A Dying Breed - Brick & Mortar Card Shop Review

About a month or so ago, while perusing the latest installment of Beckett Hockey (yes some of us still read the articles, I swear), I noticed that there was an addition made to the Indiana Dealers.  As long as I can remember, there was only one on there and that was More Fun Sports in Dyer, Indiana.  That was my shop of choice for a long time and still is.  Unfortunately, I haven't made the trek out there in a while, with being on hiatus for some time and since I no longer live in the neighboring town. 

At any rate, I found a new name added to the list.  That shop is The Sweet Spot located in Valparaiso, IN.  It is a small storefront located across the street from the fairground baseball/softball fields, a decent location considering the traffic that passes by regularly.  After checking out what I could online and reading the article published a few months back in the Northwest Indiana Times, I decided to trek over there, since I work nearby, and see what it was all about.

As you enter, you find an interesting mix of sports cards, memorabilia, and...CANDY!  Yes, this is also a candy shop of sorts as there are bins upon bins of Albanese Candy (another locally manufactured product).  It's a great idea that fits well with the goals of the owner, getting kids back into the hobby.  But I wasn't there for the candy. 

The store layout is very similar to that of most brick & mortar shops in that it is horseshoe shaped with display cases around the perimeter and a few display racks/tables in the middle.  There are wax boxes with packs behind the counter directly to the left and every collectors' favorite "bargain bin" boxes are on the cases themselves so collector's can browse till their hearts content (or until the store closes).  A small section of supplies awaits near the back and a sitting area in the corner has chairs and a table so collectors can sit down and bust their new packs, sort through singles boxes, or just take a load off.

One cool thing is that the left wall is almost entirely filled with canvas paintings done by Sports Art Illustrated and the artist Justin Farano.  If you ever get to one of the larger shows, usually sponsored by TriStar or Mounted Memories, you will see his work as SAI generally has a booth.  It's is some great stuff that would be perfect for any man-cave.  I wish I had the cash for one, and a man-cave to put it in, and house to put a man-cave in. 

As a new business (fairly new since they opened last summer), its one of those catch 22s as far as carrying product.  You can't stock to the rafters with new product because you basically can't afford to take the loss on the unopened boxes (and that is a huge loss if you have to take it that far).  You can't stock with old product either because you don't know what is going to be in demand and if you go too old, you lose a chunk of your audience.  You also don't know where the clientele are going to be coming from so it's hard to fill your cases with anything but the "HOT" list products and plenty of local sports team items.  As you can imagine, there was an abundance of Cubs/Sox/Bears/Bulls/Blackhawks stuff.  Plus, the owner, Chad Siewin, was more than accommodating, offering to try and obtain anything we were looking for that we may not have found in stock (ie...hockey product).

I think Chad and The Sweet Spot have the right idea.  They are utilizing social media advertising, which most dealers/hobbyist/shop owners need to be these days.  They have a Facebook page which has much of the pertinent info you need as a consumer and they also use it well by announcing product releases, upcoming shows, in store promotions, store hours, and community box/case breaks which were a big hit the last time they held one.  Check out their page to see some photos of the shop as well as product photos, previews, and big "hit" pulls from the customers. But mostly, Chad seems committed to staying as active in the hobby as he can and keep the clientele engaged, both young and old. 

I will definitely be a return customer.  Anyone in that area should check them out.


I wouldn't be much of a collector if I didn't show you a few of the items I picked up while I was there.  I didn't have a lot of time as I was on my lunch break but I did quickly go through one of the counter boxes to see what I could find.  Here are eight cards I picked up for my PC.

  #/249                                        

                                #/249                                                                            #/25

 #/399                                         

 

#/399

Mostly Steelers (unfortunately some now EX-Steelers).  I picked that DeCastro rookie out in hopes the he will actually pan out (barring another injury).  The Polamalu R&S is numbered #/25 which is really cool.  I found the Quad-Diamond Jagr in there that I didn't think I had.  Plus I added another modern Pops card to my unofficial Stargell collection that I neither confirm nor deny I am accumulating.

Box Break (Old School) - - 1995-96 Upper Deck Retail

I decided to start doing some house cleaning.  You may have noticed a few changes around here.including a semi-redesign of the page with a new, sleeker header.  I like it at least.  Oh, and the address is now a dot com.  I have wanted to do that for quite a while and finally decided to go ahead with it.  I have a few more tricks up my sleeve so if you care, stay tuned.  But for now, I noticed I had a bunch of posts started but never finished so I figured why not get these into the land of the living?  Lets start with an old school box break.

