What will it take to get prizm retail down under?!

Shaun · Dec 30, 2013

Once again it's that time of the year, where you go on blowout forums and see all the colorfull prizm retail breaks, and it's frustrating to know you cannot go to your local shopping centre and pick up some cards!!

Take a look around, everywhere you go you see NBA caps, tshirts and jerseys been worn by people. I'd say that NBA would have to be at its most popular point so far since the jordan era!
So what more is it going to take to get kmart, big w, target, toys r us or even costco to stock some panini retail?!

I want prizm rack packs! I want panini retrospective! It's about time us loyal Aussies got to be apart of the retail fun too!!!

ben82 · Dec 30, 2013

I'm lucky @A1CardsandGaming is located at my local shop

A1CardsandGaming · Dec 30, 2013

Retail fun sounds like a great idea but if local collectors don't support local hobby shops then it will never happen.

I know first hand how difficult it is to compete with big companies. Even the hope of making money on postage that it costs to get stuff direct from the US is almost impossible with a large number of local collectors. (why put $50 toward shipping that takes a week to get here when that could go locally and support a local business)

You typically see a box listed on places like Dacardworld for $90 and that is what some people expect to pay. Don't forget the minimum $45usd postage costs or 15% extra for the difference in the exchange rates (at the moment) or 10% Import tax/GST and that is before you get to store overheads.

Having a local shop is convenient but sadly Rent, insurance and electricity all cost money and unless local collectors get on board and pay a little extra for that convenience then it is highly unlikely to happen and the main reason hobby shops close down.

Hobby sites are great fun but nothing beats meeting up with local collectors for a face to face deal and a chat

FabFiveFan · Dec 30, 2013

Well said Tez, I couldnt agree more. I guess here in WA (unlike Shaun in Melbourne) we card collectors are lucky/spoilt to be able to walk into any one of 3 card stores ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, plus the number of market stall owners who are only open on weekends, but I agree, we all need to support the guys who "put their money where their mouth is", and put in the hard yards of running a business.

Keep up the great work Terry, and I hope to be down your way at the end of this week.

Shaun · Dec 31, 2013

yep i see what your saying. we do have the local market down here that i generally suppport when im looking for boxes. its not exactly convieniant for me though, i no longer live close by it, and its only open certain days.
buying boxes on the internet generally doesnt suit my box breaking style, im very much a spur of the moment type of guy, if i have to plan ahead and order online, i will generally talk myself out of it and remind myself of the more important things i could be doing with my money.

if i could walk into my local shopping centre though, and sure the selection wont be as vast. and retail usually isnt as good as hobby, but the thought of picking up a few packs, or even a cheap box, thats what i really want to see!

where i previously lived, we had a newsagent at our local shops, that stocked loose hobby packs of hoops and Contenders, hoops i never bothered with, but contenders, despite the ridiculous price tag of $10.95 a pack!! i couldnt help myself! and thats what we need more of in this country (minus the over the top price tag) we just need more access to a simple pack here and there. a sneaky retail box here and there. and when priced correctly, surely it would draw more of the younger generation to the hobby, which in turn 'should' drive up business in the hobby shops when these new customers realize all the other wonderfull products that are available to them outside of K-mart.

Jaames · Dec 31, 2013

Shaun said:
Once again it's that time of the year, where you go on blowout forums and see all the colorfull prizm retail breaks, and it's frustrating to know you cannot go to your local shopping centre and pick up some cards!!

Take a look around, everywhere you go you see NBA caps, tshirts and jerseys been worn by people. I'd say that NBA would have to be at its most popular point so far since the jordan era!
So what more is it going to take to get kmart, big w, target, toys r us or even costco to stock some panini retail?!

I want prizm rack packs! I want panini retrospective! It's about time us loyal Aussies got to be apart of the retail fun too!!!

I honestly think that doesn't have anything to do with NBA being popular, heaps of people just wear the caps and jerseys because it's the style flavour of the month. It's like I see people all the time wearing skateboard brand clothing and could care less about skateboarding.

