Another one bites the dust...

fsjeter

Another store has closed it's doors here in good ole Las Vegas. Windy City Collectibles opened in February and has closed already.
I am slowly but surely running out of options here.

Scott

stevek

The new brick & mortar stores in my opinion need to do more than just baseball cards...the ones I see succeeding are doing comic books, comic figurines and an assortment of sports and entertainment type stuff. That's just the way it is.

julen23

it's really tight on these guys...

they really have to sell lots of modern stuff, assorted schwag (sports & non-sports related) or be next door to a starbucks b/c people LOVE that starbucks!!!!

there is 1 or 2 board members here (can't remember their tags), but they supposedly have been able to get psa 7+ raw vintage cards from local dealers in the hometowns...

e-bay, auction houses, and any other online dealers (bbckid, levi, bbcexchange....) are reshaping things.

would there be incentive for non-online dealer to go online, especially if customers physically coming in & out of the doors are not paying the bills?

Sell porn, better dividends!

Julen

Estil

<< <i>The new brick & mortar stores in my opinion need to do more than just baseball cards...the ones I see succeeding are doing comic books, comic figurines and an assortment of sports and entertainment type stuff. That's just the way it is. >>



Yeah, I've heard that's a common "beginner's mistake" for card stores. But still, it's rather frustrating to go into a card store and see mostly Magic/Pokemon/comics/etc and hardly any baseball cards.

fsjeter

<< <i>The new brick & mortar stores in my opinion need to do more than just baseball cards...the ones I see succeeding are doing comic books, comic figurines and an assortment of sports and entertainment type stuff. That's just the way it is. >>



This store was mostly Sports gifts & novelties (shirts, blankets, plaques, cups, mugs, key chains, etc.) with cards and autographed memorabilia thrown in for good measure. They had a lot of late 80's and early 90's packs and boxes. They told me when thay first opened that they would be adding more modern but I guess it didn't work out.

Scott

cjb1977

I am curious why shops close? You would think the good ones would thrive, now that they have two streams of income, walk-ins and ebay. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar.

Even if they have a brick and mortar shop, the overall should only be a few thousand a month against an ebay dealer. I would think the differnece would easily be overcome simply because the brick and mortar guy can dedicate 40-60 hours a week to cards as opposed to a few hours after work.

Do most shops fail because they cannot incorporate ebay/internet successfully into their business plans?

cuse

Card shops can only survive by staying fresh. Unfortunately, the walk-in "buys" of 10-15 years ago have been eliminated by self sellers on Ebay. Thus, no new inventory = stagnant inventory = poor sales. The profit margin on the new junk is too close to make it a staple. Sorry, but the fun glory days of hanging out at the shops is long gone.

usmc1986

We had an awesome card shop here. Closed a few years ago. The owner said that 2K a month for rent was very hard! I can't blame them for closing. He also had a web page and did ebay sales along with the retail store.

Dan

5STAT

I am curious why shops close? You would think the good ones would thrive, now that they have two streams of income, walk-ins and ebay. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar.
Even if they have a brick and mortar shop, the overall should only be a few thousand a month against an ebay dealer. I would think the differnece would easily be overcome simply because the brick and mortar guy can dedicate 40-60 hours a week to cards as opposed to a few hours after work.
Do most shops fail because they cannot incorporate ebay/internet successfully into their business plans?

OK...I'm all over this one...having been on Ebay now for 9+ years and gone through opening a new store...and now closing a store...I can give you all 1st hand knowledge of why stores close.

1st..my store was very inexpensive...less than $700 a month in total...heat/electric/rent/phone/internet/insurance....

I had all my PSA inventroy there...as well as wax back to 82...and all the new shiney boxes as well..

Here's the dilemma....you simply have to stock too much new stuff that cost out the back side...and there's very little room for profit!! The only money you make on newer wax is when you sell it by the pack...and if your profit is only on the last 4-6 packs in a box..and it sits....you're done for!!

