Let's Reminisce...your first regular LCS

[Triple B]

Great thread going in another group...

What was your favourite LCS you went to back in the day and is it still around?

Growing up in Toronto, we had a few that I personally loved:

Z&Z's Sportscards in Mississauga On

This shop was a dreamland. They had singles from all four major sports, packs, boxes, an amazing "deal of the week" where they offered boxes below cost and they also had the ULTIMATE buy/trade list which was a huge white board with prices they'd pay in cash or take from you in exchange for store credit.

Slugger's

I grew up in the High Park area of Toronto, so Steeles and Yonge was another country to me. On the rare occasion we did go up there, it was a complete treat. Jack Stone ran the store and his kids were often there (I had a mad crush on Carrie...it was strange seeing her, her family and the store in Jack of All Trades). Ownership switched to a dealer named Karlos and it was still a top notch shop under his ownership.

Legends of the Game

The ultimate one stop shop back in the early 90s. I frequented a shop at Royal York and Evans that wound up closing and forming Legends of the Game. If you lived in Toronto in the early 90s, you knew all about Legends of the Game.

 

[TMLFan3]

Lots of good Toronto stores back in the day!

There was a store at Eglinton and Bathurst, a store at Rogers and Caledonia, and a store at Dundas and Runnymede. Anyone remember those stores names?

 

[Triple B]

Lots of good Toronto stores back in the day!

There was a store at Eglinton and Bathurst, a store at Rogers and Caledonia, and a store at Dundas and Runnymede. Anyone remember those stores names?

Comic Connection was at Bathurst and Eglinton

Dundas and Runnymede was run by a dude named Heinz. Can’t remember the name of the shop. I grew up down the street near Runnymede and Bloor and there was another store there called VPs Dugout. That was a good shop.

 

[joesakic19xx]

Comic Connection was at Bathurst and Eglinton

Dundas and Runnymede was run by a dude named Heinz. Can’t remember the name of the shop. I grew up down the street near Runnymede and Bloor and there was another store there called VPs Dugout. That was a good shop.

I did all my card buying at Galleria Mall every Saturday and Sunday (Dufferin/Dupont). While not a LCS, they got my money every weekend for many years.

 

[BrownBullhead]

I liked A1 Flowers & Collectibles on Victoria Park - pulled an YZerman RC from a 1984 OPC pack around 1992 or so.

West Hill Sports Cards (Morningside & Manse?) - bought a Fuhr RC there.

A place I forget the name of near Kingston & Lawrence, on the nborth side of Kingston Rd. - seemed to only be open from 3pm to about 8pm?

Tom & Jerry's in a strip mall near Yonge & Eglinton - memorable as the four major chartered banks each had a location on each corner if I recall?

Rookies in the Skywalk to Skydome - bought a 1988 Score Traded Alomar RC there for like $100 (ouch!)

Some other hole-in-wall place at like Ossington & Dundas or so?

So many more I never made it to as I relied on TTC for transport.

 

[capsfan30]

My first LCS was a place in Damascus, MD called The Kluttered Kloset. They sold sports cards, gaming cards (M:TG, etc), comics, and other collecting/gaming type stuff (POGS, for example). The guy who owned that place was a pretty greasy and I didn't shed much of a tear when it closed down.

Second LCS went through two names and two different owners. It was located in Olney, MD. I don't recall the original name, but the second owner (who was an employee of the previous owner and took it over from him) changed the name to Aces Sport's Cards. They only dealt in sports cards. The owner was awesome and I loved spending Sunday mornings after church there chatting and ripping packs. I was sad when he closed down, which was about 20 years ago now.

 

[FrozenInferno]

''Traders'' in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately for me it was only around when I was a teenager and couldn't make the half hour trek very often nor afford to open more than a few packs when I did get there. I miss it dearly.

 

[SNobles]

Rookies in the Skywalk to Skydome - bought a 1988 Score Traded Alomar RC there for like $100 (ouch!).

While this was not my LCS I do have fond memories of going here as a kid in the 90s when we would go to a Jays game. Still have the acrylic cube that I bought from there. It was filled with random baseball cards at the time.

My LCS growing up was MVP Sports cards in Napanee ON. It was run by two guys Mark and Glenn. I bought a lot of early 90s packs there. I was never one to buy singles back then.

There was another LCS in Belleville, ON that was in the downstairs of a building on Front St but I cannot remember the name of this place. I do recall getting a GC for there and as you used it they would just write the remaining total on the back of the certificate. Why I remember that I have no idea.

 

[weasel-king]

Growing up in small-town North Carolina, there were only a couple of shops over the years. I collected baseball at the time, but do remember one, Fielder's Choice, that did have the elusive UD French hockey when it first came out. That was my first exposure, the Bure YG sitting in a display case for over $100. Hockey? Here in NC? Yeah, right! Pass. What cheap Donruss do you have instead?

The other was a small place in town called (I think) The Clubhouse. All baseball, and was a converted house which was kind of odd. The whole store was some sealed boxes on some bookshelves and a glass case or two, but a lot of 3200-count boxes spread across some fold-out tables. Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't a real store after all.

Sadly neither place still exists. I don't think my hometown has had a card shop (or comic shop) for at least 20-years now. My parents still live there, and I look from time to time if i know I am visiting.

 

[30ranfordfan]

I grew up in small town Nova Scotia (New Minas, if anyone from NS on here is interested)

There were two shops in town. "The Hobby Shop" was owned by neighbors of mine. They were who got me into collecting cards in the first place, back in 1990.

The other shop, I can't for the life of me remember the name - but that's the one I went to more often. The shop was smaller, but their prices were much better. No idea if either shop is still around (they both were in 1995, when I moved to Ontario)

 

[nhlderek]

Oh my, this brings back memories. My first LCS was a store in Okanagan Falls near penticton BC. I was a young kid back then, but I worked my butt off for an entire summer to get a Martin brodeur Mask collection patch /36. Was by far the highlight of my collection back in the day.

