Earliest card shops?

[newfiecomicguy1]

How long have pure card shops been around? Whats your earliest memory of going to a card shop?

I grew up in a small town through the 70's & 80's and bought all my cards from a corner store. We traded to get what we needed, there was no such thing as a card store. My first experience of going to a store was around 1990. Anyone have cool stories or pictures of early card shops.

 

[Fred Bear]

I wish I had pictures, but I do have memories...

First shop I went in was in '82 with my parents doing most of the buying... I saved up and bought my first box in '83... Good times!

 

[bamlinden]

Great idea for a thread. Made my brain instantly shoot back to when I was about 10 or 11.

I've lived in Calgary pretty much my entire life and in the early 80's I discovered hockey cards. I didn't know of any card shops at the time. Most of my cards were bought at the local 7-11 or Turbo gas station. I remember asking for rides constantly to see if that year's product were in stock.

In the mid-80's I was taking music lessons. The place where I went for the lessons was in the same strip mall as a used book shop called "The Book Attic" (south Calgary, Canyon Meadows area, by EP Scarlett High School.....for those who know Calgary). My mom would go there while I learned stuff. I went in after a lesson one time and noticed they had comic books......and cards! I was pretty pumped to see some semblance of a card shop. That place got a lot of my hard earned allowance and paper route money.

I also remember a card shop setting up (for a very short time) in a strip mall literally down the street from me by the 7-11 I would go to to buy my packs (at the end of Southland Dr. in Oakridge.....again for those who know Calgary). It wasn't overly impressive, but still.....it was a card shop.

I also remember when both shops closed up. I was pretty bummed that there was nothing close by me anymore. I did learn though that the owners of "The Book Attic" were the ones who either started up or maintained the bi-weekly card shows at the ARC. That show is still one I hit up each month to this day.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I wish I remembered more.

 

[slappy69]

my earliest memories were 1976 purchasing cards at James Nisbet School we had some kind of school store and there were packs of O PEE CHEE and they were a dime each I was 8.

As for stores it was 7-11 or Mac's in the late 70's I lived out in the burbs at the time so really no shops I knew of, around North Winnipeg ( Maples )

First card shops I went to were in the 1998 Hame of Fame (gone), BST ( buy sell trade) (gone), Superstars, CanCentral, and another in River Heights that I can't remember the name of (long gone). Great Topic :beer:

 

[newfiecomicguy1]

I still remember my first purchase from an actual card shop it was a Brett Hull OPC rookie and Ken Dryden OPC rookies. Paid $60 for Hull who was really hot back than and no one from my home town had one and $60 for a beautiful Dryden rc.

The guy at the shop was really after me to trade or sell him some of my older opc. He was really after all my Gretzky, Oilers and Yzerman stuff. I kept it all.

 

[Beak]

I grew up in Brantford Ont and remember going to Sears at the Lynden Park Mall around 1983-84 and a couple of guys had a card/coin booth setup right by the mattress section. I can still remember walking over there and instantly being hit by the stale gum smell. One of my first purchases - a 1972 OPC Bobby Orr. For $.75.

 

[canucksfreak19]

1989: Chris's Collectibles in Langley B.C.; I remember when he just had a tiny back room for a store, soon he'd taken over the whole two story building. Got my first in person auto there (Theo Fleury) when I was seven. Still have that lying around somewhere. I've always wondered what happened to that shop after my family moved to Calgary.

 

[CKcardtrader]

Stadium in Blenheim in the early 90's we all went there after school to pour through the base boxes to complete our pro set and upperdeck sets and looking at O-Pee_Chee Premier packs waiting for adults to bust them as they were out of our price range. I looked in the display case and seen a Brett Hull Rookie and saved for all summer to get it as well as Jim was awesome to trade with, he would trade in with the low value in beckett so I would save up all my doubles and extras and get store credit. I also scored in his grab bags he made up. In chatham there were a couple of shops but they were also collectible shops that did coins and stamps and was harder to trade as they never wanted to trade or buy unless you gave them everything for pennies and always sold at Beckett high with no negotiating.
The card shop feel at Stadium was cool as a kid as when you brought in your list if you were a couple common base short of killing a set, he would just wink and give them to you.

 

[Frendo]

There are numerous card shops in Stockholm during 1994.1996 during its heyday of the hockeycardsboom here in sweden (especially between 1994-1995)....no kidding all was really COLLECTING cards then in sweden (for a short time, before when many started to steal of others or stealing moneys like from its own parents to buy cards!)

Aww....those memories!
I sure sometimes (no often!) miss those days when cards still was a quite cheap to collect and almost no high-end cards (almost onlythe older ones fron 50's, 60's, 70's etc...

Slapshot at odengatan in stockholm (the odinway) was especially awesome!
Others was just ripping off us withours hard-earned allowances but not Slapshot they was really passionate about collecting and helped us tremendously much with advices and others.

 

[itsonlycardboard]

I want to say 1980 or 81??? There was a store here in town that sold nothing but sports cards and they had a bunch of it. I can remember buying some very nice cards back then for fractions of what they go for today.

I can remember one day back in 86, I was there and a semi pulled up out front. I got suckered into unloading a boatload of the Sportsflics baseball cards. This guy thought he was gonna make it rich off those cards!

 

[gomaz]

my earliest memories were 1976 purchasing cards at James Nisbet School we had some kind of school store and there were packs of O PEE CHEE and they were a dime each I was 8.

As for stores it was 7-11 or Mac's in the late 70's I lived out in the burbs at the time so really no shops I knew of, around North Winnipeg ( Maples )

First card shops I went to were in the 1998 Hame of Fame (gone), BST ( buy sell trade) (gone), Superstars, CanCentral, and another in River Heights that I can't remember the name of (long gone). Great Topic :beer:

Was that the one on Grant and Centennial?

