what was your favorit baseball card shop growing up

cardcollector2000

For me it was clairmont sports cards in san diego california back in the early 90's. this guy had the best selection of unopened wax i had ever seen I mean he had everything at the time 86 fleer basketball 81 topps football even remember 69 topps baseball wax packs he also had all the mid to late 70's topps football and baseball packs all the 80's OPC hockey packs . His selection was like baseball card exchange is today. on the weekend people were ripping packs like crazy at his shop.

kerryville

Any that was open the day I had an allowance.

YogiBerraFan

When I was growing up most of the stores had the same stuff for the most part. I mostly went to buy new product because they gave you a discount for buying a whole box. Around 1984 there was a Holiday Inn that started hosting a card show almost every month so I started saving my money for that. There was this one shop in Fort Lauderdale that had cases of 1975 Topps rack packs. I remember getting one with Brett on top and one with Yount on top. I paid around $75 for the pair.

CocoaBeachDodgers

This question is not meant for me but it will be fun answering!

When I grew up, there were no card shops!
When I grew up, there wasn't even a Walmart or Kmart.
There were no 7-11's, no Circle K's, no Sunocos.
Gas Stations only sold gas, oil, and some had Coke machines.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and there were a lot of small, family owned corner stores. Many of those sold candy & gum, and of course with gum they had baseball cards. Sometimes, when we went downtown, we could find boxes being sold at Woolworths, or Penny's or a similar store, often in the basements.

In order to get souvenirs you had to go to the Coliseum. There you could buy pennents, 8x10's, bobbleheads, etc...

Once Dodger Stadium opened, they signed on Union 76 as a sponser. From than on, we only bought our gas from them, always getting what new freebee came in this week. The Dodger booklets, Volpe 8x10's, tumblers, later on came the pins.

Those were the days!!!!

mccardguy1

<< <i>This question is not meant for me but it will be fun answering!

When I grew up, there were no card shops!
When I grew up, there wasn't even a Walmart or Kmart.
There were no 7-11's, no Circle K's, no Sunocos.
Gas Stations only sold gas, oil, and some had Coke machines.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and there were a lot of small, family owned corner stores. Many of those sold candy & gum, and of course with gum they had baseball cards. Sometimes, when we went downtown, we could find boxes being sold at Woolworths, or Penny's or a similar store, often in the basements.

In order to get souvenirs you had to go to the Coliseum. There you could buy pennents, 8x10's, bobbleheads, etc...

Once Dodger Stadium opened, they signed on Union 76 as a sponser. From than on, we only bought our gas from them, always getting what new freebee came in this week. The Dodger booklets, Volpe 8x10's, tumblers, later on came the pins.

Those were the days!!!! >>



I didnt grow up in the L.A. area but my story is very similar.

I grew up in a rural area that was northwest of Chicago and the only place I had to buy cards was the local drug store or if we were lucky to go to a larger town, I could maybe buy some at the local Ben Franklin. Once they ran out of the cards they rarely re-ordered and I was out of luck. Once day I saw an ad in the back of Baseball Digest in which I could buy the cards I needed to complete my set and was amazed anyone actually would sell cards. So I gathered my list, had my mom write out a check for what was probably only 2 bucks or so and waited by the mailbox for the cards that had eluded me all summer.

Great memories.......

mygotta

<< <i>For me it was clairmont sports cards in san diego california back in the early 90's. this guy had the best selection of unopened wax i had ever seen I mean he had everything at the time 86 fleer basketball 81 topps football even remember 69 topps baseball wax packs he also had all the mid to late 70's topps football and baseball packs all the 80's OPC hockey packs . His selection was like baseball card exchange is today. on the weekend people were ripping packs like crazy at his shop. >>



I live in San Diego near the Clairmont Sports Cards. If its the same shop I can say with some degree of certainty that they definitely do not have old packs anymore. Most, if not all, is current only with a few 90's boxes lying around. Their prices are a little on the high side (compared to eBay or other online shops). But getting it in hand at the time makes up for shipping and time. The guy there is nice, but low key and does not seem to remember customers well (me specifically, lol). Even after going a few times and dropping a few hundred at a clip. There are not many to choose from otherwise.

