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Category: Brick and Mortar

Eddie’s Sports Treasures – Knoxville, Tennessee

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I also ventured out to another Knoxville sports card shop.  Eddie’s Sports Treasures in Knoxville, Tennessee didn’t disappoint.  It was about a 15-20 minute drive from downtown Knoxville and was set in a very strip-mall-like atmosphere.  But once I walked in, I was pretty happy with the place.  It was big and loaded with all kinds of sports memorabilia.  Owner Eddie Barkley had authentic jerseys, signed helmets, signed photos, and a great selection of cards.  He also had a bunch of officially licensed products like t-shirts, hats, etc… Eddie’s Sports Treasures has a pretty strong online presence as well!  You can visit his website at eddiessportstreasures.com.  He’s also on Facebook here and Twitter @sportstreasures VIBE (4 out of 5) While it doesn’t look like much from the outside. The inside is something else. Eddie was helping another customer when I walked in.  It was like two in the afternoon so this was already a good sign.  I looked around the immense inventory, marveling at a bunch of the stuff.  He then took two calls before we had a few moments to chat about the business of cardboard. (And he took another call while […]

Webb’s Cards and Collectibles – Knoxville Tennessee

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

VIBE (3 out of 5) Webb’s Cards and Collectibles is a small store but very organized. It felt a little cramped as card boxes were packed to the ceiling. Each set was organized on the shelves by year, each card was in number order. If you needed a card to complete your collection this is the place to come. Especially if you need baseball from the past 40-50 years. I chatted with the owner, Bill, while his grand kids were running around the store. This was pretty cool to see two little boys playing around the store. Both boys were well behaved and energetic and put a smile on my face. INVENTORY (3 out of 5) I’m a football guy and I like to be able to buy packs and boxes not just singles. I would have given a higher score here had there been any wax boxes at all. There were some factory sets, a couple of random hobby boxes, but nothing 2017. There was an entire display case full of Peyton Manning, since it was in Knoxville, Tennessee. Most of the single cards in cases were pretty recent (last 4 years) but there were a few older cards […]

Grand Slam Collectibles – Murfreesboro, TN

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

And as my travel season begins, this becomes the 3rd brick and mortar card shop I’ve actually visited since starting to write about them.  This one in Murfreesboro, TN was open for just one week when I walked through the door.  It was well laid out but Nathan, the owner, was still building his inventory.  He had a great set up of glass displays with a large football section.   Good for me!  Nothing Jim Kelly, bad for me. After I searched through card boxes labeled $2 and the one labeled $1.50 and the one labeled $1, I found a few Bills cards to add to my personal collection.  I then chatted with the owner, Nathan.  We talked about why he opened the place and what he hoped to do.  He told me he was selling a lot on Ebay but also had really good foot traffic during the first week.  He told me he thought the walk-ins would continue since there isn’t many places in middle Tennessee.  His main business is buying and selling single cards.  We chatted about the trading card industry and a little bit of football for almost 30 minutes before I paid $17 for some Bills […]

Hooker’s Cards and Collectibles

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

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 […]

Cleve’s Baseball Cards and Collectibles

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

I’m lucky enough to travel around these great United States of America and get a chance to see different places and meet different people.  From time to time I stop in on the local card shop (LCS) and check out how things are going in the “brick and mortar” world. Recently I was able to stop into to Cleve’s Baseball Cards and Collectibles in Springdale, Arkansas.  This place has been around since 1979 and is one of the last remaining card shops in Arkansas.  It’s run by Gary who I chatted with for a little while.  He even searched the private stash in the back for anything Jim Kelly related.  No luck. One of their main features is a Tuesday night auction.  They will auction off any card for you.  I looked through probably 30 cards with auction forms sitting on a long glass case.  You just put your card up for auction and throughout the week people come and put in their bids.  It was a pretty cool set up and from the looks of it they have a large and loyal following. They didn’t seem to be short on business.  In fact while I was in the shop […]