than a couple of years. They go on big spending sprees for 6 months to a year and then burn out. For these type of whales, sell him everything you can as fast as you can.
3. Buy the current year Topps team sets of your local team and have plenty in stock at xmas or around playoff time if they are good. You will sell through them at $6.95 each and you can typically pick them up at $2-$2.50 each in bulk depending on the team.
4. Do a monthly raffle. Give tickets away with each purchase - it gives them a reason to come back.
5. Have some cheap packs you can give a kid and buy a few boxes of Frozen stickers (you can get 50 packs for around $7) to give to anyone who brings their daughter. People love when you give their kid something for free.
6. Have some singles in your showcases, but remember they sell much faster online. If you can't move them within a month or 2 in your shop, rotate your showcase inventory and sell that stock online.
7. When you buy a deal, post pics on your Facebook page. People love the idea of looking through new inventory.
8. Always have a good inventory on supplies. You actually make good money on supplies.
9. Do giveaways on your Facebook/social media pages.
I have a friend who owns a (successful) comic book shop in a city of about 35,000. He'd never survive without a thriving online presence as well. I would think that would be necessary in the card space.
I would buy early 80s wax and charge per pack. The last shop I went to in Raleigh did this. I bought either heritage wax, vintage wax, or supplies.
Calling @1980scollector
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
Good advice
Usually you can get demographic information from the town/city economic department if you cannot find it online.
Another big thing is ALWAYS BE NICE! I have seen people try to sell things to dealers and been treated like CRAP. If someone brings you a partial set of 1988 Donruss with the "key" cards missing, there is a right and wrong way to turn them down. My first National this year, there were SO MANY dealers that I walked away from because they seemed to not want to take my money or came across as A-Holes. Why spend all that money and effort to be there and forget your manners and customer service skills at home?
There is a long running hobby shop in our area that sells EVERYTHING collectible EXCEPT COMICS. They do cards, action figures, board games, puzzles, magic, pokemon, hobby models and a lot of supplies etc etc. I would say Sports Cards are 20% of their business. They mainly just sell wax and carry very few single cards. The owner has said that singles are too volatile and online competition is fierce and they are a lot of work to manage and price. They like to be able to turn their inventory over quick. The place is always busy and they have a large staff. They are ALWAYS friendly and will try to get what you want. THEY ALSO ANSWER THEIR EMAILS QUICKLY. This is a city of 110,000 with a higher income demographic. There is a Comic Shop downtown that although I have not been in, it has been open for MANY years.
Don't do this;
Local shop just opened (focuses on autographs). He won't create a FB page for the shop. Expects customers to friend his personal account which he does all his advertising via. NOPE! not happening.
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I’d be worried that the only people coming to to sell their collections are the same ones that offer them on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist.
Overhead could be a killer. You need to have a tremendous cash flow before any of it is yours. Probably why 95% of brick and mortar shops have closed.
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
Probably 80-90% of the deals that come through the door are total junk from the 80s & 90s. But you have a lot of the newer wax guys who will trade in some decent singles for wax. And a few times a month you will see a small stack of vintage stars that are usually lower grade, VG to EX. Then 5 or 6 times a year you get a really nice collection that you spend a few grand on.
You can't compete with price on everything, don't try. You can't compete with convenience, ebay is open 24/7 and brings it to your house. You can't compete with selection. What I and others enjoy about the local card shop is the experience, service, instant gratification of the random find. Relationships matter. Compete with service. A long-term customer and dealer relationship is very valuable. Trust, respect and having a dealer that is looking out for my collecting interests. Friendly people that are part of the town, community and care about the hobby, keeping kids and adults interested. Make it fun for people, inviting and welcoming. The atmosphere matters (keep security measures obvious and conspicuous, but not obtrusive). Grade and price your inventory accurately, ****be obsessive with organization.**** Sort inventory with multiple methods: Year, Sport, Team, numerically, alphabetically. I won't search boxes that don't have some sort of logical organization. Price your items individually if you can, or at least have like-priced items together. I hate grabbing a stack of cards and having to wait forever for the dealer to look everything up in a dusty Beckett, check online sales, "see what he paid for it". Inventory turn is essential, don't sit on stuff, you must have cash flow under control. Money tied up in slow moving inventory will kill a retail business. Let the customer win sometimes, often if you can, during a deal. They don't know your cost basis on an item, but everyone knows what an item is selling for (everyone has a smart phone, they can see if the deal is good or not). If I feel that I "won", I'm definitely coming back again and again to keep buying more good deals. Think of what a retailer spends on advertising and customer acquisition costs. If I have to argue with a dealer over $1 or $2 on a five-dollar card, the dealer is wrong-headed. Let me have the darn thing for a buck less and smile and thank me. I will be happy, and you just paid $1 to keep a good customer, after all, it's not about the buck, its about the thousands I will spend over the years. From all the shops and shows I have been to, it still bugs me that a dealer can't let one item go for a loss. I literally have seen the same dealer for 20+ years with the same inventory at the same price he wanted back then and it hasn't sold. He complains that he has no money to put into newer inventory and supplies. He has the mentality that he refuses to ever sell something for a "loss". Remember not every individual item sold needs to produce a high margin, or any margin for that matter. Cash flow is king. Breaking even or 3% on something is fine if the cash can then be used to buy Hobby cases of 2018 Heritage at $57 a box that sell for $150 when Ohtani got signed. Or 2018 Bowman for $64.12 a box that sold for $185 (now around $130). Move the small stuff and turn it over fast to generate operating cash to get the hobby cases, retail sports licensed clothing and merchandise, unique special order memorabilia and customer pre-orders. Those are the higher margin items that will keep you going.