We used to buy boxes at $9-$10 each and sell them for 50 cents a pack...$18 back..you doulbled your money and everyone bought tons!!
Now, you buy Exquisite at $640 a box and sell it at $700-$720.....big deal...there's eaiser ways to make $80!!
Even the low end stuff...Allen and Ginter was a big hit....but even at that...if you're only making $15-$25 a box...you have to move ALOT of product to make up the overhead..let alone put your paycheck in your own pocket!!

Now it's great..when people come in and rip packs and pull stuff.....but if you're tied up 5-6 hours out of the 8 that you're open....when are you supposed to incorporate Ebay??

Then you get the lookey lou's who come in and say..."oh, I can get that cheaper on Ebay".......or they spend an hour looking for low end cards tp fill sets and BS'ing....and when they leave..you've got a whopping $10!!
Just to see them leave and have someone else come in and do the same thing.....

Heck..my store made money....it wasn't THAT bad.....problem...my internet sales dropped $8K last quarter!!!

I was so busy busy being busy and scrambling around chasing the small $$$ that the big one's were slipping away!

When I 1st opened again..I figured great..the cards are all out of the house...I can do my Ebay 3-4 hours a day and make more $$$ through the store....
Well....I got so busy tending to customers and playing with new JUNK.....I lost sight of the vintage market that was slipping through my grasp!!

It was when I was taking work back home with me at night to put on Ebay..that I asked myself...what in the heck am I doing here??

"I spent 4 hours talking with customers today...and took in $150....BUT....in 4 hrs...I could have scanned my 86 PSA football set and started all the auctions...."

I made $150 and got NOTHING done online...in 4 hrs....

Last week...I took the 4 hrs to start those auctions.....plain and simple...I made over $1,000 on that auction.

so what's better...be there and spin your wheels and make $100-$150 a day (don't forget the $20 and $30 days though)...or work part time from home...have no head aches...no overhead...don't have to listen to the BS every day...and make 10 times more???

For me it was simple...instead of buying $1500 worth a wax that I was going to make 15-25% back on.....I was much better off using the same $$$$ and buying bulk lots of cards and older vending and submitting to PSA....all without the overhead!!
I didn't need the sales practice and customer relations skills....I've had them for years.....
What I needed was to be able to make a living off of this and have some sort of comfort in my life....the store simply was more headaches than it's worth!!

I can make more money sitting home with my wife and kids and doing an occasional show on the weekends.

I was at the Post Office today and a customer asked .."oh man, you're closing...now where am I going to hang out??"

Multiply this guy by 50 people with the same attitude....and it's no wonder I never got anything done!! lol

All in all....too much time...too much money put into a store....not enough back to justify it!!!

cjb1977

5STAT:

Thanks for the reply and sharing your experience.

Bunker

Very insightful, thank you 5stat.

fandango

I have had the last 2 baseball cards stores close near me.... i do not know of a baseball card store in driving range....

its sad, in 1985 there were 10 sportscard stores in range, now ZERO!!!!

wonder if anyone else has this problem.......

ps 5stat, what state are you in?

5STAT

fandango...I'm in central Mass.

For the record...I opened my 1st store in 1988 and thrived through 1994...when the baseball strike (amoung other things) killed the market. It's hard to believe that we made a living back then without this thing they call the internet!! lol

I sold off all of my stock back then. 4 million cards to be precise!! Monster boxes chock full of every year....1970 to 1994.....some 3200 +/- 1986 Fleer Basketball singles...same for 87 and 88....twice as many for 89 and 90....a 5,000 count box of 89 UD....90 Leaf....more 84 Donruss singles than you could shake a stick at.....ALL before PSA was even a thought!!!

I remember getting their initial flyers...and saying.."yah right, I'm going to spend $8 for someone to tell me MY card is mint....whatever!!" LOL

When I opened in 88, there were 3 other card stores in central Mass......when I closed in Nov of 94....there were 32!!!

It's never been the same...

Even today, i do more through email and Ebay...if customers want something particular...I have them meet me at a monthly show....between email, Ebay and all the internet sites..there really isn't a need for a local store anymore.......other than what I had found out...a place for the guys to come pick up cheap supplies and a gathering ground for BS about the hobby!!