what card shops do you wish were still open in your area?

notjomommasclint said:

i have 2 and ironicly they both went out of business in the same strip mall. i live in the greater omaha metroplex!!

d & f sportscards- you could go in there anytime frank was open and have someone else in there busting wax while watching golf on the television. he used to do a drop zone which would put cards with higher book into a case and start dropping the price til it sold. there was a tris speaker bat card in there that i wanted so bad my trigger finger kept itching and the day i was gonna pop a fella bought the card and was still in store when i arrived. it was just a fun place to go into bs with the owner and other collectors while always feeling at home. several times frank would stay late for me and let me pick up my wax. then see me opening it in the car facing an old white rock wall only to come out and see what my breaks looked like before he would jump into his tahoe and leave. no one told me he went out of business and i made a trip up there when the new leasee was moving in and they literally had to tell me it was going to be ok.

olde towne sportscards- it started in olde towne bellevue and was about a block away from my old place of business. i went to grab lunch one day and saw this guy carrying in 5000ct boxes so i knew it was coming before it opened. first day it was open for business i was in for a nice surprise the owner (paul walker) was a fella who used to run some cardshows in omaha, and babysit a store (waynes) i used to frequent in bellevue.

first night i spent 3 hours digging through nickel boxes to build and finish chrome sets while talking and spreading the joy of my company with paul. i was in there daily for probably a month straight and walked in on several halfway into a bottle of whiskey opening parties where paul would be sitting on the stool or floor with wrappers all around him and stacks and stacks of cards. all the while laughing like an idiot. after business got to going paul moved into the same mall frank was in and took on a partner. the parntership didnt work so well and i showed up after work to find paul was closed and that it had new ownership.

returning on the date the sign said it was reopened i saw another friendly face (rich orth) from another place (lbs). rich had the shop hopping for a bit and we (fellow fcber cujgiz and i) used to spend every thursday from 11 till 5 in there either sleeping on the couch, watching cops, making fun of each other or most likely busting wax. actually it was more like all of the above then sleeping on the couch. the store was doing well until some surprises hit and some of the wax dried up. it went from a rotating crowd of 5-10 of us on thursday to just cujgiz and i and yet again the place closed down with a surprise note in the window on a thursday morning.

the new ownership was also a friendly face (craig) from a friendly place (lbs). so it went off without a hitch. problem was we had a young one on the way and my spending habits were forced to change for 9 months. went in about 2-3 times a month but as i got on they moved in a bowling ball shop and took away the freeroam and chill ability of the store. so i yet again missed the store closing and showed up to a 3rd sheet in the window.

so now of the 3 shops i know of in omaha i will spend money with one (lbs)... but not the money i used to spend since i can find prices online better. the other two (sportscenter cards and collectibles and tuva) will not see me break the door.

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ThoseBackPages said:

any

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manningmurphyfan said:

notjomommasclint said:

i have 2 and ironicly they both went out of business in the same strip mall. i live in the greater omaha metroplex!!

d & f sportscards- you could go in there anytime frank was open and have someone else in there busting wax while watching golf on the television. he used to do a drop zone which would put cards with higher book into a case and start dropping the price til it sold. there was a tris speaker bat card in there that i wanted so bad my trigger finger kept itching and the day i was gonna pop a fella bought the card and was still in store when i arrived. it was just a fun place to go into bs with the owner and other collectors while always feeling at home. several times frank would stay late for me and let me pick up my wax. then see me opening it in the car facing an old white rock wall only to come out and see what my breaks looked like before he would jump into his tahoe and leave. no one told me he went out of business and i made a trip up there when the new leasee was moving in and they literally had to tell me it was going to be ok.

olde towne sportscards- it started in olde towne bellevue and was about a block away from my old place of business. i went to grab lunch one day and saw this guy carrying in 5000ct boxes so i knew it was coming before it opened. first day it was open for business i was in for a nice surprise the owner (paul walker) was a fella who used to run some cardshows in omaha, and babysit a store (waynes) i used to frequent in bellevue.

first night i spent 3 hours digging through nickel boxes to build and finish chrome sets while talking and spreading the joy of my company with paul. i was in there daily for probably a month straight and walked in on several halfway into a bottle of whiskey opening parties where paul would be sitting on the stool or floor with wrappers all around him and stacks and stacks of cards. all the while laughing like an idiot. after business got to going paul moved into the same mall frank was in and took on a partner. the parntership didnt work so well and i showed up after work to find paul was closed and that it had new ownership.

returning on the date the sign said it was reopened i saw another friendly face (rich orth) from another place (lbs). rich had the shop hopping for a bit and we (fellow fcber cujgiz and i) used to spend every thursday from 11 till 5 in there either sleeping on the couch, watching cops, making fun of each other or most likely busting wax. actually it was more like all of the above then sleeping on the couch. the store was doing well until some surprises hit and some of the wax dried up. it went from a rotating crowd of 5-10 of us on thursday to just cujgiz and i and yet again the place closed down with a surprise note in the window on a thursday morning.

the new ownership was also a friendly face (craig) from a friendly place (lbs). so it went off without a hitch. problem was we had a young one on the way and my spending habits were forced to change for 9 months. went in about 2-3 times a month but as i got on they moved in a bowling ball shop and took away the freeroam and chill ability of the store. so i yet again missed the store closing and showed up to a 3rd sheet in the window.

so now of the 3 shops i know of in omaha i will spend money with one (lbs)... but not the money i used to spend since i can find prices online better. the other two (sportscenter cards and collectibles and tuva) will not see me break the door.

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I know we talked via PM about the first two places and would agree that D&F was a great place. It is amazing we never ran into each other because I used to do all of the local shows there too.

I went to Frank's shop when I got back into collecting in 1997 because it was down the road from the base and that was pretty much the only place I shopped at. Frank was a good guy and at one point even had a punch ticket that you earned store credit with after clearing it via purchases. The Drop Zone was also a cool idea and definitely snagged some good deals out of it. I used to bust a ton of wax and Frank's closure actually coincided with me moving in 2004. He saw the writing on the wall and that his bigger customers had either stopped collecting or in my case were moving.

Paul also worked for another guy named Tony when he took over Wayne's place. I used to bust a ton of wax there too and would sell inventory to them when I needed cash as I was in college at the time. It was fun to hang out with Paul and BS with whomever came in there. Buddy Carlyle's dad used to come in there quite a bit around 1999-2001.

Card shops were never the same after I left Omaha and it is probably a good thing because I saved a lot of money by not having a wax outlet close by. The downside was missing out on talking face to face with people about the hobby or sports in general.

I've actually lived in the Sioux City area for almost 3 years and haven't even checked out the place here. I believe it may cater more to comics. I've meant to check it out a few times but the closest I've come is getting my taxes done next door in the evening.

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