Major!
There's a shop near my house - no rhyme or reason to how the stuff is in the display cabinets.
Within minutes of looking, I'm done - guess I just don't have the patience?
Agreed Stone on organization. I ran several businesses in my days. One of them was a kitchen/restaurant supply store. Very huge amount of SKU's. We did cooking demos, classes and sold everything from toothpicks to full Viking cooking ranges. I knew where every single thing was and could find it in seconds, if an employee moved something I could just "sense" it and it bugged me. Any time a customer came in looking for something, I could locate it immediately and the customer was so impressed that I knew its location. Many times they were so happy that I found the item "solved the problem" for them that price almost was a secondary or not at all concern. This tactic also works exceptionally well for slow moving items. The fact that you found it quickly makes the customer think it is a "hot item". If the card shop owner says, "gee, I don't know if I have it, maybe, possibly, let me check, or it could be in those boxes", it drives me nuts. I'm not searching for the day to possibly find something, that they know I searched for and will get scorched on the price because they think I really want the card since I searched for it.
I have been to a card shop that I thought was quite bold in that they had tablets and wi-fi available and people were welcome to price compare on stuff in the shop. He was in the ballpark on most stuff, cheaper on many things especially singles when you factor in the $2-$4 shipping ebay sellers charge for a single card. He did a huge business on stuff in the $1-$10 range, which doesn't sound like much, but the average customer was spending north of $100 and he had great inventory turnover, constantly bringing in new stuff. He dumped the money from singles into Hobby cases and does well on those. (Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Prizm Basketball, Optic, Heritage, etc.) Margin on hobby boxes is huge and he has room to be competitive on price. Obviously each brick and mortar gets a certain allocation when you have direct accounts with Topps and Panini, and in some cases you have to buy the crap to get the good stuff, but if you pay attention to the market, listen to customers you should be able to have sufficient supply of what people want and move quickly and cheaply the junk so you are not left holding stale inventory. Topps for example, everyone wants the Topps Hobby Jumbos, the factory sets, the Heritage, the Bowman and Chrome, but they don't want the Star Wars, Garbage Pail Kids, the Sticker books etc. A good idea is to take the sell sheets on upcoming product that you know will be a slow seller and pre-hype it. Build interest, pre-sell some if you can and take the minimum that you have to buy. Get it sold and move on. Too many times dealers are stubborn on items and refuse to discount it, they would rather sit on it for 5 years than take the money and move on to something else high margin.
The owner of this shop also views competitors as potential suppliers. When a customer points out a price on for example a Retail Blaster box from Dave & Adams or SteelCity, he thanks the customer, matches the price on a box in store and then proceeds to buy a few cases from Dave & Adams and makes 15%-25% on a per-unit basis since not everyone that comes to the shop is buying a whole case, but on a per box basis he has room for profit.
Getting a dealernet account is also a good idea if you need to restock on boxes that sold out in store and customers are unhappy you are out. Obviously you have to pay more than original cost and you probably don't have much margin, but keeping the customer happy is worth it. Some shops only get a case or two on certain product and its gone that day (Heritage, Bowman Jumbo, Prizm Basketball) If you overbuy on certain products that are still in demand, but you can't sell through the store, the dealernet account lets you make inventory trades, direct sales to both dealers and the public. I know many dealers that simply make money doing trades and flips all day.
Margins on boxes are typically the worst margins in the store. You make higher margins on singles and supplies. Yes, you can do really well on bowman, heritage, draft, etc. But those are the exception. If you try to just stock the hot products, people will stop coming in. I remember there being a lot of Panini football products that had a direct cost of $80 and a day after release Blowout has it priced between $88-$90. It's tough to survive making $10 on a $90 sale before paying any expenses. Even if you sell through 3 cases, you make what, $360? That's a lot of sales to make $360.
Before Blowout, shops could take that $80 box and price it between $110-$120. But now you are getting $95-100 on a good day. It makes it much tougher.
Also, you have to make a decision on Topps products up to 6 months in advance. A lot of dealers were expecting to make a killing in 2010 on Topps Chrome/Bowman Chrome during the Strasburg craze. He hurt his arm, and dealers were stuck with huge orders of Chrome that were now complete trash.