I was at my LCS a few weeks ago (at least it was when I started this post originally), partially to kill some time and partially to check out whatever new hockey releases donned the shelves.  After deeply pondering my options, I couldn't decide between a couple boxes.  The shop owner, who must have a psychology degree because he can read a situation very well, decided to make me an offer that I couldn't refuse so that I would take both boxes and he would make the sale.  Classic deal making, if I do say so myself.

Since sometimes you have to go "old school", a box of 1995-96 Upper Deck Series I Retail was thrown into the mix for good measure. I don't have many of these in my collection other than a few singles here and there.  These came from an era in time when I took a hiatus from collecting.  It's hard to keep a hobby going when you have a full time student schedule and three jobs to help pay for it.  At any rate, I always wanted to build this set because I thought it had a very appealing design because of the rounded gold foil name plate at the tops of the cards that seem to blend into the background, the inconspicuous logo and team designation on the front, and the secondary photo on the backs.  Mainly though, this was a cool set due to the border-less, live-action photography Upper Deck became synonymous with. 

Up to this point in UD Hockey history, their releases had featured some type of border around the front of the card, mostly white.  1995-96 was the first year where the border was erased and made way for a full bleed photograph.  The card backs look sort of similar to the 1994-95 cards with a black border down the left side and another full photo that extends out to the opposite edge.  Of course, unlike many of the releases we get today, the back photo is not the same as the one on the front.  The stats are also listed along with a brief write up about the player. 

Since this was a retail box, I wasn't expecting much, although I don't really remember how much different product releases were between hobby and retail 16 years ago.  This set featured parallels of the base cards called "Electric ICE" which were the same as the regular cards but with either silver foil or gold foil instead of the bronze color.  In the retail versions, there area also Predictor cards which for those unfamiliar were kind of a gambling game where essentially you would get a card of a player with a stat.  If they hit that mark, you would win.  I don't really remember the prize other than it being a complete set of winning predictor cards, although the "fine print" says the total approx. retail value of the trade cards are $250,000 US.  In 2011 money, that's like $10!!  Looking back, the only winners were the Jagr's, Lemieux's, and Patrick Roy cards.

Ok, enough build up.  What is in the packs?  As I said, this is series I.  There are 270 base cards.  Electric ICE are inserted 1 per pack.  Gold come about 1 per box.  Predictor cards should also be about 1 per box.  There is an insert set in series I called Freeze Frame at about 1 per box and the extremely elusive "Predictor Pack" which features an entire 12 card pack of Predictor cards at 1 per 175 packs (approx 6 boxes).  There are also Gretzky Collection cards that feature different events in the career of the Great One.

Within the set itself, there are base cards, a subset of Star Rookies which replaced the Young Guns temporarily, the Mike Milbury's Scouting Report subset, and a subset of 5th Anniversary cards with a few of the 90/91 key cards with different photos on the backs and a 5th Anniversary logo.  Hey, in the early-mid 90s, 5 years was a big deal. 

Drum roll, please...Here's my box

12 Cards/Pack
36 Packs/Box
Base Cards:  234/270 (87%)
Duplicates:  157!!
Inserts:  1 - Wayne Gretzky Collection #12
Parallels:  Electric Ice - 36; Electric Ice Gold -1

Some examples of the base card design.  Here we have Markus Naslund as a Pen, Khabibulin making an acrobatic save, David Oliver being speared into the net, and Esa Tikkanen amidst a team celebration.

Electric Ice cards look just like the base but with the EI logo down the right side.  The Primeau is the Gold version.  These were just three goalie shots that I liked.

Two of the subsets with the Mike Milbury Scouting Report and the back of a 5th Anniversary card featuring Super Mario.  The front is his "Lemieux's Scoring Streak" card from the 1990-91 set.  Dougy G sported the toothless look well before Duncan Keith made it popular. 

Some of the Star Rookies including Daymond Langkow and the Senior Yearbook photos of Aki-Petteri Berg and Shane Doan.  That Doan card has got to be one of the worst cards of all time.  Notice I said "one of".  There are many.  And yet, at the same time, it is equally as awesome.

As you can see, I got no Predictor cards, which is fine by me since I don't have a time machine handy.  I would have liked a Freeze Frame or two but the Gretzky Collection card is alright too since it is apparently a tough pull at only 1 per box or so.  The Gold card I got was the Keith Primeau 5th Anniversary card.  I think I have about 40 of the original version.  But for me, the biggest disappointment was the 157 doubles.  Quality control was a far cry from what it is now (and it isn't that great now).  To have a set with only 270 cards and not be able to complete it out of 432 cards is kind of ridiculous if you ask me.  In fact, most of the packs had duplicate cards in the same packs.

Maybe we put up with much more as collector's back then.  Either way though, I still like this set and will be trying to complete it sometime in the future.  If anyone else is trying the same feat, let me know because I may have some that you need.