Economy could be GOOD for baseball card stores!?
larryallen73
Posts: 6,069 ✭✭✭
Article in the Sacramento Bee today about a new comic book store that was able to open in a nice new shopping center... because the landlord was desperate to rent out the space. The guy signed a 5 year lease. The article talks about the little guys being able to open stores in nice shopping centers which never would have considered renting to such a tenant in the past. Photo of some kids playing Yug-i-oh cards in the article. Interesting angle on the bad economy I thought.
Article
Recession kicks open door to renting retail space
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Buzz up!By M.S. Enkoji
menkoji@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 2D
For 10 years, Chris Neary clung to his dream of a comic book store with art deco flourishes and plenty of space for kids. But no landlords were interested.
Until the recession.
Today, Neary is the new owner of Metropolis Comix at Strawberry Creek Shopping Center in Elk Grove, rubbing elbows with big-name tenants like Target and RadioShack.
"I'm so ecstatic," said Neary, who feels he got a prime location at a bargain price.
It's a phenomenon being repeated across the region, as the recession squeezes out formerly reliable retail banners and leaves behind acres of barren floor space that landlords are feeling pressured to fill at bargain rates.
National brands and regional chain stores in a position to expand are rubbing their hands in delight. Large chains like Forever 21 and Kohl's have pounced on vacant space left by Gottshalks, Mervyn's and others.
The big guys aren't the only ones benefiting, however. For budding local business owners like Neary, this is truly a golden opportunity.
Small, homegrown stores are snagging big-time retail locations, promising to change the homogenized character of malls and shopping centers for years to come.
Some have found spaces in large shopping malls like Arden Fair or Sunrise. Others have snagged good deals on neighborhood storefronts in more urban locations, where rents would previously have priced them out.
"Landlords are responding to decreased demand and doing what they can, which is lower the rent," said Tim Trainor, a spokesman for CoStar Group, a commercial real estate information company in suburban Washington, D.C.
Neary's retail dream unfolded in a bustling, new shopping center with restaurants and familiar brand-name retailers. It's a prime, high-traffic location that Neary would never have been able to afford if times were flush.
In July, less than two months after he opened, young teens gathered at long tables on stained concrete floors inside his 2,245-square-foot store at Bruceville Road and Cosumnes River Boulevard.
They were there to play card games tied to popular comics, such as the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Overhead, four flat-screen monitors played wildly popular Japanese animation films.
The numbers tell the story of a retail market increasingly skewed toward renters.
A report this month from Colliers International showed the retail vacancy rate in the four-county Sacramento region at 12.9 percent. In some submarkets, the report showed, rates are much higher: 18.3 percent in the Arden/Howe/Watt area; 13.6 percent in the Roseville/Rocklin area; 19 percent in Lincoln.
"Now is the best time to find a deal," said Scott Laeber of Colliers, who brokered Neary's lease.
Some of the shopping centers offering good deals are brand new, like Strawberry Creek.
Laeber is still negotiating a few spaces in the Strawberry Creek Shopping Center, which has 70,000 square feet of retail space, excluding the company-owned Target.
Neary signed a five-year lease, but shorter lease terms are becoming more common locally, Laeber said. Laeber had never written a 12-month lease until this year.
"It's the classic supply-and-demand curve," said Scott Crowle, a senior associate at commercial broker Marcus & Millichap in Roseville.
Tenants once considered "bulletproof" proved less so once the economy took a shot, he said. That's created a new reality: "If you have a vacancy, it doesn't hurt to give a wide-eyed entrepreneur a chance."
Prices will continue to drop, Crowle said.
"It was imperative that lease rates came down because they weren't sustainable," he said.
Besides offering leasing deals, some landlords are holding off on evicting tenants who are behind on rent, he said. Others are glad to get tenants who contribute to the upkeep of common areas in the shopping center, but otherwise pay no rent.
One caution to landlords, Crowle noted: Lenders might view short-term leases as vacancies when considering loans to someone interested in buying the shopping center.
Still, the overriding concern remains filling space.
Article
Recession kicks open door to renting retail space
ShareThis
Buzz up!By M.S. Enkoji
menkoji@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 2D
For 10 years, Chris Neary clung to his dream of a comic book store with art deco flourishes and plenty of space for kids. But no landlords were interested.
Until the recession.
Today, Neary is the new owner of Metropolis Comix at Strawberry Creek Shopping Center in Elk Grove, rubbing elbows with big-name tenants like Target and RadioShack.
"I'm so ecstatic," said Neary, who feels he got a prime location at a bargain price.
It's a phenomenon being repeated across the region, as the recession squeezes out formerly reliable retail banners and leaves behind acres of barren floor space that landlords are feeling pressured to fill at bargain rates.
National brands and regional chain stores in a position to expand are rubbing their hands in delight. Large chains like Forever 21 and Kohl's have pounced on vacant space left by Gottshalks, Mervyn's and others.