While in Connecticut I had a VERY hard time finding a card store. There are listed about 20 shops online in the area I was in, and I called every one and either no one answers their phone or they are just no longer in business. There was one store that ended up being of use which I was able to score an 84 sealed Fleer Vending box and an 85 Topps vending at a decent price.

Juggs

I grew up in a little town in Michigan called Grand Haven. I lived in a house two blocks from "Charlie's 5 and dime" which was a store full of candy and other crap. Charlie always carried baseball cards, football cards, etc. In the summer, my folks would give me $5 to go buy baseball cards so they could be alone (freaks), so I'd grab my friend Kevin, and my brown paper Meijer bag (if you've ever lived in Michigan, you know what I mean) that I stored my card collection in and I'd walk down and buy a truck load of packs. On the way home there was a little bench in the shade. Kevin and I would sit on it and bust our packs, look through the cards, reading every stat on the back, then head for home.

I usually stuck with wax packs, as the cellos were too hard to open. I would always search the cellos though to see if I could find any players on the front that I wanted. This started in the summer of '78 and I'd buy from Charlie's through the summer of '81, then, Charlie's closed and I had to get my Mom to drive me to the local card store.

I miss Charlie's.

airjoedan

"What's On Second" in San Antonio. The owner, Bruce is a great guy and made collecting fun.

Dboneesq

Well, I'm with the "older" guys on this one. (Born 1958) There were no card shops here on Long Island in the 1960's. I probably first started collecting baseball cards around 1965 and continued to do so until I was about 13 (1971). When the end of March/beginning of April rolled around each year, it was off the "Pete's Deli" to see if this year's cards were in yet.

Pete sold only wax packs. If they were in I would buy as many as I could afford. It was not too often (when I was 7) that I had more than 25 cents at a time. SOOOO, if the cards were in, I'd usually buy 4 packs of cards and one pack of candy. I would immediately go outside Pete's store, sit on the steps and rip open those packs. Each week thereafter, when I would get my allowance (usually 25 cents), I would repeat the above.

Once in a while I would go to the "Hobby Shop" to see what cards they had. It was a few blocks further than Pete's and across the main road in town, so I didn't go there that often. The first time I saw what they were selling I was not sure if I wanted to buy the cards, because the packs were 10 cents and they didn't have the colorful wrappers on the cards. (Although there were a lot more cards in each pack.) All they had was some clear cellophane covering the cards. However, it was fun to go thru the box and see if there were any "good" players on the front or back of the packs. If there were, I would usually splurge and spend the dime to get the pack.

Oh, to go back in time for just one day! LOL

cardcollector2000

<< <i>

<< <i>For me it was clairmont sports cards in san diego california back in the early 90's. this guy had the best selection of unopened wax i had ever seen I mean he had everything at the time 86 fleer basketball 81 topps football even remember 69 topps baseball wax packs he also had all the mid to late 70's topps football and baseball packs all the 80's OPC hockey packs . His selection was like baseball card exchange is today. on the weekend people were ripping packs like crazy at his shop. >>



I live in San Diego near the Clairmont Sports Cards. If its the same shop I can say with some degree of certainty that they definitely do not have old packs anymore. Most, if not all, is current only with a few 90's boxes lying around. Their prices are a little on the high side (compared to eBay or other online shops). But getting it in hand at the time makes up for shipping and time. The guy there is nice, but low key and does not seem to remember customers well (me specifically, lol). Even after going a few times and dropping a few hundred at a clip. There are not many to choose from otherwise.

