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Part three of a three part series 

I purposely held this topic until the end because it hits me close to home. This is the third and final post in my discussion of “Where have all the card shops gone?” If you are just now joining us you might want to start with part one here. Part two can be found here. Well, here it is the last of three contributing factors, is the wonder of the World Wide Web. Yep, I said it. Odd isn’t it since here I sit blogging away on the same web. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the internet is bad. But is caused problems for the local sports card dealer.

Let me explain. Before the internet most card collectors purchased their cards at either a card shop or a retail store like a drug store or department store. Yes, you could also buy cards at shows or mail order but the card shop and retail outlets were the most prevalent. To make matters worse along comes a little idea called Ebay. That little idea became a giant and redefined how people shopped. That’s where it hits close to home for me. I am a contributing factor in all of this. I have an Ebay store and I have purchased cards for myself on Ebay. I could walk into a card shop and spend hours browsing and talking to the owner and fellow collectors. On the web I could spend hours searching for cards I had never seen before and getting great deals on just about any card. Well that came with a hefty price. As more people like me turned to the internet to save some money on their collecting habits the local card shops suffered. Some shops have capitalized on the internet and have grown their business. But most have not been able to make that transition. I’m not here to bash Ebay especially since I am an Ebay addict but I am just trying to make a point that the card collecting landscape will never be the same again.

It has always been a dream of mine to own a card shop. But in this era that just doesn’t seem like a feasible endeavor. I guess the closest I will ever get is my Ebay store. Today I was reminded of one of the reasons I miss the card shop. On my way home from work I had the urge to bust some packs. The problem is there is not a card shop in town and the discount store I shop at did not have a single box I was interested in opening. I looked at the about 25 boxes they had on the shelf and realized there was not a box that interested me. A part of that lack of interest goes back to the issue of over production.

Well there you have it; one mans view on the subject of what happened to the sports card shops. To recap I believe the factors contributing to the closing of card shops across the country are over production of card issues, too many entertainment options and the role of the internet on the hobby. Maybe you have a different point of view; I would love to hear from you.

As I close this post I am going to turn to the internet again to find me a box of 2007 Topps Baseball since I can’t go to a local dealer to get one.