Why do I not mind cards that are not in great condition? In the mid-1970s The Sports Collectors Store in Chicago on Archer Avenue was the only place to pick up cards besides the flea market or packs at a store.
Here's how a trip to this shop went. Walk a mile to the bus stop. Take that bus plus another one with a few friends in the early years. By the time I was 12-14 I would go alone sometimes. It was about eight miles away and I was sure to never mention it to my parents. Since everyone knew everyone back then, someone saw me at the bus stop one time and word got back to my parents. That didn't stop me from going.
Did anyone else ever go to this store? I wish I could remember my last visit there. Back to the cards.
I remember the layout of the store but I would love to see pictures if anyone ever sees them. I was always drawn to a box of mixed up 50s and 60s cards. The box probably had about 5,000 cards in various conditions. I would go through those to find creased cards of stars. I know that I picked up many HOFers included damaged Mantles for a quarter each. I could easily spend half an hour in that pile of cards.
I was drawn to these cards since I never card that old anywhere else since we didn't attend a card show until 1975-1976. Even though it wasn't the best investment, I preferred to go home with 50 cards for a quarter than spend an outrageous sum of $2 on a nice card. I still feel that way about 1971 Kellogg's cards since I am not investing in them at all.
We usually just look at boxes of cards that were on the counter but sometimes we'd ask for a certain card as I would do with Al Kaline sometimes. The workers would then pull out a box that had more of one card that I would ever see in my life. They usually would have more than 50 of any card we wanted to see from the 1960s.
Did anyone go to other shops during the 1970s before the shops sold new cards, plastic pages, etc.? What do you remember most about them?
The first shop I ever went into that sold cards was a sports memorabilia store in Seattle. That's when I begged my parents to buy me a 1981 Fleer baseball set. It wasn't really a card shop though. It was one of those store that sold blankets, clothing, lamps, and other sports stuff.
ReplyDeleteWe tried to find any place that sold cards. Did you get the set?
ReplyDeleteI did. It ended up being either an early birthday or Christmas present. That set provided hours and hours and hours of entertainment for me... as I'd sit down and sort, re-sort, and sort again.
DeleteFirst store I remember going to was the one I ultimately worked at. This was during the card boom in the late 1980s, but the store was a coin shop and leather working shop as well.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about working at a card shop. It wasn't close enough and back then, they didn't employ many kids that weren't in their family. Sounds like a good place to work as a teen, but I had enough with a morning paper route, caddying in the summer and cleaning the building after school in the winter.
ReplyDelete