Hooker’s Cards and Collectibles
This is my second post on the world tour of brick and mortar card shops. I stopped in Eugene, Oregon at Hooker’s Cards and Collectibles. I had a nice talk about football with Dennis the store’s owner. We talked about whether the Bills could put it together this season, even though he’s a Cowboys fan (Booooooo!), and about Panini taking over as the exclusive NFL card maker.
This place was a bit unique. There were boxes of cards and comics packed from floor to ceiling. Display cases so covered you couldn’t even see into them. He seemed to know where everything was although I’m not sure how. The mass of cards was quite impressive. Dennis told me he’d been at his current locations since 2000 and in business for nearly 30 years. He said he’s got a very loyal customer base and that business is really good. He was a good guy to talk to and seem to be interested in helping me out. Unfortunately he had no Jim Kelly cards other than some old base cards.
Because I don’t want to see all the physical shops disappear I always give them a little bit of my business. I bought 4 hobby packs of 2015 Contenders basically just because they weren’t that expensive and he had a bunch. And 4 hobby packs of Topps Platinum because I like those cards and can help out a friend collecting that set.
Couple of inserts from 2015 Contenders
And nothing much to add from the 2015 Platinum either, I didn’t get any of the Gold cards that I needed but I did get a couple of parallels (both that I already owned, how unlucky). An Alvin Dupree Sapphire Refractor and here’s the Sammie Coates X-Fractor.
If you get a chance to visit Eugene, Oregon grab a beer at one of their many fine micro-breweries and stop by and say hello to Dennis at Hooker’s Cards and Collectibles. And open a pack or two!