Card Shops in San Diego
Tibbs4
Posts: 66 ✭✭
I am heading to San Diego for work an wonder if anyone knows if there are any local card shops.
Thanks
Chris
Thanks
Chris
0
Comments
The other is called All-Star Sports. Great selection. Also have 80's wax. Packs and Boxes. Lots of stuff for sale. Pretty decent prices.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/all-star-cards-santee All Star Cards
You can't see All Star Cards from the street, but it is on the northeast corner of Cuyamaca and Buena Vista (just south of the sheriff station.
hc09,
Dave and Patti Shore sold their store years ago. It was still there for a time with the new owner, but I believe it is now closed up. I used to go there all the time in the early 1980s when I lived in Santee (I believe All Star Cards had just opened around that time also). I left Santee in early 1985 to join the US Air Force.
Steve
The other San Diego store is Center City Sports on 6th downtown. Guy has a crazy amount of product, but you can't really walk around his store because it is piled everywhere.
My favorite store in the area is All Star -- best prices, best selection.
(p.s. I miss the Scottish Rite show)
I spent my first 30 years in San Diego and worked there on again/off again from 1990-1996. It was such a fun time in the hobby. Everything was exploding. And we had one of the best stores in the country. Cases of 1986 Fleer Basketball, 1978 Topps Rack packs hung on the wall that we would rarely sell, 1970's and 1980's OPC Hockey, ETC. Pretty much all the unopened you could imagine. Some good times back then...I I pulled what would ultimately become a 1980-81 Bird/Magic PSA 9 from a pack and a game of "war"
Dave Shore was a great guy and someone you could always trust to have unopened that was not tampered with. Before I worked at Clairemont, we would shop there all the time....I believe his store was called Baseball Cards Plus
I concur about Centre Ciry Sportscards. I hit the jackpot there last year buying a 1971 vending box and a lot of other unopened at very good prices, but his inventory prohibits you from walking around in the store. Never seen anything like it...
This thread is a trip for me to read....
TheClockworkAngelCollection
I worked for a while at San Diego Sports Collectibles when they had only one store on 5th Avenue a block west of Balboa Park.
There were several shops in San Diego County back in the late 70s/early 1980s.
San Diego Sports Collectibles was one, run by Bill Goepner and Nacho Arredondo. There was also a shop a couple miles north of them run by J.R. Hewitt, just south I think of Mercy Hospital. There was also a shop on Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach a block west of Nimitz Blvd. The owner of the OB store had a gold mine of 1960s Chargers stuff.....all the cards, media guides, team photos.....you name it! He also had loads of football cards back when practically no one else did.
There was another store up in Escondido run by Nelson Katz, who along with Alan Kaye, ran a large convention called the "San Diego Show" for 2-3 years. Unfortunately, it never caught on, but I remember going to the first one, and they had dealers from all over the country there.
There were also a couple of smaller monthly shows at Parkway Bowl in El Cajon, and I think Clairemont Bowl. I went to practically every one of the Parkway Bowl shows, and remember buying many cards from the likes of Steve Brunner, Tony Galovich and others who would come down pretty much every month from Orange County and LA.
Dave and Patti Shore opened Baseball Cards Plus at Clairemont Mesa Blvd and I-805 in the early 1980s and Jerry (don't know his last name) opened All Star Cards about the same time out in Santee. He was really the first person to open a card store in the East County. As far as I know, Jerry and his daughter Michelle are the last ones who are still around. Everyone else came along later.
I remember going home on leave at one point and going to Baseball Cards Plus and that's when I found out the Shores had sold the store. I also remember it because just one day before I was there, some woman had hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, and drove her car through the plate glass window and door, and into the store.
Dave and Patti ran a great business; every common card was in two banks of wooden file drawers, in numerical order. You'd tell them what card you were looking for, and they'd pull it for you. They were the first ones I ever saw who were meticulous in keeping their cards in numerical order. Everyone else would try, but they'd let customers go through the cards, and after 2-3 rounds of customer fingers, they were completely out of order, and nothing could be found without an extensive search.
I also remember going into Centre City Sports once a few years ago, and can vouch for the smallness and absolute jam-packed nature of the store. The owner of that store also had a goldmine of 1960s and 1970s Chargers and Padres memorabilia. I was just amazed at what he had in there
I've got to tell you, I really miss those days, where you could go into a different store every weekend for a month or two, and just be blown away by what you saw.
Heck, there were times when I'd hop in my car and hit all of 'em in one weekend!
Steve
TheClockworkAngelCollection
<< <i>I went to San Diego around 14 years ago for work, remember a shop within walking distance of the US Grant Hotel, which one is that? >>
That would be Centre City Sports; they're only about 2-3 blocks east of the US Grant Hotel.
Steve
<< <i>Dave and Patti ran a great business; every common card was in two banks of wooden file drawers, in numerical order. You'd tell them what card you were looking for, and they'd pull it for you. They were the first ones I ever saw who were meticulous in keeping their cards in numerical order. Everyone else would try, but they'd let customers go through the cards, and after 2-3 rounds of customer fingers, they were completely out of order, and nothing could be found without an extensive search. >>
I did not appreciate this until I was older and trying to find commons from other dealers to complete sets. Hey, I need a couple 1974 commons -- and I'd be given an unsorted box to search through. You could tell Dave that you needed #17 from 1969 Topps and he'd go to his drawer and pull it if he had it.
<< <i>Where at the King's Inn are they setting up now?
(p.s. I miss the Scottish Rite show) >>
The show is in "Lancer's Court," which is the corner room at the south end from the entrance....the doors are usually open during the shows.....even though the doors are open, the musty smell from the room still hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk in!
I've made some good purchases from there before....the dealers are all pretty good guys.
<< <i>Mygotta--I didn't know about the one in Santee. I've been to the one in Clairemont. That was the only one I knew about. When I head back to San Diego (I lived there for 9 years and still visit a lot) maybe I will check the Santee one out. Is the one in Santee easy to find? From what I remember about Clairemont it is nice, older couple who have that shop. There was a decent mix of singles cards but not a lot of wax outside of modern stuff if memory serves. >>
The one in Santee is somewhat easy to get to. The first time I went I passed it but realized that as I saw the sign. But its a much better shop than Clairemont.
<< <i>If you happen to be in town on a Friday night, I recommend checking out the small show at the King's Inn.....it's mostly modern stuff, but a vintage dealer will occasionally set up shop. >>
I have been there once but been meaning to go back there again...
<< <i>Dave Shore sold and eventually moved out of the state. I think he still runs his original mail order business out of his house. His old store closed up 4 years ago (or so) -- last owner skipped out owing rent and screwed a lot of people out of their consignment stuff.
The other San Diego store is Center City Sports on 6th downtown. Guy has a crazy amount of product, but you can't really walk around his store because it is piled everywhere.
My favorite store in the area is All Star -- best prices, best selection. >>
I will have to explore center city some day soon