What's the longest continuously opertating LCS in the US?

[hive17]

I was at my LCS in Madison yesterday and I was talking to the owner Tom. He's been open since 1979 or something close. He was talking to me about how other guys at the National were saying that his store might be the most tenured shop in America.

Does anyone else know, for sure (i.e. not: I think this has been open for...), if they've been to an older shop?

 

[200lbhockeyplayer]

Fritsch up in Steven's Point?

 

[RL24]

Fritsch up in Steven's Point?

Good call....

Flashback to 1970. There were trading cards then, mostly Topps' releases (along with a few regional and specialty issues), but the collecting hobby as most of us know it today simply didn't exist. No card shows, no magazines or trading card publications. There was, however, a network of dedicated card collectors, often in contact with one another through classifieds in the back of newspapers and sports magazines.

By 1970, Larry Fritsch was already well known as one of America's major collectors of sportscards, and had already established himself as one of the first "dealers," helping other, newer collectors fill their own sets and meet their collecting desires. Fritsch's own first "dealings" in the hobby date to 1948; few other hobbyists could claim a half century of dealership experience!

Things went well enough in his new card ventures for Larry in the late '60s that by 1970, he decided the time was right. On May 1st of that year, he left his "official" work and began his small dealership, Larry Fritsch Cards, his career of choice. Hobby-wise, Larry Fritsch Cards was easily the first, often the biggest, and always the best.

http://www.fritschcards.com/sunshop/ind ... p=about_us



Kinda looks like that was the date he started a mail order business, and not a store front. I couldn't find a date the actual store opened....

 

[leatherman]

I don't know when they opened, but Candl Coins & Stamps (Virginia Beach) has been open since the early 80s. My dad bought his 1952 Topps Reprint sets (in 1983) and his 1984 Topps Tiffany set from them.

Their website says they have been in business over 40 years: http://www.candlcoins.com/

 

[mchenrycards]

I know Jim and Steves has been in existence as a card shop in Waukegan, Illinois since 1981. They started in a very tiny store front (if you can call it that) and have now moved into a former hostess bread outlet store!

 

[smapdi]

Not a baseball card shop, but Austin Books & Comics has been around since 1977, starting with books but quickly moving to comics, with forays into sportscards, Magic, games and now art along the way.

Is 4 C's still around in Philadelphia? I remember hearing about them when I was a kid, maybe early-mid 80s, IIRC.

 

[hive17]

Fritsch up in Steven's Point?

You know, now that I think about it, Tom may have mentioned Larry (they were friends, I know that) in the course of the discussion. I think the guy at the National was making the point that Tom is now the oldest still in operation, as Larry has passed.

Good point.

 

[Todd44]

This is a really interesting question ... only because so many shops have closed over the years that it would seem to be a rarity for one to be open for so long.

I immediately thought of the House of Cards in Wheaton/Silver Spring MD, which has had several different locations over the years. I used to go there as a kid bc it was on the way home from church to my grandparents' house. Haven't been there in years, but they still are around, apparently, in a different location in Silver Spring, MD (and more commonly known for their Huggins and Scott auctions), but their web site masthead says they've been around since 1976.

 

[JackLondon]

Baseball Cards Plus here in Huntington Beach has been around since 1981. Same owner, too.

 

[rico08]

Valley Sports Cards in Tarzana, CA has been opened since 1981 and just expanded last year.