 

[piper1]

Colorado Springs had many options when I lived there and worked in Cheyenne Mountain (1989-93) but the only one that i know is still around 30 years later would Dalez Cardz off of North Academy. When I was posted to Air Command HQ in 1993 there were plenty of great options in the west end of Winnipeg. I spent plenty of time in Faceoff as they were just around the corner and the couple who owned it (Gord and Hope) became good friends.

 

[MR.M's Cards]

During the summer of 1990 5 different cards shops opened in my home town. Two were right next door to each other and one was right across the road. I remember by friends and I going to at least one of the 5 shops every day of the week just to see if they got anything new in. We would cut lawns or do what ever we could ( I was the only one with a paper route so extra for me) in the morning and then head down town in the afternoon. A guy by the name of Mike Smith opened a store called Mike's Myth. He was prob the least friendliest of the bunch but clever name. One shop was paying 3 cents a common and since I busted about 500 packs of OPC/Donruss/Upper Deck that summer I visited him once a week. Two of the stores were loaded with singles but both owners were kinda clueless......asking for a price meant waiting for them to look up the card in beckett and then quote you the exact price from the magazine. People my age remember the 90's boom and unfortunately there were many people trying to capitalize on the market who really had no back ground in or knowledge of the hobby. The 5th store was the farthest bike ride from our house, but was also in a mall with the best arcade in town. (another late 80's early 90's phenomenon I remember at least 6 different arcades in town) The owner of this shop was a young man in his mid 20's. His parents would run it during the day while he was at his regular job as a teacher and then he would run it at night. This was our friday night hang out, and the one store where the owner actually took the time to stop and talk with his customers about the hobby and the sports of the day. I remember him bringing Pat Borders in for a singing after the 92 series and this was huge for our little city. Anyways......by the fall of 1990 I had my first girlfriend which pretty much killed sports cards for the rest of my high school days. But as much negativity has been said about the sports card market back in the early 90's......the accessibility this 16 year old had was awesome and will never be forgotten

 

[rohara99]

Was too young in Regina to remember any of the names but we defiantly had 2 or 3 that we frequented in the 90's. I do remember trading all my Magic cards to one of the stores for a couple hundred in store credit, picked a bunch of 90's inserts but nothing of really good value haha.

After we moved to Calgary 1999 I frequented Dicks Collectables. Old fart Dick was quite the grump from what I recall haha. I'd ride my bike there every month and get the newest Beckett and a couple packs. Don't think I ever bought any singles there or did any trading.

 

[bto3105]

I love when these threads that come up from time to time


St.John's...... My memories of a card store was "Read again". Dan the "Read again man" was well known. We bought wax, we got ripped of on singles but still to this day it brings back such good memories looking at the cards in the revolving case.Wouldn't trade it for anything

Anyone here who started later have fond memories of Mavericks in town?

 

[rohara99]

the revolving case.

I forgot about those!

One of the shops we visited on a vacation to the states (probably in Michigan) had the motorized case.... mind blowing haha

 

[odjickfan]

Achetons-Vendons, a small pawn shop in Riviere-du-Loup.

Around 2002-03, they a lot of 1999-00 Pacific and UD wax on their shelves, always a bit of the newer products, and they had a never-ending supply of UD 91-92. The guy working there looked like he was nearly 80 years old.

 

[sjw241]

I grew up in Kitchener ON.
The Sears store at Fairview Park Mall had a card shop in it. It was like 7 or 8 display cases of singles and tons of wax. He also sold coins and I think stamps too.
I got so many singles from that place, including my Score Lindros rookie that I thought would be worth thousands one day! Haha.

There was also Kitchener Coin. He had a large selection of cards as well. Super friendly owner named Mike. Always joked around and spent extra time talking with kids.

Lookin For Heroes is also in Kitchener and is still in operation. They are mostly comics but do a fair bit of cards as well. Haven’t been there for many many years.

 

[phate]

Was too young in Regina to remember any of the names but we defiantly had 2 or 3 that we frequented in the 90's. I do remember trading all my Magic cards to one of the stores for a couple hundred in store credit, picked a bunch of 90's inserts but nothing of really good value haha.

After we moved to Calgary 1999 I frequented Dicks Collectables. Old fart Dick was quite the grump from what I recall haha. I'd ride my bike there every month and get the newest Beckett and a couple packs. Don't think I ever bought any singles there or did any trading.

Ahh, Dick's Collectibles was my first card store. It was right down the hill from me growing up. His singles were always way overpriced and didn't change much over the years. I don't recall Dick ever smiling when I was in there but for some reason I still loved that store and he was always nice to me. Bought many packs and boxes over the years from him and the prices seemed reasonable. When he passed away, I think it was his wife who continued to run the store for a year or two afterwards but I don't remember developing a friendly relationship with her. Man, I miss that store a lot.

 

[rohara99]

Ahh, Dick's Collectibles was my first card store. It was right down the hill from me growing up. His singles were always way overpriced and didn't change much over the years. I don't recall Dick ever smiling when I was in there but for some reason I still loved that store and he was always nice to me. Bought many packs and boxes over the years from him and the prices seemed reasonable. When he passed away, I think it was his wife who continued to run the store for a year or two afterwards but I don't remember developing a friendly relationship with her. Man, I miss that store a lot.

Yea maybe grumpy wasn't the right word... he was a nice enough guy, just never smiled haha. I had no idea he passed away and his wife took over. I kinda fell out of the hobby around 2005/2006.

We lived in Sundance and rode our bikes through Fish Creek park, down the hill to get there and the looooong walk up the hill to get home haha.