Episode 191 – Timeless Moments: The Local Card Shop Experience

In this episode of You Can't Comp This NBA Trading Card Podcast, hosts Adam Amy and Russell Gibson take a deep dive into the role of local card stores in the hobby. With the boom in trading card interest post-COVID, more shops have opened, but challenges like high business costs and exchange rates make survival tough—especially in Australia.

The hosts discuss what makes a great in-store experience, highlighting key factors such as customer service, product variety, and the sense of community that card shops foster. They share personal experiences from local favorites like Fastbreak Trading Cards, emphasizing how these stores serve as a gateway into the broader collecting world.

Trade days, collector interactions, and shopkeepers who truly know their customers add a personal touch that online shopping can’t replicate. The episode wraps up with exciting news: Fastbreak Trading Cards will be hosting their first-ever trade day to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

If you love the nostalgia and community of card collecting, this episode is for you! Tune in for insights, personal stories, and a celebration of what makes local card shops an integral part of the hobby.

Thank You to our Primary sponsor:
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Use the promo code 'YCCT10' for 10% off all Fanatics Memorabilia.

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Transcript

00:12.51
Adz
Cool. Card stores. All right.

00:19.13
Russell Gibson
I'm already recording.

00:22.78
Adz
Welcome everybody to episode 191 of the You Can't Comp This NBA Trading Card Podcast. We host Adam, Amy and Russell Gibson back with another timeless moment.

00:37.26
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

00:38.33
Adz
Yeah, today's timeless moment or today's timeless topic ah is following on from our a little first year in the hobby I thought we'd go a little bit deeper into your local card store.

00:49.33
Russell Gibson
Yep.

00:52.31
Russell Gibson
Yep. Yep.

00:54.20
Adz
So i suppose it's not something all of us have an abundance of access to because depending where you live, there there's stores everywhere um or they or there might not be stores for for quite a distance.

01:05.86
Russell Gibson
yeah

01:11.96
Russell Gibson
yeah

01:12.33
Adz
ah So traveling, so the the the in-store experience can vary from from person to person, but

01:17.67
Russell Gibson
yeah

01:18.39
Adz
I believe the way the hobby is at the moment, where we do have a lot of opportunities, a lot of a lot of choices if if you want to travel. um what have What have you found in the hobby since, um I'm going to talk post-COVID, I'm going to in the 2020s, we're now in 2025.

01:36.86
Adz
My thought is that there's a lot of hobby stores around.

01:41.08
Russell Gibson
Yes, I think definitely there's more competition in terms of hobby shops opening. And for me, the really interesting part of that is I sort of view this as this is not even the peak like hobby time.

01:53.83
Adz
No.

01:54.32
Russell Gibson
I feel like the shops that probably did the best were the ones that were already open and established. And then they had a really sweet time during COVID and you know and did really well.

02:04.45
Adz
Yeah.

02:04.71
Russell Gibson
So for me, I find it actually quite interesting when I think about hobby shops how they're functioning now in this sort of, in the current times, because like there's a lot of different things that would impact hobby shops.

02:17.00
Russell Gibson
The exchange rate is terrible at the moment.

02:19.83
Adz
and That's that's locally in Australia, the the exchange rates awful.

02:22.04
Russell Gibson
Running, running a business in Australia is just hideously expensive at the moment. And that's something that probably needs to be addressed, not on this podcast, but like by the Australian government.

02:26.88
Adz
Yeah.

02:32.61
Russell Gibson
And then also too, you know, there's sort of an argument to be made that there is actually a bit of a downturn in the hobby at the moment. So for me, the way I view this is the people who are doing it either have to be doing it because they love the hobby so much, or they're doing it

02:37.82
Adz
oh

02:51.58
Russell Gibson
even though the timing's wrong. And actually it might turn out, you know, badly. Like not all businesses survive. And I'm saying that in a very kind way too. I don't mean this as like diss. um

03:00.23
Adz
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

03:00.81
Russell Gibson
So I think if people are doing it, either they're incredibly brave or they just love what they're doing. So, and I think that's the thing that, you know, probably leads into my second part is the customer service.

03:06.14
Adz
Yeah.

03:11.90
Russell Gibson
I think the reason why you would go to a hobby shop these days, or one of the reasons i go to a hobby shop is for customer service, because like the thing about,

03:17.53
Adz
Yeah.

