Trading cards have been around since the 1800’s with Baseball cards starting them all. Fast forward to the present day and you will find all different types of cards ranging from sports cards, to trading card games such as Pokémon, and Magic The Gathering. We have seen a huge spike in the popularity of these cards in recent years. But when exactly did the spike happen and how?
Jad Slabeh, who is the co-owner of the popular hobby shop, Hobbiesville, says that, “The market has spiked quite a bit in the last one and a half to two years.” He mentions that the market comes in waves with the COVID-19 pandemic being a huge cause of the market fluctuation with Slabeh saying “After 2020 because of Covid people were staying home a lot more and looking for ways to make money and get into side hobbies aside from work and that caused it to boom.”
With the trading card market having a recent spike, what about the ones that started them all? Sports cards have been around for hundreds of years with many different sports printed. the sports card market is projected to have an over ten billion dollar gain within the next ten years.
Ben Kimberly, who works at the local card store Players Cards And Collectables, says that “the market is still booming due to demand along with all the stuff going on in social media with all the big sporting events going on from spectating to betting.”
A lot of people would also rather shop in person compared to shopping online which gives a massive boost to sales. People being able to see products all at once instead of having to scroll on a website gives an advantage to local card shops. Kimberly also says that “having a personable moment and having memories in the store along with helping the young kids out with showing them how to protect their cards”
Why get into trading cards now though? With a huge spike in the industry many people may see that it is a perfect time due to publication from youtubers, marketing and more. On the other hand though many people may get scared to enter the industry now that there are spikes in trading card prices. However, some people see the trading card industry as a investment opportunity with the market pricing fluctuating so much.
Noah Thorogood is someone who is just getting into the card industry and sees it just as a hobby for him. He continues proclaiming that it is not so much a investment saying “I don’t wanna go out of my way to spend you know five hundred to a thousand dollars on a box just to hopefully pull something that is worth more then I spent.”
With many people seeing this as either a hobby or an investment opportunity. Are you looking to get into it? or are you going to shy away from cards.
You can find out more about The rise of trading cards on the Almost 107 podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
