Rotmans Wocester,Ma What happened?

tsalems1

Back in the late 80's into the 90's this place had everything.
Cases of every product, vintage wax,sets,bulk loads of singles and supplies.
Back in the day you could walk in and buy whatever you wanted.
Anyone know what happened? I think they have been closed for a while now but
thinking back at what they had,WOW!

TonyC

I don't know exactly what happened, but they have been out of business for at least 10-12 years. I have boxes of miswraps from the 1980s from Rotman.

Also, when I run into Rotman sheets, they almost always have oiled.

PowderedH2O

Same with my old Rotman sheets. But I do remember buying several boxes of 1981 Donruss baseball from them for $6 each in the mid eighties and having a great time pulling stars on the cheap.

Probstein123

wow, I haven't heard that name in awhile...
I recall buying cases of plastic sheets from them in 1981 and selling them at shows for profit...
back then, not alot of dealers sold sheets ( no internet ) and people would swarm to buy sheets...
to me, Rotman, Mr Mint and Renata Galasso were the 3 of the big forces back then....

zep33

I grew up in the area in the 70s / early 80s. Never heard of them as far as cards went. Name sounded familiar though but I remember it being a furniture place LOL

scooter729

The last time I remember going in the shop was 2003 (I am sure of the year since that was the only year I worked near Worcester, and would go on lunch breaks occasionally). The showroom part - which was always small, but a giant warehouse - was even smaller than in the 80s and 90s by that time. Not sure how long it lasted after that, but it's no longer there.

Just the furniture store now, and we don't even get the commercials anymore - "FANNNNNNNNNNN-tastic!"

Dboneesq

IIRC they advertised in SCD back in the day and I would occasionally purchase supplies from them.

For you Beantown guys ... Back in the day (1984) I lived in Arlington, MA for a year. Down the block from where I lived was a shop operated, I believe, by a father and two sons ... Halls Nostalgia ... which had a ton of baseball cards. Are they still in business?

Ironmanfan

<< <i>IIRC they advertised in SCD back in the day and I would occasionally purchase supplies from them.

For you Beantown guys ... Back in the day (1984) I lived in Arlington, MA for a year. Down the block from where I lived was a shop operated, I believe, by a father and two sons ... Halls Nostalgia ... which had a ton of baseball cards. Are they still in business? >>



I see them on eBay from time to time, not sure if they have a "brick & mortar" store anymore....I also remember that they always advertised on the back page of SCD (back when SCD meant something).

IMF

fmaz

Well the furniture store is here and still going strong... but are you all saying there used to be card shop inside it? Or was it a completely different place with just a similar name?

I'm in the Worcester area now and in terms of card shops there's really nothing at all.

We take our son to the shows up in Mansfield each month... but other than that, there's not much.

alnavman

there was a card place in Cleveland down near the Flats that sounded similar to this place, it was located in the backroom and upstairs of a paint supply store. Not the house paint type of store but artist paint type stuff. I bought several cases from them over the years and remember one time when the owner showed me his collection of cards dating back to the start of Topps. He had all the sets and was trying to sell but at the time I didn't have the $$$. When I checked back a few years later all the cards were gone but the paint supply store was still there, don't remember the name but it no longer exists also.....many other shops near Cleveland also no longer exist...another place I remember going into had the owner last name Kovacs if I remember correctly....this could be a great thread...shops that have disappeared!! another one on Broadview Road in Cleveland was in business for many years, again can't remember the name of the place but they had the cheapest plastic at the time.......

gemint

<< <i>wow, I haven't heard that name in awhile...
I recall buying cases of plastic sheets from them in 1981 and selling them at shows for profit...
back then, not alot of dealers sold sheets ( no internet ) and people would swarm to buy sheets...
to me, Rotman, Mr Mint and Renata Galasso were the 3 of the big forces back then.... >>



Don't forget Larry Fritsch. You couldn't pick up a sportscard trading magazine back in the day without seeing Fritsch's full page ads on the back cover and sometimes even the inside front covers. I always wanted to buy compete series' of vintage sets from him but never pulled the trigger.