03:21.51
Russell Gibson
cards And one of the reasons why it for the massive boom in is because of the availability and the accessibility.

03:26.00
Adz
Yeah.

03:26.71
Russell Gibson
It just became so much easier for people to get their hands onto singles, to get their hands onto to boxes via eBay, Facebook groups.

03:33.99
Adz
Mmm.

03:34.43
Russell Gibson
And then, of course, you know, without going in too much into box breaks, but, you know, the breaking aspect opened up the hobby, you know, a lot.

03:41.41
Adz
Yeah.

03:41.56
Russell Gibson
And I think that when you're shopping online, you don't have that person to talk to. You don't have that customer service.

03:47.18
Adz
Yeah.

03:47.49
Russell Gibson
um You don't have that forward-facing approach. It's very much sort of like a business angle. And so I think when you're going to a card shop, I feel like the loyalty that you have to that card shop, a lot of that is based on that relationship base that you have and you know the customer service.

03:52.43
Adz
Yeah.

04:00.48
Adz
Spot on.

04:01.18
Russell Gibson
So you know I've definitely had some experiences in card shops where

04:01.65
Adz
Yep.

04:05.89
Russell Gibson
I'm not that fast about going back and most of it is to do with the, you know, the customer service or the lack of customer service that, um, you might get in a shop. So.

04:15.11
Adz
Yeah, I think you touched on a very important aspect of the in-store experience. And and and to me, it is ah it's about that experience. The people are really important.

04:26.02
Adz
um that's That's not just the people behind the counter.

04:26.20
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

04:29.19
Adz
That's the people that are around, in and around.

04:31.85
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

04:32.15
Adz
It's the furniture. It's the people...

04:33.89
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

04:33.92
Adz
And when I talk about furniture, I don't mean the chairs and the tables. I mean those customers that live at the store.

04:37.48
Russell Gibson
yeah

04:40.61
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

04:40.72
Adz
They're the ones that are always there from open till close, talking with the shopkeep, building, annoying the shopkeep, but they they build that rapport with you.

04:42.68
Russell Gibson
Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah. yeah Annoying them basically. Yeah.

04:51.81
Adz
They will talk about your your personal collection.

04:52.18
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

04:54.63
Adz
data they're the They're the stores that you walk in and they know what you collect. They not they know who you collect. They know what products you like.

05:03.33
Russell Gibson
Mm-hmm.

05:04.02
Adz
And I think it's having that community. That's your first sort of, for me anyway, that was my first gateway to the community.

05:11.83
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

05:12.72
Adz
and was i was I was interested in sports cards and there were few guys at school that were interested in sports cards, but it didn't open me up to how wide this world could be until I'd found a shop.

05:19.93
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

05:28.57
Adz
and And when I started, there were a few shops. um I would go into the city. There would be um stores at at local markets. There are a couple of shops in the Melbourne CBD. um If you travel out to the outer suburbs, there are another couple of shops.

05:43.28
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

05:43.77
Adz
And there are a variety of places you could pick up cards. Each store had a different type of reputation. And I think it is finding your people, so to speak.

05:56.04
Adz
that that That shopkeeper that that does take a note to say that you're, I mean, I'm ah um'm a Kobe Bryant collector, so that's not difficult to to um so look out for for Kobes, right?

06:09.67
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

06:09.81
Adz
But I also collect Scottie Pippen and i also collect Julius Randall. Do you know what mean? So if ah if the shopkeeper remembers that I'm a Randall collector and somebody brings in cards and they're like, get a message.

06:19.30
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

06:21.58
Adz
Hey, Adam, there's a new Randall that just came in. You interested in this? And you get a photo. it's that and that's you were talking about customer service that's that extra level of yeah knowing your customer base is is super important there but having the community having um good good stuff available obviously if the if the shop's just one cabinet no dollar boxes or or stuff to pilfer through what's the reason you keep going back it's the it's the discussion it's the banter um

06:29.07
Russell Gibson
Yeah. Knowing the customers. Yeah.

06:35.31
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

06:47.66
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

06:53.88
Adz
You'd like to hope that the pricing's reasonable. um Every business needs to make money, but hopefully not gouging their their customers. But you find those things out by by going into stores and and seeing what the vibe is like in different places.