While in Connecticut I had a VERY hard time finding a card store. There are listed about 20 shops online in the area I was in, and I called every one and either no one answers their phone or they are just no longer in business. There was one store that ended up being of use which I was able to score an 84 sealed Fleer Vending box and an 85 Topps vending at a decent price. >>



well now he has nothing and it changed ownership. I am talking back in the early 1990's . like 1990 1991 and 1992 in those years he was the best. the shop i am talking about is in the shoping center next to the TJ max

Planemonkey

The best was when this guy tried to open a shop in a little closed down drive thru beer barn. He had some of his stuff in refrigerator cases like old 7-11 cups or whatever would work well in a fridge. Anyway we called him the Junky man mainly because of the condition of his cards and his overall hygiene . The main attraction of the Junky man were his packs of 1991 stadium club series one packs. I remember pulling a Frank Thomas and a Nolan Ryan Tux card. He was selling his packs for like $2 less than the real card shop was at the time, I think he found that out when he went to buy a Beckett from them because armed with that the next time we went there the prices were not the same anymore. We didn't see much more of the junky man after that, but we admired him in a way for going after his dream of owning a card shop, I think most people would have tried a booth at the Oldsmar or Wagon wheel flea market but he went for it.

californiacards3

Told this story before, but deserves telling again. My Dad was a hard-case, with a soft touch. On Westmoreland's staff in Vietnam, I am one of the older collectors started collecting 73 time frame. We were in Radford, VA at the time, my dad was working the furniture business with stints at Bassett and Pulaski furniture companies. Why we were there I do not remember, but there was a General Store across from Radford University. Old timey store - candy in large glass jars, sawdust on the floor, and a porch. It was like walking a back in time. I remember my Dad and Mom walking to the back of the store, and my eye catching these pistine rack packs along the bottom of the shelf along the wall. Pristine 1972 rack packs which at the time I think were either 39 or 49 cents and contained 54 cards as I remember. They were on sale so this was likely in the fall of 1973. They were either $.10 or $.20 cents. These are still the pinnacle of my collection. I have three sets of 72 FB and am working on a completed registry set and am now 4 cards shy for my 2nd 72 set:

445 Tom Seaver
686 Steve Garvey
695 Rod Carew
699 Bobby Murcer
751 Steve Carlton Traded
754 Frank Robinson Traded
Any help would be appreciated.

I asked my Dad if I could have some. Lo and behold he bought them all. I went home with two shopping bags full (the department type bags with handles) He bought somewhere between 70-80 rack packs. Just which I had kept two of each LOL.

About the same time, Grant City department stores went bankrupt. We were living in Pulaski at the time. I purchased the 1973 cards from cello and the 1974 in cello's as well. It was a great time to be a kid, Munson, Ryan, Clemente (dying tragically) December of 1972 I believe. I remember getting his 73 card and thinking wow. The Bench 1973 card near the dugout, the 72 Aaon him catchin the popout by the dugout, Willie's last card.

We later moved to Wichita Falls Texas and the best place to buy was the 7-11 on the corner of Southwest Parkway and Fairway Blvd. I would ride my bike up to the 7-11 with my allowance and buy cards and cinnamon extract to make cinnamon toothpicks and buy Chick-O-Stick candy. Awesome times.

I stopped collecting in 1976 and did not see my cards after I left for Mustang Mania (Dickerson, McIllhenny, Craig James, Rod Jones, Michael Carter) at SMU in 1982.

When I got married in 1990, my parents came to NYC for the wedding driving the whole way. My Dad always bought Buicks and was in failing health most of his later life. My mom told me to run out to the Cadillac and she had something for me. In the original boxes in the back seat, I found all my cards just as I had left them.

WOW what a mom. Dad passed of abuse to his body congestive heart failure, pacemaker and defibulator in 1993 five months before my daughter was born. Mom the greatest woman I have ever known with the possible exception of my current wife, died last year at the age of 82 three months and three days prior to her 83rd B/D.

My only regret was finishing all those 70's sets in the early 90's and not buying up all the cheap 1920-1960's material.

Barry