Not sure what happened on this one. Nothing to disagree with as I thought it was a great post. Some how I managed to confuse the disagree button with LOL!!! Sorry about that.
Gotta agree with this.....
I own a business that has a card area with a couple of showcases, wax and supplies (So not a True Card Store, but the only one in my area). 90% or better of the stuff that comes in is stuff you see on craigslist or the occasional ebay newbie selling 80's/90's junk and the worst part is they actually want 10x what its worth simply because they saw one guy on ebay asking that much for it. The only thing is, you have to deal with those sellers because of the occasional seller who actually has something
When they say they want $50 for a 3200 count box of 90s junk, just tell them you will gladly sell them all of your 3200 junk boxes for $25 each.
I agree with this. My LCS only gets about a 20% margin on boxes, the only exception being jumbo boxes. The typical hobby box he buys from GTS or some other distributor for $80 he usually gets $95 to $100 for. The jumbos, though, he's able to get for about $120 and get $185 to $200 for. The problem is that he's usually only allotted one jumbo box for every 3 hobby boxes he commits to, so if you're not a high volume dealer, you don't get much action on jumbos.
Like someone else said before, 90% of what walks through the door is junk era stuff, but he does get some decent vintage make its way in from time to time.
I doubt very much if a new shop strictly selling baseball and sports cards would be successful. I'm not saying it's not possible, but very unlikely.
I think many shops offering cards, coins, etc, probably make more money from the buying and then selling online, rather than the selling in the shop.
If I was doing it, I would diversify to offer cards, coins, comic books, and an assortment of collectibles, with the strong message to the public that I also want to buy, buy, buy. Bring in collectibles...leave with cash, etc.
Don't do it, pretty damn good chance you will lose $
Just an observational statement.
Jon Richmond aka jonstats on eBay - used to have a store in San Antonio. He's pretty darn successful on eBay.
But, still no shop anymore.
Thanks for all the advice, suggestions, Ect. I thought about just doing eBay and local card shows but getting Wax product to sell seems to be an issue. Looks lie most places require a brick and motor to order direct. I have not been able to find a wholesaler that offers a good discount.
Previous shop I owned we had a good wholesaler but his has retired. We were running about 30% net profit margins.
I have a lot to think about and look into but it something I like to do even if it is just ebay and shows.
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I will look into dealernet. @phelda is it www.dealernetb2b.com?
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Yup its http://dealernetb2b.com/
The website is cheesy 90's looking, but is a great resource for buy/sell/trade inventory
In terms of a shop with pizzaz? This one is "topps" with me!
Ya gotta love Rachael.
I live in the San Antonio area and we have one store left in town. I would like to see more, but the overhead for a brick and mortar storefront is crazy.Retail space is expensive as is the utilities for businesses. You gotta know what is hot in the market at the time, yet be able to move other inventory. I have thought about opening a store myself, but I don't think the 400,000 cards from the 80's and early 90's would interest most folks. And once the stars are sold out, the other stuff is just junk. It would cost thousands to get the right product in stock. You can't fall in love with anything, it all has to be for sell.Good luck if you go for it, pretty sure you will need a couple of years to make it grow beyound the break even point, if lucky.
To be honest, no direction, but...
1966-69 Topps EX+
1975 minis NrMt Kelloggs PSA 9
All Topps Heritage-Master Sets
ttt
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Maybe consider working out a trial business deal with the shop owner to have some space within his space rented sort of like the way a chair at a beauty salon works, if your heart is still into the brick-n-mortar concept and you want to give it a go without investing all the overhead. Internet method is the preferred way for most, but maybe you'd rather try a store too?
When we first moved into our house 12 years ago, I noticed there was a card shop in town. Bingo. But upon entering realized that it was all gaming cards and supplies. Not what I'd hoped, but hey, at least I can buy quality supplies and support a local business while he's still around. He has a lot of square footage and most of it is just empty tables. I was like WTF. Well, he's still up and running and while I rarely see more than a few people in the store, he hosts tourneys on Friday and Saturday nights and all those empty tables are filled. I don't understand the games they play, but apparently it works.
I've considered asking him if I could provide some items on consignment, or even rent some space for box rips or random Sunday afternoon takeovers and give him % on the days sales, but haven't got around to it yet.
That said, that gaming market seems to be able to support B&M, so even if opening a shop primarily for sports cards, it seems foolish to ignore that gaming market.
Good luck in your endeavors.
After checking out the new shop - you might find they're weak on sports and heavy on "gaming?"
Why not approach the person and see about a store split where you concentrate on sports - that way the brick and mortar bill is split in half - might be a "win" for both sides?
edit: I see others answered the OP the same way.
Totally agree with the organization comments - channel your inner OCD. There is a shop in the mall here in Fargo and it is a disorganized dump. Might seem like strong words but just look at the pics on their Facebook page (and that is not even the worst of it).