07:09.03
Russell Gibson
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

07:10.99
Adz
um

07:11.05
Russell Gibson
So what are some of the things that you look for when you do go to a card shop? Like what is it that you want from a card shop when you go in there?

07:17.83
Adz
ah if like

07:18.53
Russell Gibson
What makes you go back?

07:20.01
Adz
What makes me go back? are Product range.

07:21.21
Russell Gibson
Yeah. Yeah. Right.

07:23.83
Adz
Decent product selection, having having something a little bit different that the tape that catches the eye.

07:29.56
Russell Gibson
Hmm.

07:29.82
Adz
um I've been to a lot of a lot of different stores. um I need to feel comfortable hanging out there. Do what mean? like Like just comfortable.

07:41.83
Adz
Doesn't necessarily need to be like a couch or chairs and stuff, but it's, I need to feel comfortable with the people I'm, I'm surrounded by.

07:45.46
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

07:50.30
Russell Gibson
Yeah,

07:50.38
Adz
i don't want to feel guarded or like if I put my bag down, it's going to get, someone's going to run out the door with it. Like I want to feel safe when I go in there.

07:57.56
Russell Gibson
yeah, Yeah. yeah for sure

07:59.18
Adz
um ah A good range of products. I do like a good dollar box or stuff to flick through.

08:05.66
Russell Gibson
yeah

08:08.92
Adz
Something to sort of keep my attention. and then And then it's always nice, and this is something I've remembered from the few unique unique stores that I've been to, is the ones where you know that the owner is a collector and that they've got a bit of their personal stuff there.

08:23.17
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

08:26.07
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

08:26.92
Adz
And they've got it on display and they're like, this is what got me in. And that's their story. and And then you can engage with that story. I think that's really, um really important.

08:37.83
Adz
It's nice to, that's what we're, ah we we love talking about our hobbies. So telling our our stories about the random Julius Randall cards I've got or how I got this one of one or some card story that I that i just wanted to talk about because of the people I met or the card that I pulled.

08:42.76
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

08:47.99
Russell Gibson
yeah

08:56.69
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

08:57.93
Adz
it's that That's the environment. So being open to to meeting new people and a friendly vibe in the store is my big thing in product range.

09:05.95
Russell Gibson
Yeah. So basically the few notes I wrote down for this, you've already touched on. So variety, that's really important for me.

09:14.14
Adz
Yep.

09:15.36
Russell Gibson
You know, the way that I look at buying sealed these days is just paul opposite to what it used to be. Like used sort of treat myself to a box of sealed each year, but I just feel like now with the the price of sealed boxes and what you get back from it,

09:24.29
Adz
Yep.

09:28.75
Adz
Yeah. Yep.

09:30.93
Russell Gibson
Even if you do really well out of a sealed box, it's like, are you even going break even? So like for me, buying sealed is just, ah I approach it just much differently now. I'm like, okay, well, if I really wanted to buy this box of sealed, am I better off just buying the single or should I just go into a break?

09:40.44
Adz
Yeah.

09:45.89
Russell Gibson
So for me, I'm more buying retail these days.

09:46.41
Adz
Yeah. Interesting.

09:49.53
Russell Gibson
like I'm very much moving away from buying hobby. And actually the s stuff I've most been enjoying ripping lately is ah like the fat packs and the mega packs and stuff like that.

09:58.54
Adz
Yeah. Yeah.

09:59.37
Russell Gibson
And so I probably, I spend more of my time looking at that in terms of buying sealed. um The other thing you spoke about too is like singles boxes.

10:03.96
Adz
yeah

10:06.95
Russell Gibson
And the way I think about this is, is my, the best experience I've ever had in a car shop my life was at Burbank. And so the reason why I like Burbank is because like the range that they had was just insane. And it's unfair to compare other shops to Burbank, but I think if you want to talk about, you know, gold standard and,

10:27.31
Russell Gibson
you know, what you can look at. So they had all the ranges. So they had cards for 10 cents. They had cards for a dollar. Then they had cards that were in like the sort of the $5 range, then the $10 range.

10:38.79
Russell Gibson
And they had like the bargain boxes where they had low, like low graded PSA cards that, you know, you couldn't sell if they weren't 10 or $15, but there some, some really you know good value and some good fines in there.