The big guys aren't the only ones benefiting, however. For budding local business owners like Neary, this is truly a golden opportunity.
Small, homegrown stores are snagging big-time retail locations, promising to change the homogenized character of malls and shopping centers for years to come.
Some have found spaces in large shopping malls like Arden Fair or Sunrise. Others have snagged good deals on neighborhood storefronts in more urban locations, where rents would previously have priced them out.
"Landlords are responding to decreased demand and doing what they can, which is lower the rent," said Tim Trainor, a spokesman for CoStar Group, a commercial real estate information company in suburban Washington, D.C.
Neary's retail dream unfolded in a bustling, new shopping center with restaurants and familiar brand-name retailers. It's a prime, high-traffic location that Neary would never have been able to afford if times were flush.
In July, less than two months after he opened, young teens gathered at long tables on stained concrete floors inside his 2,245-square-foot store at Bruceville Road and Cosumnes River Boulevard.
They were there to play card games tied to popular comics, such as the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Overhead, four flat-screen monitors played wildly popular Japanese animation films.
The numbers tell the story of a retail market increasingly skewed toward renters.
A report this month from Colliers International showed the retail vacancy rate in the four-county Sacramento region at 12.9 percent. In some submarkets, the report showed, rates are much higher: 18.3 percent in the Arden/Howe/Watt area; 13.6 percent in the Roseville/Rocklin area; 19 percent in Lincoln.
"Now is the best time to find a deal," said Scott Laeber of Colliers, who brokered Neary's lease.
Some of the shopping centers offering good deals are brand new, like Strawberry Creek.
Laeber is still negotiating a few spaces in the Strawberry Creek Shopping Center, which has 70,000 square feet of retail space, excluding the company-owned Target.
Neary signed a five-year lease, but shorter lease terms are becoming more common locally, Laeber said. Laeber had never written a 12-month lease until this year.
"It's the classic supply-and-demand curve," said Scott Crowle, a senior associate at commercial broker Marcus & Millichap in Roseville.
Tenants once considered "bulletproof" proved less so once the economy took a shot, he said. That's created a new reality: "If you have a vacancy, it doesn't hurt to give a wide-eyed entrepreneur a chance."
Prices will continue to drop, Crowle said.
"It was imperative that lease rates came down because they weren't sustainable," he said.
Besides offering leasing deals, some landlords are holding off on evicting tenants who are behind on rent, he said. Others are glad to get tenants who contribute to the upkeep of common areas in the shopping center, but otherwise pay no rent.
One caution to landlords, Crowle noted: Lenders might view short-term leases as vacancies when considering loans to someone interested in buying the shopping center.
Still, the overriding concern remains filling space.
0
Comments
/s/ JackWESQ
All my life I wanted to own a card shop, until I worked at one for 4 years.
I knew the total of all the bills. Rent, utilities, internet, etc.
And I knew how much they were paying for product, and why they have to mark it up so much.
With the advent of ebay, sportsbuy, checkoutmycards, and the Beckett Marketplace, I think the only way a card shop could successfully have many good years would be to take advantage of the online marketplace as well.
The ones that didn't down here are now gone.
The one I worked at is still in business and opened an additional store.
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
<< <i>Our card shop in Dallas is having one of its best years ever. >>
Where is it and what is it called? I live in Waxahachie and would be interested in going.
Mike
That alone made me want to open a location - mainly as a front to actually be a buyer.
I always believe there is money to be made by anyone that is creative and aggressive with smart marketing
MULLINS5,1966CUDA,nam812,nightcrawler,OAKESY25,PowderedH2O,relaxed,RonBurgundy,samsgirl214,shagrotn77,swartz1,slantycouch,Statman,Wabittwax
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I am ALWAYS glad to see hobby-folks get a chance to sell stuff.
The notion that "now is the best time" to find a deal is kind of
a metaphysical view - though popular among some desperate
CRE-hustlers.
12 - 24 - 36-months out ALL look like "better" times to find a deal,
to me.
TRILLIONS in commercial-RE mortgages WILL be wiped off the books
before this disaster EVEN stabilizes. Such write-downs have NOT
EVEN gotten started good yet.
If I am right, the returns would be MUCH better if the entrepreneurs
just bought some SRS - a controversial ETF that is double-short CRE -
and waited for the reality of CRE to really sink in.
.........
Also, it might be good to note that the retail-dynamics of the comic-biz
are somewhat different than that of sports trading-cards and memorabilia.
Cards can easily be integrated as an auxiliary product to comics; it's less
easy for a card guy to profitably integrate comics.
......................
DISCLOSURE: I am LONG a number of things that will benefit due to the
semi-end of the world.
There's so, so, so much more involved in starting a business.
Business plan, startup capital, inventory, rent, taxes both personal property and misc., payroll, utilities, insurance, phones, internet, marketing plans both external and internal, hosts of miscellaneous expenses/hidden expenses, maintenance costs, furnishings, fixtures, bookkeeping/CPA/legal fees, etc.
