B&M Shops: How often do you visit them?

SanctionII

Many threads have been posted about B&M Shops, including threads that state that these shops are dying out.

I wonder how true this really is.

I travel for work [going to court all over No. Cal.] and during both work and leisure travel through the Golden State take a few extra minutes to determine if a B&M shop is located in town. If so, I stop by just to say hello and to snoop. You just never know what you will find or who you will meet. I have made some good, continuing, contacts through stopping at B&M shops. Some of these contacts have resulted in great coins for me at modest prices, either on the day I stop by or later on down the road. Some trips to B&M's have resulted in me being given the chance to see the "good stuff in the safe". Some of this good stuff is really, really good [i.e. PCGS slabbed MS 18th and early 19th Century US gold].

Over the past ten years [since taking up the hobby again] in travelling for work through the SF Bay Area, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the Sierra foothills, the high Sierras, the Eastern Sierras and the high desert of So. Cal. [and in spending time with family in The OC], I have found and visited close to 100 B&M shops. The LA Basin, Orange County, San Diego County, and the Inland Empire B&M's are mostly unexplored by me and I expect the number of these shops to equal or exceed those I have been to in other parts of the state. Maybe one day I will snoop there also.

I do not see B&M shops dying off. They will be around for a long time and for those who like to stop by and snoop [you never know what you will find], that is a good thing.

What about you? Does part of your hobby time include visiting B&M shops? If so, what causes you to do so?

To a smaller degree going to coin shows in out of the way locations is just as fun.

SanctionII

Oops.

Wrong forum.

TONEDDOLLARS

I visit mine once a week

19Lyds

I visit as often as possible however if you're limited to 1 or 2 shops in your geographic area, it does cut down on the frequency of visits.
I expect that if I had 5 or more to choose from, I'd make it a monthly trip.

illini420

After recently being quoted a price of $20 per set for a 1996 Mint Set at my local B&M (when bid/ask in the latest Greysheet is $12/$13), I'm not really jumping to visit too often. For something I can pick up at the Long Beach shows for $10-$13 each (and I picked up several at those prices), a price quote of double the price was insulting. I've bought several $200-$1500 coins from this particular B&M and have bought and sold several thousand dollars in bullion with them in the past. But it ends up being a $10-$20 item that makes me not want to deal with them anymore. Especially with a few shows each month here in SoCal, the need for the local B&M is not very great anyways.

Steve27

Locally, I never the B&Ms in my area; instead I go to the semimonthly coin show where they shop too. When I travel down to New Orleans (roughly once per year), I always stop in at a coin shop on Royal street in the French Quarter. I get a good laugh when I see their prices (I recall 64 proof sets for something on the order of $25 a set).

scottgardener

I visit the brick-and-mortar shops fairly often. The selection is slimmer than online or coin shows, but there's that instant gratification of their being there at any time. (Well, at least during 8-5 hours, and not on Sundays. But, my job has me working strange hours, so I can usually get to one within a week of wanting to go.) There's that personability--that one can talk with the shop keepers about coins or about life in general while looking around at leisure. At coin shows, things often feel a little cramped, whereas at the shop, there's plenty of room and, usually, no sense of holding up anyone else's time.

Returns are a lot easier. On two seperate occasions, I've had coins returned ungraded and described instead as counterfeit. In both cases, they were bought from local shops who gave me a quick refund. (In neither case did I feel there was any attempt at deception on the shopkeepers' part, I should note.) Had I bought these coins at a show, I'd have a much harder time finding the vendor to whom to return the item.

But, I have noted some drawbacks. First and foremost is that the shops tend to have a higher markup--the coins can cost a bit more, especially if one doesn't know how to shop and which items are priced better or worse. You may also get less when you sell or trade coins in. I have found that I can offset this somewhat by learning each local vendors' preferences. In my area, there is one guy who will buy anything, but he won't give you very much. I can sell to him coins that I've decided to trade in but can't garner interest from anyone else. Another vendor offers better bullion metal prices and a narrower spread--that is, he pays more when buying and charges less when selling. When silver started going up quickly, I sold a stockpile to him and used the money to buy a coin from the first vendor. It involved a little driving to get to both shops, but I estimate that I came out ahead somewhere between $50 and $100 in so doing.

ajc

I use to visit mine at least once a week. Unfortunately, the inventory declined and declined some more. Now about every 6 months I just call and see if they have anything interesting instead of driving 35 minutes to be disappointed.

CoinCrazyPA

I visit the only one around me with in a few minutes drive about once a week. The rest are 40 minutes away.

Poppee

erwindoc

I have 3 in my local area to choose from. I regularly visit 2 of those. The one I dont go to is where the guy has such a mark up on his items it is ridiculous! He claims his wholesaler is to blame. He has mostly junk items anyway. The other two stores have very nice items/inventory and many TPG coins. I routinely buy and sell there.