10:49.14
Adz
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

10:49.93
Russell Gibson
And then they had all their cards on display. And I suppose so if I'm making a ah local example of that, you know, I think obviously they're a sponsor and um obviously I'm biased on this. So, you know, if people want to push back on me, I think that's totally fine. But I just feel like the lads at um fast break, they put a lot of effort into their displays, obviously displaying aesthetically pleasing cards in that sort of higher range.

11:12.34
Adz
Yeah.

11:12.38
Russell Gibson
But they've also spent a lot of time like curating and putting cards into those different boxes. So they've got one, five and 10, I think is off the top head what their boxes are.

11:20.68
Adz
Yep.

11:21.48
Russell Gibson
And it's just a good experience to go down there and like TVs on the background, all the sports are playing and you're sitting there just like flicking through the boxes.

11:21.53
Adz
Yep.

11:28.44
Russell Gibson
Like, you know, I enjoy that experience.

11:29.17
Adz
Yep.

11:30.34
Russell Gibson
And so um i do think like one thing that,

11:31.65
Adz
Hmm.

11:35.84
Russell Gibson
I do struggle with a little bit sometimes when I go to hobby shops and what makes me go back or not want to go back is just the size of the shop. Cause you know, if you've, if you've been into a small shop, it's kind of like, okay, it's pretty small.

11:43.27
Adz
Okay.

11:48.27
Russell Gibson
What's the chances that I'm going to go back in a month and the stock is a hundred percent turned over, you know, probably in my head, you know, whether this is true or not, I'm like, it's not there. Whereas if you're going to a bigger shop, I'm probably more likely to go back and sort of spend, it you know, more time going through boxes if I had a good experience.

12:04.41
Adz
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

12:05.23
Russell Gibson
um I think that's the big one.

12:07.67
Adz
ye

12:08.16
Russell Gibson
And maybe that's, you know, I think that's also a little bit of the the size in our population where Australia does sort of struggle a bit, you know, in compared to other shops, because I've been to some shops in Japan and Singapore, and it was the same thing.

12:15.88
Adz
huh

12:20.00
Russell Gibson
It's just, you know, the size and the amount of variation that's available for you just to sit there and flick through.

12:26.54
Adz
Yep.

12:27.14
Russell Gibson
You know, we have a little bit of trouble competing with that. And

12:30.26
Adz
We do.

12:31.28
Russell Gibson
you know I kind of get it a little bit too because like that's, again, reflecting back on Burbank, like they were big on... So once I picked cards out of boxes, they actually took them off me.

12:40.46
Adz
Yep.

12:40.94
Russell Gibson
So they didn't let people walk around with bunches of cards that they could you know then steal and put into their bag.

12:43.94
Adz
Wow. Okay.

12:45.86
Russell Gibson
And at the time, I wouldn't say i was off-put by it, but um it was kind of one of those experiences. you know I wasn't expecting that to happen. So I was a bit like, oh, you know like what's going on?

12:56.06
Russell Gibson
But I kind of get why that, you know, that would want to protect their assets in that sense.

13:00.48
Adz
yeah yeah i

13:01.30
Russell Gibson
Yeah. What else do we need to talk about when it comes to card shops? What else can a local card shop do for you?

13:09.38
Adz
um well i i guess that's the they the gateway to the hobby as i as i touched on um they can pass on information they can introduce you to other collectors uh i think trade days are a really important part of of the community we're in and um

13:15.31
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

13:19.22
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

13:25.17
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

13:26.88
Adz
One of the things, if you do have a local card store, check out, see when they've got their next trade day. um Head on down, check it out. I know you've already touched on our sponsor, Fast Break.

13:39.15
Adz
um There are other stores that don't necessarily sponsor us, but we've been to.

13:43.80
Russell Gibson
Why don't we reminisce about our days with EJ cards?

13:44.14
Adz
EJ

13:46.87
Russell Gibson
I think that's fine, man.

13:48.42
Adz
Cards is a good one.

13:48.77
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

13:49.26
Adz
um

13:49.48
Russell Gibson
Those trading days were sick. They were good days.

13:51.33
Adz
there Yeah. um

13:53.07
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

13:54.22
Adz
It's, it's those, it's interesting because know I remember my first lot of trading days were cherry trading days.