Key: ya better have a true and tested marketing plan before ya even pay a penny to a landlord or get a loan from the bank. Good shops rely on a well choreographed external marketing plan and an internal marketing plan that works specifically for their products which - of course - might be totally different for - let's say a vacuum cleaner store....
One is gonna get hit by all kinds of "experts" who want to help you with their "one size fits all" marketing strategy that may be a disaster for our hobby product - as such.
For anyone thinking of taking the plunge? I wish ya the best - I can help with general business questions and marketing ideas.
The Product: it must be very DIVERSIFIED - if ya gonna survive.
mike
Yep and it will get worse...Im short IYR which is a comm RE index stock
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Ditto.
BUT, I will not be shocked to see it go substantially higher b4 the end comes.
<< <i>That alone made me want to open a location - mainly as a front to actually be a buyer.
I always believe there is money to be made by anyone that is creative and aggressive with smart marketing >>
I don't imagine I could ever be a collector and a seller at the same time.
I sold at weekend shows between 1989 and 1992 and had a blast. I also saw that I was sinking all my profits back into the hobby...by picking up stuff for my collection. It was OK then, as I was having a blast, but it made me realize I wasn't going to make a living selling cards as long as I wasn't willing to sell every card I owned to do it.
Vintage Cards Specialist/Hobby Historian
Vintage Baseball Cards website:
http://www.obaks.com/vintagebaseballcards/index.html
I go to the local stores to buy supplies mostly and thats a good thing but I cant imagine they are making much profit off of top loaders and one screws.
There are about 2x as many comic book stores in this area, which is funny considering the horrible resell value of new comics. I think comics are in another golden age with all the new movies, hot writers like Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith writing comics and better art but it hasn't made them more valuable just better quality. Vintage and somewhat rare #1's are all that really sells. Some key 80s and 90s issues are picking up steam but I can't think of any recent regular (non Obama or other nonsense type) book that actually is worth $50 bucks. In the card game at least you can get a $50 dollar card out of a $4 pack.
The only reason I mentioned this story is because the reporter quoted a sportscard shop owner in Upstate New York, Hot Corner Collectibles (Link)
Times Herald-Record
Posted: May 19, 2008 - 2:00 AM
LIVINGSTON MANOR — Boarded-up buildings have turned into vibrant mom-and-pop shops. Crumbling roadsides have been replaced by smooth sidewalks lined with streetlights, cherry trees and park benches. The shadowy corners where drug dealers loitered and sold cocaine are now well lit and safe for pedestrians.
The river hamlet that people once called "a tough little town" is quickly transforming into a prosperous one.
Over roughly the past five years Livingston Manor has seen a renaissance that many of our struggling cities, villages and hamlets have only dreamed of. It's been accomplished with a two-pronged approach — the town and business owners paid for infrastructure improvements, and the police surgically removed gangs and other troublemakers who soured the town with drugs and violence.
Business owners say the turning point was 2004. That's when the Town of Rockland — using grants, donations and some of its own money — replaced the crumbling, unsightly sidewalks. New streetlights, benches and roadside trash cans were installed that year, too. The improvements gave Livingston Manor residents a reason to walk about town again, and they gave business owners the impetus to spruce up their storefronts using county facade grants.
"The cosmetic changes had a tremendous effect," said Barry Foster, a longtime resident who owns Hot Corner Sports Collectibles."
"You look at a shleppy town, and who wants to be there?"
The town's beautification has lured new businesses, like the bicycle shop, bookstore and housewares store. Civic involvement is also rising, residents said. Locals chipped in $1,600 for each new street lamp. On a recent Wednesday night, Lisa Lyons, owner of the Morgan Outdoors nature and sporting shop, hosted a group that stained flower boxes to be placed around the hamlet.
"We wouldn't dream of letting go of the progress we've made," Lyons said. "That's why we spend a weekday night staining planters. We've built a nice, pretty town and we're going to hold onto it."
Police have helped the people of Livingston Manor regain control. In the past few years, through investigations and covert drug purchases, police have snaked out members of the Crips, Latin Kings and the homegrown Cash Crew street gangs. They had been throwing loud parties, fighting in the streets, and dealing marijuana and cocaine.
"The key for us was surgically finding the problem areas and problem people and directing our resources there," said Sullivan County Sheriff Mike Schiff. Once police gained momentum, school kids started giving them tips and business owners kept the police phone number by their cash registers just in case they spotted trouble. The watchful eyes of locals and police busts have combined to wipe much of the crime from the hamlet, Schiff said.
If you're looking for an anecdote that epitomizes the changing tide in Livingston Manor, here it is: When police last year arrested Bradley Dunham, the alleged narcotics dealer and leader of the Cash Crew gang, they also confiscated his car, a spiffy 1998 Corvette. The car won't be used to deliver drugs anymore, but it will be used to deliver drug messages to youngsters. Police say the Corvette will be outfitted with decals and used as the DARE vehicle.
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