Pre-2020 you could walk into a card show or shop and the demographic of that group would be almost the same. The atmosphere would likely be the same. It was 30-50 year old males and the shop would be some sports talk with the focus being a quick transaction. A lot of these people had the same views on collecting and agreed upon unwritten rules established before the popularity of collecting on the internet. The hobby was almost in a dark corner, a secret club that didn’t want any attention. It almost seemed like they resisted growth and disliked any innovation or change that occurred in the hobby. Early 2010s breaking became popular, it was a way to jump in and grab your pc teams or share a case with others. The majority of the old guard would resist breaking by saying things like “ why would you have someone else open your cards?” “ I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just buy your own box” And trying to dissuade people from entering breaks with silly opinions.
While the hobby was struggling 2009-2015 breaking brought new customers in. They kept the hobby which was on life support going. Distribution at the time would be calling breakers, not stores, to help move product that was not moving to LCSs. The breaker segment of the hobby brought new collectors in, built communities, and added an experience to the hobby. As the hobby grew the old guard became disgruntled. They seemed almost angry the hobby was growing. 2015-2019 the breaking industry was bringing in more and more collectors. They were building huge communities. More breakers were becoming friendly as were their communities. New dealers on the scene were being friendly and not hostile to their competitors.
Customers were less territorial. There was a major shift occurring in the hobby, but the demographics were almost the same. It was males between 20-40. Then the pandemic happened. We were locked down in some cases almost a year. During lockdowns people went searching for hobbies. A lot of people turned to their childhood. Sports cards and Pokemon. Now in that 2020-2022 a lot of opportunists did enter the hobby too, but things changed forever in that time period. Parents were sharing their love for cards with their kids. Kids were finding hobby influencers on social media and educating themselves. Women were becoming more visual and sharing their joy in the hobby. Trade nights started popping up across the country. The hobby was modernizing despite the old guards resistance.
My first national post pandemic and fanatics owned topps was Atlantic City. The biggest takeaway was the demographics had changed. There were more kids and females at that national and it wasn’t even close to previous shows. I began to visit shops in different places and you could see major differences in the shops that embraced the modern hobby and those that just wanted the same old transactional experience. The new hobby wanted to be fun and exciting. When Fanatics entered the game. Fanatics said they were going to change the game.
Even using admittedly made up goals of “10xing the hobby”. The old guard would latch onto that statement to take shots and cast doubt in the hobby, almost like they don’t understand the premise of it. While in Atlantic City topps began changing the game. They had live drops in their entertainment space and sports corporate area, things that we hadn’t seen in a card collecting space for the most part. They brought a different experience into the national. As I was opening our new space , shortly after 2022 I began to think of ways to bring different experiences in the shop. We became an mvp store. We started clearly seeing fanatics was changing the game for the better.
Our first in store event was international trading card day. Free packs to customers without a ridiculous 5 figure required purchase requirement that panini was running. The MVP buyback program, athletes and their collections being featured, advertising, collector and dealer spotlights, community spotlights, and Topps rip night. Topps rip night has become essentially a Topps backed nation wide trade night. They created an experience for collectors to receive silver packs, get reduced product , meet collectors , and in a lot of cases send an athlete to hang out and rip with collectors. At these events we have a ton of kids, females, and males! It’s no longer a secret club.
Topps/fanatics has pushed the hobby further out of a dark corner. As a shop owner they have been hands down the best for the collector. Paninis distribution tactics have kept basketball and football cards out of the hands of many collectors with high pricing. Whether it’s intentional through distribution or not it directly effects the market pricing, by limiting price competition being possible. Upper deck I’m convinced does not like to sell cards. They have rules where you can’t let your customers know pricing unless they call or are in store for the 1st 6 months.
It’s the old guard way of doing business in a dark corner. It’s no wonder when customers come in they gravitate to the topps section. They are out of that old guard mentality. Summarizing this the hobby is changing and evolving. There’s a place for EVERYONE in the hobby even the old guard. The hobby is no longer just transactional. It’s growing with experiences and dare I say it, being fun and cool. Fanatics is listening to the new era of collectors. I would hope the other companies will follow suit. And a message to the old guard, you can stand down the new era of collectors and dealers don’t want to be in a dark corner any more.
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