Tales from the local card shop!!!

[DredJAw]

I'm reading a thread like this over at the comic book message boards and it's pure gold! Some really great (and funny!) stories.

So here's a thread where you guys can share your LCS stories! Whatever they may be! Whether they are sad, funny, ridiculous, unbelievable, whatever, post em to share in the entertainment!




I'll start....


I used to work at a card shope and this young kid, probably around 12-13 years old, came in with a buddy. He used to come in pretty often so I got to know him and always talk/joke around with him. Anyways, he had enough money for 1 more pack of Heroes and Prospects but he couldn't decided if he wanted the first pack or last pack (in the box). He hummed and hawed for like 10 minutes (which I got a kick out of!).

So I said, "Whatever pack you don't pick, I will open for the store so you could see what you would have got." He said sure! So he ends up opening a pack and getting just base cards. While he was opening it and thumbing threw it with his buddy, I grabbed an already opened loose pack and slipped a Sidney Crosby Auto (the store already had) with a bunch of base cards in it then put it in the back of the box.

So then I'm like, "ok dude, you ready to see what you would have got?" He's like, "ya man open it!" ...... "okkkkkk".....


I slowly "open" the pack from the back and turn over the cards - watching their reactions the whole time... After a few base cards, what appears in all it's glory? The Sidney Crosby auto (at this time, Sid was a rookie too so his cards were ridiculous hot). The kid and his buddy were pure gold at this point! Totally flipping out. Just "noooo!!!"' raining down. Pure disbelief and jaws on the floor.

Now before anyone gets mad at me, I didn't let the ruse last long. I told him everything about a minute later and you should have seen the sigh of relief in his face. He was a great sport about it. We laughed about it every time he came back in the store.





I have tons more but am anxious to hear some of your stories.

 

[Stadium Sports]

O.M.G.,,,, I could write a novel of some of the stuff that has gone on in our store... From the funny to the inspirational. December's Beckett will tell one of the more inspirational stories...

As for funny, one that comes to mind is the "know it all father" who is going through the boxes of 78/79 OPC as the new stuff has no value and it's a waste of his son's time collecting the new cards... After 5 minutes of bugging his dad, the old man finally gives in and flips the kid $5.00.

The youngster walks up to Bonnie and asks for 3 packs of that year's MVP. On pack 2, the kids lets out a roar of happiness and runs over and shows dad (and I) the Crosby OV jersey cardio he just pulled. Bonnie calls him back over to the front counter so they can put it in a magnetic holder....

The old man lets out "what's the big deal, it's likely not worth the $5.00"..... Bonnie in all her sarcastic gracefulness flips open the Beckett to the MVP pricing and shows the kid the BV on the card,,,,, $150.00!!!!!

The kid was thrilled..... Dad certainly ate some crow...... And bought 4 boxes of MVP for them to open that night when they were watching hockey on TV....

Maybe it's one of those stories where you had to be there but it was funny as hell at the time.....

 

[trekrun]

I give some of my base cards to the 2 boys next door and let them sort the cards for sets BUT I do slip in a few goodies for them.
It's nice to hear ..... THANK YOU

 

[99goals]

Back in my younger days, when 1991 Upper Deck was released, or I think it was 1992. Regardless it was the year that had the reggie Jackson header art card. The actual card was a facsimile auto and you could pull one that was an actual Autograph card of Reggie.

I had a crew of card collecting buddies but there was this one guy we could not stand. He was soo annoying, I hated him. Everyone knew that, even him. I made sure he was at least an arm's length away so I wouldn't throttle him at the first chance I had. But he was a cousin of one of the guys I knew. So he ALWAYS popped along. The kid had money and would flash it anytime he had the chance. So we went to this LCS which I think was on the top floor of one of the buildings off Yonge near the Eaton Centre. I kept telling this dude that the packs have a Reggie Jackson auto and didn't tell him there were facsimile auto's. I let him hit the pack first. Now keep in mind it is Saturday and back in the day when card stores were jammed packed full of everyone and their mother and their mothers mother.
We are standing in the centre of the store and I encouraged him to open it up in that exact spot. He took his time and boom he comes to the facsimile auto and yells up and down and something to the effect "In your face" to me. I smiled and brought him over the counter. Everyone of course wanted to see his card. He holds it up for everyone to see and everyone starts to look at each other with wonderment. I knew they all wanted to tell him he was wrong but stayed quiet. He looks over at the owner and the owner says. yea that is such a rare card. In fact I have 6 binders of those cards, he shows us all these binders with each card marked $2.00 each lol..

I never saw or heard from him again.. lol..

 

[IrbeFan4Life]

Sort of a shocking tale of being out of touch with reality and not interested in having any business at all.

There is a card shop in Red Deer, Alberta...name I won't give, but there is really only two there.

Anyways, I went in on my way home from a day trip. The selection was astounding, but everything was with a "by-the-pack" price. I asked the owner about a box of 1999-00 Topps Gold Label (an $85-$100 box in the real world). He grabs a calculator, multiplies the pack price by the number of packs and takes off the price of one pack and says that he can give it to me for $190 plus tax. He also had boxes of Crown Royale from Pacific for sale at $15 a pack (which would make a box of Pacific stuff at least $270), and various other products at well over 200% markup over any store on Earth. A card store in Hungary sells stuff for cheaper and hockey cards in Hungary are rare and quite expensive!

The owner was unwilling to negotiate, and his smug attitude put that shop on my black list. I have dissuaded many a person from going in there as it was truly an insult and not worth the time as nobody would pay those prices unless they were insane! Blew my mind...still does as I write this.

