Captain Obvious here to report that the collecting world went through a significant shift in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. The introduction of Upper Deck into the card world, alongside more structured and legitimate price guides saw what was predominantly viewed as a kids hobby evolve into a full blown business. As with similar changes in other areas of industry, people want to get in on the market action and square away their portion of the consumers disposable income. And I’ll tell ya what bub; That consumer was no longer the snot nosed kid coming into the corner store or depanneur with some pocket change to get some wax wrapped cards with a cardboard stick of gum. Never mind the fact that anything sports related, no matter how tenuously, beyond cards and autographs was now getting sucked into the market of what was considered to be “sports memorabilia…, creating a vast marketplace for both sellers and buyers alike. This was no longer penny poker my friends. It was high stakes buy-in with pay-off implications.
This has long since been a kids game. A pack of cards climbed north of a buck over 25 years ago, and although the flooding of the market has calmed substantially with respect the players in the game, and the amount of playing fields for that matter (we miss you mid-‘90s Katch medallions!), any chance of the hobby in general re-adjusting to kid friendly levels is pretty much nil. I'm not suggesting it should either, as the hobby is a very different one than I lived in during the 1980’s, and it could not sustain itself that way anymore. Twenty-five cent packs when people are demanding autographs and game-worn memorabilia doesn't equate! So I'm not going to drone on about getting things back to the way they used to be as it’s just not happening. At the same time, I will drone on about what can be done to sidestep many of these financial barriers, and over time you'll see how some creativity and detective work can score you some primo deals!
I'd call this lesson one, but you'll see me revisit this with examples so many times I’d have to label it “Lesson One ‘A’ through ‘Z’ “, and that's just annoying (amongst the millions of things that are annoying about my hack’ish missives, but I digress…). So I’ll settle for introducing this to you and driving it home to you over time: Thrift Shops. They go by a million different names, be they chain or local: Salvation Army, Goodwill, Value Village, Frenchy’s, or a variety of “XXXXX… Auxiliary Thrift Shop. Basic premise is that Joe and Jane Q.Public donate items they no longer want to the shop, or to another organization (often a charity of sorts) which sells them to the thrift shop in bulk, and the items are, in turn, sold to the public with a portion of sales oftentimes helping to support an organization associated with the shop. The key here is that the person donating places little personal value in what they're donating, while in many cases the individuals pricing items at the store undervalue the financial worth of anything they're accustomed to dealing with, such as clothing and small appliances. This is where the astute collector can cash in!
I can tell you from experience that there is definite payoff in hitting these shops. On multiple occasions I've turned single digit investments into double digit hits, and is their ever some satisfaction that comes from it! How do we optimize the likelihood of seeing these payoffs though? Here's a few hints:
1. Patience. This is the ultimate virtue in this approach. Not every store is going to have something you're looking for. In fact, stores with potential hits are the exception more than the rule. So don't get frustrated if there's nothing for you in your first run of visits. Be patient and you'll find something eventually!
2. Re-visit. That store that was bare last month may have some swag this month! Give it a look if you've got a chance! The nature of these shops is that stock is very fluid with new stuff always coming in. This plays to your hand…
3. Target. We don't all have an hour to waste digging through merchandise upon every visit if the name of the game is optimizing. If you're grocery shopping and want milk you don't waste time looking through produce! Same idea here. If you're looking for cards, don't rifle through clothes. Instead, try the toy or games. If you're into season yearbooks, old magazines or other types of written materials, there's usually a book section. Old equipment and the like? Try sporting goods or a subsection of clothing. You into oddball things like packaging, lunch boxes or bobble heads? Housewares and toys. Point being, optimize your time and effort.
4. Mental Notes. Don't have time to hit a newly spotted store? Tuck it away for a time you do have a few minutes. Notice something unique about this store that differentiates it from others, whether it be product placement or other things? Keep it in mind! Could come in useful down the road.
5. Talk to staff. Find something in the store you're going to snap up? Why not ask the staff if they might have anymore of the same product in the back waiting to be placed on the shelves? Stores will sometimes break up larger bundles of a product into smaller pieces for sale, waiting for what's on the floor to sell before placing more out, or not wanting to take up shelf space with something they feel will sit there forever. They may be quite happy for you to take it off their hands in one fell swoop, so along never hurts!
6. Use what you know, learn as you go. At the end of the day we may find ourselves in front of something we are tempted to buy, but aren't 100% convinced it's worth it. To be quite honest, there will be many occasions where we are not totally sure, and that's fine! Ask any card buyer if they were 100% sure of what was going to be in the pack before they opened it, and that can normalize this a great deal! The key here is just making sure to be informed. You may not know exactly how much that bag of cards is worth, but knowing that pretty much anything from Pro Set is worthless, or that the market flood of the early ‘90’s devalued most cards from that era, can inform your decision. You may not know this book from the back of your hand, but looking at the publishing date, print run, and checking the inner covers for potential signatures better informs you. The same also applies post-purchase, sometimes for good, sometimes for the learning experience! So you check the price guide and you scored on the cards! But that 2002 Team Canada Theo Fleury bobble head? A little legwork tells you they were overproduced and aren't worth any more than what you just paid for it. Lesson learned, more info for next time! Sometimes you pay for the lesson, but luckily at a thrift shop the lesson will be reasonably priced!
So there's a little intro into tapping into a high prices hobby on the cheap. There are more spots than the local thrift shop to learn about, and I’ll share that info moving forward for sure, as well as a few of my personal scores! But in a few days, a nice story to underscore the usefulness of the thrift shop buy!
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Do you have a piece of treasured memorabilia that has a great story behind it? Let me know and you can be featured in an article. Doesn't matter how big or small the piece is, how valuable it may be, or whether it's a common item or more oddball. If you think it has a story, contact me via the information below and we'll chat. In the meantime, check out some previous "Display Case" articles via the links below to see what others have submitted in the past...
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Shawn Gates
shawn.gates@hockeybuzz.com
Facebook: Shawn Gates
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