14:01.99
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

14:02.60
Adz
And this this is back before they, they, they sort of exploded on the scene. This is well before, course, of course, of course,

14:07.50
Russell Gibson
Can you beep out Cherry when you put the podcast up? I'm going to, I'm going to beep it out. Yeah.

14:12.18
Adz
um Yeah, so it's couple of collector days there. MSF Pro Cards in Mulgrave.

14:19.83
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

14:21.77
Adz
I thought they had the coolest. I've never been to a shop that looked like a man cave. And I tell you what, i could I could spend the day there.

14:32.82
Adz
There's a pool table, there's an NBA jam machine, and the NBA is up on.

14:36.97
Russell Gibson
Yep.

14:37.37
Adz
That's what I mean about that personal touch.

14:39.42
Russell Gibson
Yep.

14:39.54
Adz
And they've got like signed basketballs and just, it is, it's their, it's like a side project is the is the is the hobby side of it, um which is awesome.

14:42.60
Russell Gibson
That's like their dream though, isn't it? Like they had this vision in their head and they've gone out and played it out. Exactly. Yep. Yep.

14:54.22
Adz
I like going to that. and they actually had a um ah trading day back in January that I, Wish I had a got to, but but missed out on.

15:00.87
Russell Gibson
Yep

15:02.09
Adz
But it is, it's it's stores like that.

15:02.28
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

15:04.30
Adz
You're right. The EJ ahj cards had a couple of really good ones.

15:07.86
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

15:07.89
Adz
There was a point there where we had to coordinate who was going because it was Pokemon and basketball. There were too many people there.

15:17.46
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

15:18.23
Adz
I mean, that's awesome. When did you've got like having a store that's got a problem of we've got too many people coming down to see us.

15:27.22
Russell Gibson
yeah

15:27.90
Adz
Great way to meet people. It's a great, almost like ah a gateway to going to trait it's a card shows.

15:34.17
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

15:34.26
Adz
It's like making a group of friends locally before you go out to a card show, which is the bigger version when you think about it. Yeah. So, I don't know.

15:45.68
Russell Gibson
Yeah.

15:45.84
Adz
no

15:45.84
Russell Gibson
so I think we can, we think we can do a little bit of breaking news now.

15:46.78
Adz
No other tips.

15:50.28
Russell Gibson
So our sponsors, Fastbreak Trading Cards, will be having a trade day coming up.

15:56.03
Adz
Ooh. Breaking news.

15:58.27
Russell Gibson
It will be marking their one year anniversary. And it's going to be their first trade day. So obviously there's going to be a lot more ah news and advertising pending on this, but um we are very excited about this.

16:09.40
Adz
oh

16:11.60
Russell Gibson
And I think we will be down there with literal bells on.

16:14.72
Adz
We will be down there with bells on or at least um mic'd up and ready to ready to hang out with people.

16:16.79
Russell Gibson
Yep.

16:21.03
Russell Gibson
That's it. Yeah.

16:21.97
Adz
That'd be awesome.

16:23.08
Russell Gibson
right, mate. Final thoughts. What do you got for me?

16:24.83
Adz
Final thoughts, um still an integral part of the hobby, um a lot less focused on these days because of the, the I suppose, the online aspect of breaking, shopping, et cetera, et cetera, right?

16:40.91
Russell Gibson
yeah

16:41.52
Adz
But I still think there's a there is a ah really, really important place for that person-to-person experience, that storytelling, that that that interactive show-us-your-trades experience Going up, seeing what's new and available from the local shopkeeper at your at your local game store or your local hobby store, sorry.

16:57.84
Russell Gibson
I mean, if you believe the Luber manifesto is that the hobby is ah only going to double or triple, hopefully there is going to be a very healthy future for trading card shops.

17:04.61
Adz
Yeah.

17:09.76
Russell Gibson
So,

17:09.99
Adz
Yeah, I'd like to think so.

17:10.90
Russell Gibson
Yep.

17:11.69
Adz
Awesome. This has been fun.

17:12.56
Russell Gibson
Yep. Thanks for a good episode, Ed. Well done.

17:15.58
Adz
Thanks for another timeless moment.

17:17.43
Russell Gibson
Yep.

17:18.03
Adz
We'll see you in the next one.

17:19.23
Russell Gibson
ghost sp Go Spurs, go.

17:22.25
Adz
Ghostbizco.