That is one of the few negative stories I have. I have too many great ones to recall though!

 

[oilerfan71]

Ironically, this story occurred during the LAST lockout. There used to be a card store in Fort MacMurray called Jim's Sports Cards. I loved Legendary Signatures. Just an amazing product. Anyway, I go downtown to the store after work, and there's a 19-20 year old kid in the store. I listened to him brag non-stop about his 'extensive' card collection as he ripped box after box of wax, baseball, hockey, you name it. Finally, he sets in on Legendary Signatures. He bragged that he had almost an entire set, and he needed the Perreault, Phil Esposito, and Gretzky autos. Jim had just opened a fresh case, and this kid ripped the first 10 of the 12 boxes. Some nice cards, but nothing too crazy. Finally, he opens box 11, and after says he's done, no more. I was amazed, isn't there a rule that says, never leave the last box? I ask him again if he's sure, and I buy the last box. I pulled the Perreault SP, Esposito SP, Gretzky auto, Tony Esposito buyback 2/2, and a Gordie Howe HOF Inks /72. This was a hot box! This kid looked like he was going to puke!! I felt bad for about a second, but he stopped talking, so it was all good!

 

[gratzi]

Ironically, this story occurred during the LAST lockout. There used to be a card store in Fort MacMurray called Jim's Sports Cards. I loved Legendary Signatures. Just an amazing product. Anyway, I go downtown to the store after work, and there's a 19-20 year old kid in the store. I listened to him brag non-stop about his 'extensive' card collection as he ripped box after box of wax, baseball, hockey, you name it. Finally, he sets in on Legendary Signatures. He bragged that he had almost an entire set, and he needed the Perreault, Phil Esposito, and Gretzky autos. Jim had just opened a fresh case, and this kid ripped the first 10 of the 12 boxes. Some nice cards, but nothing too crazy. Finally, he opens box 11, and after says he's done, no more. I was amazed, isn't there a rule that says, never leave the last box? I ask him again if he's sure, and I buy the last box. I pulled the Perreault SP, Esposito SP, Gretzky auto, Tony Esposito buyback 2/2, and a Gordie Howe HOF Inks /72. This was a hot box! This kid looked like he was going to puke!! I felt bad for about a second, but he stopped talking, so it was all good!

Nice, this one made me laugh!

 

[habscards]

Mine came from this past winter. I got $200 in gift certificates to my LCS. My birthday is January 3rd so right after Christmas.

I bought a box of Heroes and Prospects and a box of Canada Vs the World. Their was a kid in the store who was about 8-9 years old. I opened the packs in the store. The kid was telling me about his huge hockey card collection and he has three base cards of Crosby and two inserts of him. I split the box in half and told him that he can open half of the packs. As he was going it was just ohh Yakupov, Murray, Murphy, Galchenyuk, Brodeur. He was in awe of all of the great players in the set. He was even happier when he opened a Ty Rattie auto. After all of the packs were opened I asked him if he really likes those base cards and inserts. He said yes. I gave the base to him. He had the biggest smile ever on his face. He was bragging to his mom how much that his cards are worth. His mom offered me $20 for the cards and I just told her to not worry about it. It was very nice to see base cards have so much value.

Needless to say karma payed off. The box of Canada VS World was great. Which I let the kid open as well.

Jagr Complete jersey /9 (sold on eBay for $180)
Price My Country/My Team jersey gold /10
Lindros SP auto

Those all came from that box plus a few more half decent card.

 

[Stadium Sports]

Like I said, I could write one each day for months... and I won't so don't worry but this one needs to be on there....

I have this good friend who buys a case of The Cup each year. He comes from London (1 hour drive) on a trade day to open it and everyone comes in to see Upper Deck's premier product opened.

Funny thing, he let's everyone else open those 6 tins.... Everyone is thrilled to open the product as many, if not most can't afford to open a tin... Talk about smiles... and stories...

Mel's (synyzy) unselfishness is legend in SW Ontario.

Like I have said so many times, the success of our small town store is because of the great friends we have made in this wonderful hobby.

 

[marvelman55]

As a person who lives in Red Deer, I know exactly which shop you're speaking of, and I have purchased from him twice. Once was a single pack that hit an auto, and the owner looked pretty miffed that I got it. And the other, was because I was looking for a box or two of ITG Franchises Canadian and he had one and sold it for 100...a month ago. So basically, I'll buy from him when the "out of touch" goes the other way.

Sort of a shocking tale of being out of touch with reality and not interested in having any business at all.

There is a card shop in Red Deer, Alberta...name I won't give, but there is really only two there.

Anyways, I went in on my way home from a day trip. The selection was astounding, but everything was with a "by-the-pack" price. I asked the owner about a box of 1999-00 Topps Gold Label (an $85-$100 box in the real world). He grabs a calculator, multiplies the pack price by the number of packs and takes off the price of one pack and says that he can give it to me for $190 plus tax. He also had boxes of Crown Royale from Pacific for sale at $15 a pack (which would make a box of Pacific stuff at least $270), and various other products at well over 200% markup over any store on Earth. A card store in Hungary sells stuff for cheaper and hockey cards in Hungary are rare and quite expensive!

The owner was unwilling to negotiate, and his smug attitude put that shop on my black list. I have dissuaded many a person from going in there as it was truly an insult and not worth the time as nobody would pay those prices unless they were insane! Blew my mind...still does as I write this.

That is one of the few negative stories I have. I have too many great ones to recall though!