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Will All Coin Shops Close Down Eventually? Future Of Coin Shops
1630Boston
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B&M coin shops are mostly in the business of buying coins. They may sell some jewelry, bullion coins (ASE's, Morgan dollars, etc), and coin supplies but their real source of income is buying collections that come in through their front door.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Hope not.
There is a local gold buyer that has a coin store on Ebay.
Picked up the coin locally, but just a store front for buying PM's.
No display or mention of numismatics of any sort.
Maybe the business model works in specific geographical regions...
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
It takes two types of numismatic customers to do business with a B&M, entry level that use it to buy their first round of mistakes and hopefully a few keepers or a relationship where they act as a guide, friend(ish) and buyer agent. Few B&Ms have ever carried rare or specialists coins in bulk let alone the right coin at the right range for most advanced collectors. The internet has given collectors access to have dealers like that non-local so the question is more can B&Ms transition to a national customer acquisition strat opposed to a local one to remain competitive.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
My favorite local coin shop will shut down when he retires. C’est la vie. It has been a good run.
I live 25 miles east of Dallas in the small town of Forney. We have a local shop https://www.southparkcoins.com/ which is primarily web based. They will accept appointments and I have sold them tons of coins (grandfathers collection) and purchase supplies there regularly (PCGS slab boxes etc...).
Many also deal in bullion to make ends meet.
Roughly 5 billion years from now, the Sun will exhaust the hydrogen fuel in its core and start burning helium, forcing its transition into a red giant star. During this shift, its atmosphere will expand out to somewhere around 1 astronomical unit — the current average Earth-Sun distance. This means the Sun will gradually engulf Mercury, Venus, and likely Earth.
So- yes.
Shouldn’t this be reworded to say “Most deal in bullion to make ends meet”?
Yep.
We had three in my community. Then we were down to two. Now there are none. I would have to travel 250 miles to find one still open in my state.
You DO live in a BIG State.
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Eventually? Yes.
In the long run, we are all dead.
I was just at an astronomy lecture where the speaker explained that the sun will burn out in 5 billion years. A woman in the audience let out a sigh and then fainted. All the attention went to her at that point. When she came to, she was asked if she was alright. "No I'm not", she said. "The sun is going to burn out"....."Miss, that's not for 5 billion years !"....."Oh......I thought he said MILLION!"
My LCS doesn't sell squat locally. They are just a front, ripping off unsuspecting sellers and flipping the product via ebay. It will be a good day watching that parasite go out of business. Thks!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
I consider it inevitable, for most of them. I don't see that hardly any can compete longer term with the internet, both on overhead and inventory selection.
I agree the storefront is there mostly for buying. So the question to me for most B&M dealers becomes, how long will there still be enough collections of meaningful value coming in the door to supplement mostly bullion sales? I don't know that answer.
In the metro Atlanta area where I live, more than a few come up on an internet search but I have no idea what they actually sell , if it's mostly bullion and "investor" coins or collector material.
I think the ones that are something else, like also a jewelry store, or also an antique store or also a pawn shop will be around for a long time, but the small coin stores that only sell coins and coin supplies will continue to close down or switch to mainly internet sales. I don’t like it when I try to go to a physical coin store and they are “by appointment only” but I’ve been encountering that more often than I used to. I just go home when I encounter that and don’t bother with them. I can shop online anytime, but I like going to physical coin shops sometimes and don’t usually have anything so specific that I’m looking for that it would be worth making an appointment.
Mr_Spud
I’ll tell ya what!! It’s scary out there just to be a checker at a quick rip now a days ! I, personally, cannot imagine myself behind a glass counter stuffed with collector coins along with precious metals without some very SERIOUS backup. Like finger on the trigger backup. All told ya gotta ask yourself if it’s worth it. It’s completely different out there now a days. Like the Wild West. I sure as hell don’t like what I see on the news.
No,
My shop is mainly there to buy, I could care less about selling at location. In fact, yesterday, I had a funny conversation with one of my customers. He was looking at some silver dollars, contemplating on price, and I said no offense" I could care less if you buy them or not" I can sell them to my wholesaler at the price I quoted you.
I did it for almost 40 years. I survived multiple burglaries and occasional theft, but never had to endure a robbery. I always thought about it though.
Shops today may give way to 'by appointment' offices. Most dealers need somewhere to act as a base.....
There is still one Blockbuster left so I would say it will be a long time before every coin shop is gone. That’s not to say they won’t be in decline, though.
There are a couple around my area but half their business is reselling sporting tickets and scrap bullion.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
Funny you should mention that! I just had the thought go through my head of opening a coin shop again this morning. The 1st thing that popped into my head and quickly evaporated that chain of thought was why would I would to expose myself and deal with all the rif-raf that a coin shop would mostly draw.
Around here, the only coin venues are the antique shops. And those have prices that would make the hotel gold buyers blush... Most Morgan's are priced 3x average retail. Peace dollars the same. Other coins such as shield nickels or Barbers are ridiculous. Cheers, RickO
I'm doing best best to keep my LCS in business. They have closed their little retail space and only have a teller window type of waiting room now but I check out their online store and pick up in person.