tsalems1

Back in the day when going into the Romans store, you had to walk through part of the warehouse in order to get to the front store area. After a while it was fixed up and that wasn't the case anymore. However, when you were able to walk through, I remember seeing cases on top of cases on top of cases and on top of more cases. Cases for everything. Topps donruss fleer all years. Showroom always had lots of vintage wax, sets singles.

heritage

I grew up in the area in the 70s / early 80s. Never heard of them as far as cards went. Name sounded familiar though but I remember it being a furniture place LOL


Mike i grew up about 1/2 mile from Rotmans.... that place was the best in it's day!

tsalems1

It was located in the same old building as the furniture store but on the back side.

scooter729

Halls Nostalgia doesn't have a store, but they still run monthly auctions in Arlington. The father (Walt) and two sons (Dave and Joel) are still running the show. They haven't totally kept up with technology but at least they take phone bids as well. If anyone else goes in person, I'm there most months so say hi!

Hall's website

thekid8

<< <i>

<< <i>wow, I haven't heard that name in awhile...
I recall buying cases of plastic sheets from them in 1981 and selling them at shows for profit...
back then, not alot of dealers sold sheets ( no internet ) and people would swarm to buy sheets...
to me, Rotman, Mr Mint and Renata Galasso were the 3 of the big forces back then.... >>



Don't forget Larry Fritsch. You couldn't pick up a sportscard trading magazine back in the day without seeing Fritsch's full page ads on the back cover and sometimes even the inside front covers. I always wanted to buy compete series' of vintage sets from him but never pulled the trigger. >>




Add Den's Collectors Den to this list

alnavman

is Larry Fritsch still in business??? I thought I read where he passed on but family was doing it....anyone know?

Dboneesq

<< <i>is Larry Fritsch still in business??? I thought I read where he passed on but family was doing it....anyone know? >>



Larry died about 4 years ago at the young age of 71. I believe it is his son and family who continued his business.

fiveniner

For a while back some years back Rotman used to run some very nice auctions.

cefy1

I have been looking for some of these pages for a while. I have a 75 Topps set that needs about 20 as 12 or so need to be replaced and just short the others. When I got them over a year ago they were a mess, but clean up nice as long as you keep them in a dry environment. They are at least 3 times thicker than standard sheets, and the cards sit down deep in the pocket so nothing hanging out to get nicked. Here are sample pages - notice the top edges. As for Hall's Nostalgia been there many times, grew up in Somerville - Great old school place.

parkerj

I still sell heritage stuff to jeff fritsch (who runs his dad's business now) all the time.

They are on ebay as id sammybaugh

- jim

zep33

<< <i>I grew up in the area in the 70s / early 80s. Never heard of them as far as cards went. Name sounded familiar though but I remember it being a furniture place LOL


Mike i grew up about 1/2 mile from Rotmans.... that place was the best in it's day! >>



Where George? I grew up in Holden

heritage

Where George? I grew up in Holden


Mike i grew up in Worcester. on Cambridge street.. just near holy cross.

NickM

Den's Collectors Den was Denny Eckes's shop. He was James Beckett's coauthor on the original Sport Americana annual price guides (back when it was Beckett & Eckes). He died in 1991 and the shop closed shortly after that.

Nick

jackstraw

Been there a 100 times and if I remember we just drove through Worcester and the building
with "Rotmans" on the side is still there? I used to love the uncut sheets on the wall and all
the showcases. To me it was a lot funner back then with card shops and shows all the time!
Those days seem so long ago.....

Stone193

Wow - do I remember Rotman!

I bought from them from around 1989 to about 1996?

I got some really cool stuff also - a '68 SI Mantle poster for one thing.

They gave me great customer service - I bought 10 packs of 51T Redbacks - to open - they were relatively cheap back then - all the cards were worn - I sent it all back - and they gave me a full refund - I appreciated that they trusted me.

Bought this card from them for 20 or 30 bucks - a really good buy!

Piggs

I bought sets and sheets from Rotman and loved them back in the day. Had put several sets into sheets from them when they first came out and when I took them out years later the sheets had a orange/red color to them like it lifted the color off the cards. Not the best materials to make them back then. Great customer service though.