Another one bites the dust... LCS Closed

I went to the LCS to buy some team bags. The below image indicates an end of an era to me. We used to have three stores.. then two... now ZERO.

Nevada City, CA - Closed
Grass Valley, CA x3 - Closed
Auburn, CA - Closed
Truckee, CA - Closed
Reno, NV - Closed
Multiple stores in the Roseville, Citrus Heights, Sacramento area... CLOSED!!!

Retail and eBay are pretty much all that's left for me.

Tom

Sorry to hear this. Some maybe you need to ask Chris Gilmo to give a discount and buy from him. Or you could make a road trip and just show up at his store. :lol:

I will gladly have anything shipped to anyone. Soon i will be able to fill most requests.

cgilmo said:

I will gladly have anything shipped to anyone. Soon i will be able to fill most requests.

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I would like to have something shipped to my paypal account.

Looks like I accidentally posted this in the wrong forum. Any way to get it moved to the general discusion area?

I think there is a shop left in sac. Let me ask my friend.

Teammates still open. Tell mike Lisa sent you. He'll be nicer

My county is the 23rd richest in the Country, has a TON of collectors, and no LCS in the whole County.

My buddy took over my old Spot and got forced out for a bigger Client, but wasn't doing that well anyway.

At least the shows have gotten better...

aaron41984 said:

I would like to have something shipped to my paypal account.

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:lol:

Teammates in Carmichael is the only one worth going to. The guy at DP is a d-bag and HR is over priced even though the guy that works there is cool.

People fail in that business for only 2 reasons i see of, their rent is to high combined with a terrible
ability to find deals. I have known and know still guys who own shops that turn people away who bring
cards in, and sure lots of it may be crap, but not even looking, or buying from your rippers is certain doom.
To me, having a shop would be 90% about the deals to be had as someone in that business. of course your
rent has to be right, but if it is, no one should fail if they find deals and do ebay.

gt2590 said:

My county is the 23rd richest in the County

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How does that work?

(I know you meant to type country)

Anyway, we used to have, on a rough count, 5 LCS within a Sunday afternoon drives' distance of here. Only one is still currently open. I hope they stay open because I love them, and not because I pretty much have too.

I am just north of Atlanta about 30 miles. I have many, many professional athletes who live around me who play for different teams and sports around the country. I have routinely pumped gas standing next to Kevin Youkilis, Michael Vick, the Mayor, Dominique Wilkins, Ilya Kovalchuk and so on. And the thing the I find amazing is that the closest CardShop to this area is a 45 min. drive without traffic. When you factor in traffic it is easily an hour to an hour and half. And then the selection is not great. Mostly its to buy whatever the new product is of the week and then that is usually boxes. Also there may be one card show a month here and when you go to that card show there may be six dealers who want to charge a premium for their product. If I want to pay premium it's easier and actually a little cheaper for me to buy it on eBay and pay those prices when you factor in the amount of traffic and gas. There is a lot of money in Atlanta and there are a lot of collectors here. EBay has certainly changed the business and we all know that but especially here in Atlanta. I am now off my soapbox.

Got a great shop near Los Angeles that's been around since 1981...still afloat.

Someone I know took over a hobby store that was profitable an in business for a long time and very well known. This particular hobby industry is more impacted than sportscards in the recent economy and most have shut down. Being a hobby industry it bears a lot of similarities in marketting approach. The store they purchased is not making the profit they hoped for. I've heard them say its the economy. However, I know for a fact that the prior owner maintained a robust online store and did ebay. In the end a well respected business went from a very profitable venture to a break even point, by dropping the online portion of it's business.

Missed opportunity is the doom for any business. Whether that be turning away walk-ins whom want to sell you their cards without even looking at them or not participating in the online world. Or not being competitive in the online world. Too many shop owners that may understand the hobby or have great collections, but don't understand a business plan or a business.

I've seen too many stores that price at beckett prices. I've been to other stores that had no new product to open. I've been to others that had no older product to open. I think way too many people take a lazy approach to opening businesses. This is 2012 and your competitors are both brick and mortar and online. I had a shop owner in town tell me that he won't negotiate a price on his product when I could by the same product for 20% less from Blowout Cards and get free shipping. I was willing to pay a premium for having it in hand same day, but there is a limit to that. I drove over an hour just to get to that shop and walked out empty handed with the intent to order from Blowout Cards and never went back. Lost Business. I prefer to support local business, but bad business is bad business.

gt2590 said:

My county is the 23rd richest in the County, has a TON of collectors, and no LCS in the whole County.

My buddy took over my old Spot and got forced out for a bigger Client, but wasn't doing that well anyway.

At least the shows have gotten better...

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Are counties ****** in PA? :lol:

The guy I deal with does well with a brick and mortar.... I think a lot of it is that he rents out his cases to customers instead of putting his own stuff in them, except for maybe two.

Simple8 said:

I am just north of Atlanta about 30 miles. I have many, many professional athletes who live around me who play for different teams and sports around the country. I have routinely pumped gas standing next to Kevin Youkilis, Michael Vick, the Mayor, Dominique Wilkins, Ilya Kovalchuk and so on. And the thing the I find amazing is that the closest CardShop to this area is a 45 min. drive without traffic. When you factor in traffic it is easily an hour to an hour and half. And then the selection is not great. Mostly its to buy whatever the new product is of the week and then that is usually boxes. Also there may be one card show a month here and when you go to that card show there may be six dealers who want to charge a premium for their product. If I want to pay premium it's easier and actually a little cheaper for me to buy it on eBay and pay those prices when you factor in the amount of traffic and gas. There is a lot of money in Atlanta and there are a lot of collectors here. EBay has certainly changed the business and we all know that but especially here in Atlanta. I am now off my soapbox.

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Umm, if you are 30 mins north of atlanta my shop is definitely closer to you than that.

cgilmo said:

Umm, if you are 30 mins north of atlanta my shop is definitely closer to you than that.

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Tell me more. That would be great.

One of my crazy goals in life is to open an independent drug store / card shop. Get your ****** and Bowman fixes in one place! That probably won't happen ever, and if it does it will be another 30 years down the road, but that would be awesome for me.