And the beat goes on. Yesterday s. today Today’s tomorrow. In other words its the way of the world Change. Sometimes change has a positive effect and sometimes it’s just your perspective 😊
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
I think they will persist but with a diverse offering.
Coins, jewelry, perhaps sports collectibles. Many buy jewelry at a severe discount and are fairly market on coins and of course bullion.
Let's break down "eventually". Where one event causes a closure, another opens up opportunity. Coins ? They've been around since before a widow gave her last mite. The marketing of them ? Out of a shop ? What a novel idea. As long as there are collectors... we will have a shop to buy/sell/trade through.
The market has its ups and downs.
Online and offline , business occurs. An eventual occurrence.
I don't know the answer. Merely pondering the question.
I think stores per se will mostly disappear and the office model will continue to grow.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Most of the Tucson area B&M dealers also have a side specialty (misc. collectibles, jewelry, stamps, autographs) and many of them make more from bullion trading (including buying old jewelry for scrap) than anything else. Bullion trading was good enough that a couple of them bought their own buildings 4-5 years ago. Their coin inventories are another matter--whatever better coins they buy from walk-ins will mostly be taken to be sold to other dealers in Long Beach.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
How many higher-end numismatic B&M stores are left now? 10, 20? I'll bet we couldn't even list 20.
Sure there are hundreds of bullion, jewelry, We Buy Gold, antique shop, and pawn shop type places. I don't see those disappearing soon because they serve a walk-in community function. But retail locations that do most of their business (by dollar and volume) in certified numismatic material? I'd love to see a list. I have heard of two but have never been to either one:
Harland J. Berk
Stacks (NYC)
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
I think local coin shops will do more and more business with those wanting to sell rather than collectors wanting to buy. Personally, if I buy coins, I buy online rather than in person. Coin shops are good for those wanting to sell and not wanting to deal with the headache of selling to other collectors online via ebay or BST etc., so in those cases it is good to sell them to a coin shop that mainly does wholesaling and they do the selling for you for a cut of what you would get selling yourself on the top of the profit chain to ebay etc.
No especially if they own the building.
A shop is a golden road source for stuff walking in way below bid for the owner to do a booming business wholesaling to other dealers at shows. In addition shop, online, and show retail traffic another sweet income source.
I buy a lot of slabbed material from such a wholesaler at show b4 public let in. I then take it back to table mark it up 4show and online store.
So for shop owners this like 2 back smash mouth offense 1-2 punch. The coin biz is tough one has to find angle that will work.
B&M stores are smart to have an internet presence to move inventory, but serious collectors are going to want to inspect their coins and create relationships with their dealers for the big purchases. So I have a hard time believing they will go away completely.
I think the main problem B&M stores have is that many of them have been poorly run forever, even some slight competition from the internet puts them out of business. Many dealers are not worth the time.
I've been back in the hobby for 7 months and every other dealer I talk to at a show or a store is either trying to rip you off by ridiculously overpricing their inventory or trying to pass off poor inventory as something better than it is. I get buyer-beware, and the art of negotiation, but if you are a collector in 2021, there are so many options available to you. Why would you bother playing those games anymore?
We've been in biz for 33 years now and it's a balance. We have regulars who come in looking for collector items, we have inflation hedge/investor types who want silver, gold, 90 etc. and we also have newbies who pick up entry level stuff. We have been fortunate over the years.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
Even in the internet age, games are what keep food on the table for many, if not most, in the business end of the hobby. Slabs did largely stop the old dealer game of buying at grade X and selling at grade X+1 (now, at least, sellers have to spend time spotting undergraded coins and then getting them regraded to play this game). Slabs came, then + grades and stickers, registry sets.... Expert coin doctors are still in business, some working primarily on consignments from dealers, and some teaching courses at ANA Summer Seminars. The typical B&M dealer is just a little guy near the bottom end of the coin business. The bigger fish don't necessarily adhere to a 'better' ethical standard than the little guys. I have dealt with dealers who were always fair where I was concerned, yet I discovered that they creamed other clients. I truly believe that there are no angels in the coin business.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Yes, but only after all stamp shops close down
Not likely. Most B&M stores around me are basically places to liquidate collections when someone passes. The few I visit have a continuous stream of widow/widowers selling their spouse's collection. One store in particular has a ticketing machine on the counter, where you grab a number, and then sit down and wait. They do an incredible volume. I purchase material occasionally from them, but I'm clearly an outlier. Seem like 90-95% of their business is buying. BTW, most of the transactions I've seen were very fair, IMO. It's not cheap top run a physical store.
Dave
Everything that's been going on ... most likely yes.
Yep, especially with the pandemic variants we may encounter more robots in stores and other businesses.
I feel very lucky I have several coin shops in my area. I guess I am old school, don’t do eBay, I prefer face-to-face transactions. One dealer I go to very often is very knowledgeable and always has a huge selection. He also makes pricing easy by using the greysheet for everything regardless what happens in the market.
Out him and his nice inventory will like disappear quickly!
If you think the demise of coin shops is bad, consider old time hobby shops that had model kits, model rockets, trains etc. The last one in my area closed down just a week ago. There used to be a half dozen about a decade ago. I do model aircraft and model trains and I have to buy everything online now.
Oh boy......HO cars, model rockets, all that fun stuff we used to be able to get at the 'Hobby Hut'.....