In three years, I am going to open a card shop.

EDIT: I know no one thinks it's possible to make money with a card shop, but regardless of whether or not that is true, it's not what this is about. I already am well aware of the financial risk and don't need to be lectured about it.

ANYWAY...

I need to take care of a few things in my life before it happens, but in three years, I am going to open a card shop. This has been a dream of mine all my life, and it finally looks like it will be coming true.

I feel like I have found a pretty good spot, where there are no shops within half an hour (and even the ones half an hour away are crappy), and the area is pretty nice (and upper-class) so people generally have enough money to spend on this hobby. There are a few big league teams pretty close to here as well, so this will make it easy to have a couple special sections of cards of those teams' players I think.

Firstly, any shop owners out there have any insight as to what I could be doing right now to help prepare? I know I'm still a few years out, but what kinds of things do I need to start thinking about?

And to anyone, if you have any ideas, feel free to share.

I'm really excited that this is starting to unfold and just wanted to share with the board. Thanks

congrats man. pm me if you want to chat about it.

From the 2 shop owners that I am friends with, the best thing I can tell you is, don't quit your day job. Be prepared to operate at a loss, or best case scenario, break even.

Out of the 2 guys I know, 1 shop is subsidized by his wife's full time job, the other is kept afloat by the owners other, full time job. He sells TONS of wax & high-end and can still only afford time-wise to keep the shop open 12 hrs / week.

what are you going to name it?

chashawk said:

From the 2 shop owners that I am friends with, the best thing I can tell you is, don't quit your day job. Be prepared to operate at a loss, or best case scenario, break even.

Out of the 2 guys I know, 1 shop is subsidized by his wife's full time job, the other is kept afloat by the owners other, full time job. He sells TONS of wax & high-end and can still only afford time-wise to keep the shop open 12 hrs / week.

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+1

Also be willing to diversify - sell Pokemon/Yugioh/Magic Cards etc etc

And Comic books too them geeks have cash to spend.
They have the 3 D's
Delusions
no Dependents
and a lot of Dough

I know that it's not profitable, that's not really what it's about for me. I feel like I would have to combine it with something else (i.e., memorabilia, coins, comic books, etc.). I've seen card/jewelry shops and the owners of those places do very well, so I could consider something like that as well.

My advice...don't call it a "card shop" and don't allow cards to take up more than 50% of your space. You will have to have other interests to stay afloat like licensed team collectibles, etc. Also, I hope you understand the potential actual costs and profit of what it will be...not what most collector's perceive. As competition has gone up, mark-ups has dropped tremendously.

Also, planning to open a retail store in "in three years" is a lot like a 4 year-old saying that they want to be a fireman when they grow up. A lot can (and will) change. Not trying to be a *****, just stating a fact.

I wish you the best of luck...but this is a case where you don't want to end up in the majority...but I think you will.

Again I understand that a card-exclusive shop is not the most profitable business to go into, but I'm still working on what will take up the rest of the space.

name it!

J.O. said:

name it!

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Any suggestions? I think it could end up depending on its exact location which is still TBA.

Don't buy direct, as they tie up your money for months. Sign up for dealernet and maybe find a few good distributors.

Most of the time you can find a new product for right around factory on dealernet.

Supplies are always a good seller.

I fixed the title for you.....

"In three years, I am going to be broke."

If you talk to enough shop owners, you will find the business model does not work unless you have high volume and can turn inventory fast. A one or two man shop is no way to provide for a family or even an individual.....few make any real money in this hobby.

All In Cards said:

Don't buy direct, as they tie up your money for months. Sign up for dealernet and maybe find a few good distributors.

Most of the time you can find a new product for right around factory on dealernet.

Supplies are always a good seller.

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Thanks for the tips. I just bookmarked dealernet.

Best of luck to you my good man, I have the same hopes later on myself. Make sure that you have a ton of wax, CASH RESERVES, and giveaways to generate interest.

MojoDan said:

Best of luck to you my good man, I have the same hopes later on myself. Make sure that you have a ton of wax, CASH RESERVES, and giveaways to generate interest.

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Thanks, I like the idea of giveaways. One thing I'm going to try to do is keep an active event calendar to try to encourage customers to come back. Stuff like Saturday giveaways or contests or packwars, etc. People come for something like this and then end up buying a hundred dollar box instead.

Not sure why it is hard for people to realize... HE IS NOT WORRIED ABOUT POSSIBLE LOSS. One thing to do is make some small team bags or random bags for children 1 or 2 dollars each... gives you a chance to get rid of inventory you dont need and brings their checkbooks (fathers) in... do something exciting for all ages... the more gimics the better... pack wars, trade nights, that sort of thing. Enjoy it and good luck.

lordsepic said:

Not sure why it is hard for people to realize... HE IS NOT WORRIED ABOUT POSSIBLE LOSS. One thing to do is make some small team bags or random bags for children 1 or 2 dollars each... gives you a chance to get rid of inventory you dont need and brings their checkbooks (fathers) in... do something exciting for all ages... the more gimics the better... pack wars, trade nights, that sort of thing. Enjoy it and good luck.

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Thanks, I remember they had 50 cent grab bags that I always used to buy when I was a little kid. Every now and then you'd pull a nice base card of someone good in those bags which was always exciting. At the younger ages, it was more about quantity then it was quality, so I think that's another good idea. Trade night is a good idea too.

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

MojoDan said:

Best of luck to you my good man, I have the same hopes later on myself. Make sure that you have a ton of wax, CASH RESERVES, and giveaways to generate interest.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I like the idea of giveaways. One thing I'm going to try to do is keep an active event calendar to try to encourage customers to come back. Stuff like Saturday giveaways or contests or packwars, etc. People come for something like this and then end up buying a hundred dollar box instead.

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When constructed the right way...Giveaways are a great way to get funds back on wax that has been sitting on the shelf and fallen out of popularity. Same for singles.

lordsepic said:

Not sure why it is hard for people to realize... HE IS NOT WORRIED ABOUT POSSIBLE LOSS. One thing to do is make some small team bags or random bags for children 1 or 2 dollars each... gives you a chance to get rid of inventory you dont need and brings their checkbooks (fathers) in... do something exciting for all ages... the more gimics the better... pack wars, trade nights, that sort of thing. Enjoy it and good luck.

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I think most people kind of laugh at this mentality.

It's easy to not worry about loss when a pipe dream is three years away from nowhere. It's a whole other story when loss is real and trust me...he'll worry plenty about almost certain loss. Of course not now, now is the exciting planning stage, AKA the "jaded and misinformed stage."

Show me a business that isn't worried about making money and I'll show you a "FOR LEASE" sign.