Weirdest place you've bought cards

BBCgalaxee · Sep 30, 2015

Three places stick out in my memory.

At an Amish foods and craft "flea market" type gathering in '94, there was a dealer selling cards.

Twenty five years ago, the back of a local video store was rented by a card dealer.

Also twenty five years ago, right in the middle of an ice cream shop was a dealer selling cards.

smapdi · Oct 1, 2015

Back in the boom of 1989-92, you'd hear stories of cards being sold all over the place. I heard of a mattress store with cards. There was a Hallmark greeting card-type shop in Ft Worth that had a small glass case of cards and packs (grossly overpriced), which was probably the strangest personally, but not that weird in retrospect. In 2009, I was visiting my mom in Florida and found a Friday Night Magic tournament (FNM is the main organized play system for many people) up the road in another town. It was in a tourist trap shopping center, in a tourist trap gift shop. The store had all sorts of stuff to sell to drunk people on the beach, like t-shirts, things made out of sand, novelty sunglasses, tacky jewelry, shot glasses, etc. But the owners apparently ceded the back room to their teenage son who sold Magic cards and ran tournaments. I would not be surprised if he made a sizable contribution to the store's bottom line.

AmishDave · Oct 1, 2015

A drug store and at something like a furniture shop. They had '95 Fleer Football jumbo packs, when the Rookie Sensations were embossed ones, carrying the '94 hot pull into '95. I remember, that's how I was introduced to Lee Woodall !

Super Mario · Oct 1, 2015

When I was a kid there was a regular card shop in our small town for a while, but other than that, I had to buy my hobby lacks at a video store. This was back when VHS was still wildly popular, like 92.

joey12508 · Oct 1, 2015

Jhileman79 · Oct 1, 2015

joey12508 said:

Hahahaha
That's awesome!

jcmint · Oct 1, 2015

A pet store I visited had a kid selling cards and yes I bought some circa 1990

A crystal fancy type store sold card yes I bought some circa 1998

gpenko826 · Oct 1, 2015

There were few places in the late 80's/early 90's that you COULDNT buy cards. I remember a video store opening up a card section in 1991, I remember getting packs at ice cream stands and drug stores and even at Foot Locker in 1989. The weirdest had to be at a local pizza parlor - in 1988, they added 1988 Topps to the display case with the gum and mints at the checkout!

predatorkj · Oct 1, 2015

Uhm....let's see...live stock show and rodeo has to be it. I've also seen several people set up at craft shows(my grandmother crochets and I'd stay with her in the summer and be dragged to craft shows with her). And Eckerd's and walgreens actually sold cards but there were actually dealers with display cases set up with singles and supplies. They also sold certain hot comics(this was back when death of superman was all the rage).

Every gas station imaginable sold cards. Department stores sold them as well. I remember Penny's or maybe it was Montgomery Ward's selling the early 90's photoballs.

gitarst182 · Oct 2, 2015

In Tacoma, WA there is an indoor soccer place with two fields. Randomly a long time ago a husband and wife ran a card shop out of there. My parents would give me and my sister money every Saturday morning to go and buy cards. My sister was into basketball and I was into xmen series 2. I remember it fondly because I pulled the Wolverine holo I needed for the last card of my set there. I still have it to this day.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

DeliciousBacon · Oct 2, 2015

There used to be a video store here in town that had a very sizable card section. I think it may have been rented out to dealers who weren't employees of the video shop itself, since they were often closed even when the store was open. Back when the Shaq Classic 4 Sport was a monster card, I pulled a handful that another shop had accidently put in a grab bag and traded them to the video store card guy for a whole mess of 1992 UD Minor League packs.

markotsay7 · Oct 4, 2015

Full sized vending machine at a Publix grocery store. They sold packs and singles in it.

Winn-Dixie didn't regularly sell cards but every now and then would get one of those TREAT packages that had an auto card in them. I got Javy Lopez, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Frank Thomas, and Sam Militello from those packs over the years.

Probably the strangest overall was a local independent pharmacy. They had stacks of cards rubber banded and placed in Ziplocs. As a 7 year old I told them they shouldn't have rubber bands around the cards and after that they started wrapping the stacks in cling wrap. I bought a pile a few times because it was like $1 for 100 cards and it's hard to go wrong with quantity at that age.

digicat · Oct 4, 2015

Out of the trunk of a dude's car in a Target parking lot in Fresno, CA.

Flyers16 · Oct 4, 2015

Excellent topic!

Back in the early 70's I remember as a kid buying packs of cards at a butcher shop in a nearby town. I think it was called Albert's. The box of card packs were displayed in the front window. Going in and buying packs for 10 cents each.

During the early 80's I remember Sears Canada selling hockey boxes. Zehrs (a grocery chain) had cello packs of OPC hockey and that's the only time I ever saw the OPC cellos. The Bay (a department store chain) got into cards during the craze years selling them at the same kiosk that they sold coins and other collectibles

MadHandle11 · Oct 5, 2015

From a vending machine in a New Zealand grocery store!

finestkind · Oct 5, 2015

I don't think anyone can beat this one.

My wife and I were on vacation to Quebec Canada. We stopped in a chinese restaurant for supper. There was a box of 1985 O-Pee-Chee bb on the counter. They had frog legs on the menu too ! :?

u2me57 · Oct 5, 2015

Awesome topic! Not that weird but I would say online, CVS, Kroger, and a BP gas station/store. We had a putt putt golf/baseball softball batting cage place that sold 1994 Action Packed? baseball cards from a vending machine but I didn't buy any.

NY Tony · Oct 5, 2015

At a kiosk at the Mall for me

And at a shell gas station

Welcome to our community

Be apart of something great, join today!

Weirdest place you've bought cards

Well-known member

Well-known member

Featured Contributor, Collector Showcase, Senior M

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Super Moderator

New member

Active member

Active member

Well-known member

Member

New member

Member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

New member

Similar threads

Log in