I used to go to AB D Cards on Portage Avenue, where the MTS Centre is now. That would have been back in 1983 and 84. Barry and Dale sold me a Lemieux RC for .25....I remember that well. Great shop and Dale still sets up at the odd Bossa show in Alberta. But I heard he's moving back to Winnipeg now...

After that it was Joe Daley's which is still there. And once the boom happened in 1990 you had The Locker Room, Pokey Reddick's Superstars (Winnipeg's premier store today) and a bunch of others.

 

[99goals]

In Kingston Ontario it was Cosmic Comics and Legends of the game (now From Hockey to Hollywood) in Downtown Toronto.

 

[Stadium Sports]

My parents had an antique store in Blenheim so I aways had a place to move cards in the ealry 80's.

I opened up The Stadium in Tilbury Ontario in 86 but closed it down in 88 because I had another venture (Hunting & Fishing) in Leamington that really took off.

I sold everything to my buddy Jim and he opened up The Stadium in Blenheim in 1989. In 1999 he asked me to come back in with him and I bought it back in 2002. Now he works in the store from time to time but it's funny how it has gone full circle.

We are now looking at some additional stores (one Jim may run in Chatham) and one in Stratford.

Wish us luck..............

but my earliest memory of hockey and baseball cards was the variety store on King George Road in Brantford where I would excange pop-bottles for change so I could buy packs.... and loved it.

 

[SNobles]

In Kingston Ontario it was Cosmic Comics and Legends of the game (now From Hockey to Hollywood) in Downtown Toronto.

I don't think I ever got to either of these...I only got to MVP in Napanee, ON and a few in Belleville (I can't remember their names) in the early 90's. I remember a friend of mine being convinced that Glenallen Hill was the next big thing and the LCS owner (Mark or Glenn) traded or sold him his RC and told him to never let it go. I think he has since tossed it out.

I can buy wax at a couple of places in Kingston now, but I don't think I have a LCS anywhere around me now.

 

[hextall27]

Cardboard Heroes in St. John's Newfoundland by the war memorial in the early 90's.

 

[lucscaps]

I grew up in Brantford Ont and remember going to Sears at the Lynden Park Mall around 1983-84 and a couple of guys had a card/coin booth setup right by the mattress section. I can still remember walking over there and instantly being hit by the stale gum smell. One of my first purchases - a 1972 OPC Bobby Orr. For $.75.

I'm guelph and I remember that booth, it was in the basement?

Anyways we had a place called Collage that was around forever. it was a mix of cards, hobby stuff (trains, models) and comic books. I used to ride my bike a good hour or so to get there in the early 90's. After that we had a couple of other places around town but non survived.

 

[northendhockeynut]

As for stores it was 7-11 or Mac's in the late 70's I lived out in the burbs at the time so really no shops I knew of, around North Winnipeg ( Maples )

First card shops I went to were in the 1998 Hame of Fame (gone), BST ( buy sell trade) (gone), Superstars, CanCentral, and another in River Heights that I can't remember the name of (long gone). Great Topic :beer:

I'm a ex North ender >>> Sinclar Park. I went to HOF all the time in the early 90's, the Mymryk brothers were great people.

Was that the one on Grant and Centennial?

I used to go to AB D Cards on Portage Avenue, where the MTS Centre is now. That would have been back in 1983 and 84. Barry and Dale sold me a Lemieux RC for .25....I remember that well. Great shop and Dale still sets up at the odd Bossa show in Alberta. But I heard he's moving back to Winnipeg now...

After that it was Joe Daley's which is still there. And once the boom happened in 1990 you had The Locker Room, Pokey Reddick's Superstars (Winnipeg's premier store today) and a bunch of others.

AB D Cards was the only place to go in the 80's. I would take my son with me (he would be about 6 or 7 years old) and we would buy a bunch of wax packs, rip them open and then spend hours sorting them out, reading the backs. Fun times

The Locker Room, on Corydon, great place. I bought my first case from them, a case of Pro Set :laugh:

Others that I can remember were ... Argy's in St. Vital, Can Central, Upper Deck on Henderson Hwy and River City Sports in E-Kay before they became big into the merchandising. There are a ton more but the memory isn't what it used to be ...

 

[chefjason]

I remember going to Chinook Center in Calgary, right beside Sears, back in the late 8's early 90's ish, place was called BB's Sports Cards and Collectibles, or something, still have a business card sitting in one of my old shoe box's.

 

[foley2k]

When I started collecting back in '91, there was a very small card shop that the guy who ran the bowling alley used to have set up there. Wasn't much, but it was something.
Coming from a small town, there wasn't a big demand for cards, just a hand full of people collected.
A guy from Thunder Bay used to make the 3 hour drive a few times a year and set up a table in the mall. My Roy OPC rookie was bought from him by my mom as an xmas gift. Also got a 91-92 box of Pinnacle French from him for xmas and landed a Pinnacle B Brett Hull, was my first official big pull lol.

There was also a guy from town that used to set up a table in the mall as well. He sold/traded mostly singles. My first trade ever was done with him. I traded my 92-93 Parkhurst Cherry Picks Doug Gilmour for a 85-86 Topps Doug Gilmour.

 

[newfiecomicguy1]

John was excellent, he always had more great singles in the boxes behind the counter than was in the actual display cases.

I use to love going to the 2 big flea market card shows on Sundays. It was excellent and a beehive of activity.

Cardboard Heroes in St. John's Newfoundland by the war memorial in the early 90's.