As for retail cards, Ive been to a few GameTrader store in western Sydney that sell NBA packets. Never seen Prizm though

Fleer57 · Dec 31, 2013

Another possible reason that it's harder for local card shops to turn a profit is everyone keeps busting cases or boxes rather than packs.

I remember in the mid 90s everyone just bought packs.. maybe $5 or $6 each, so if a retailer sold an entire box of packs they probably made 100% profit (24 or 36 x $5). Selling the sealed box these days and they'd be lucky to make 5%.

Basically all the collectors from that era have grown up, have more disposable income and go straight for cases rather than packs. This means we need to also focus on the next generation (our kids) who would be content with a pack at a time, to keep the hobby alive. I'm mainly referring to low end product here (a box with 20 packs or so). Low end product can grow the hobby as much as high end can because it doesn't alienate low income earners, or kids spending their pocket money.

I've seen a lot of people on here try to get their kids interested with low end product which is promising. I'll be doing the same with my kids.

Well that's my theory anyway. If i had a time machine i'd go back to 1993.

West Oz Cards · Dec 31, 2013

^^ Agree with Daniel.

When I was growing up, the golden era of the NBA 92-98, I used to only be able to afford to buy a few packs at a time, same with every one I knew.. shops were making a killing off the hobby.

Not only that, but way back then, there was no interwebs thingo to enable individuals to purchase their own stuff direct from the suppliers.

Now, I couldn't see the point in buying packs when I can afford to buy boxes or cases at a time. And as Terry points out, the profit margin is hugely reduced with boxes and cases.

Cobretti · Dec 31, 2013

lol when i grew up i use to buy boxes but they still charged me the packet price. So it was still a win win for them.

Reignman40 · Jan 3, 2014

All these points together show the complete state of play right now.

For example, back in the mid 90's when I started collecting NBA, my local newsagent stocked packs. Collectors Choice, Hoops and Upper Deck. I worked in one of the big shopping centres late in my teens and had a discount chain, a novelty shop, a sports themed shop and a specific card shop all selling packs and a few of them were selling singles as well all within the same centre. If you add in the occaisional old school box at target, they were everywhere. Then the hobby died a bit here and shops stopped selling them and specialist card stores closed. In Brisbane there is only 1 store that sells packs now and they are over priced and rarely has them as the die hard collectors left in Brisbane buy them out like junkies in need of a fix!

Unfortunately it seems with the high end stuff attracting so much attention with its features (design, chase sets etc) the low end stuff just seems to get little hobby love which makes it harder to attract those to collecting as it only attracts people chasing the dollar. Which is a shame as I still hold some of my cheap pack busting sets from the 90's as a reminder of what I collected many years ago.

Just my opinion.

Maurice · Jan 3, 2014

Reignman40 said:
All these points together show the complete state of play right now.

For example, back in the mid 90's when I started collecting NBA, my local newsagent stocked packs. Collectors Choice, Hoops and Upper Deck. I worked in one of the big shopping centres late in my teens and had a discount chain, a novelty shop, a sports themed shop and a specific card shop all selling packs and a few of them were selling singles as well all within the same centre. If you add in the occaisional old school box at target, they were everywhere. Then the hobby died a bit here and shops stopped selling them and specialist card stores closed. In Brisbane there is only 1 store that sells packs now and they are over priced and rarely has them as the die hard collectors left in Brisbane buy them out like junkies in need of a fix!

Unfortunately it seems with the high end stuff attracting so much attention with its features (design, chase sets etc) the low end stuff just seems to get little hobby love which makes it harder to attract those to collecting as it only attracts people chasing the dollar. Which is a shame as I still hold some of my cheap pack busting sets from the 90's as a reminder of what I collected many years ago.

Just my opinion.

Back in the mid 90's i had a handful of stores within walking distance of my home selling boxes & singles.

Local milk bar (which stocked everything from Stadium Club, Fleer Ultra, Upper Deck up to Topps Finest)
Card shop in Dee Why Plaza
Local Newsagents

within a 20-30 minutes drive we also had

K-mart
Target
Granny Mays (Manly)
Card Shaq (City)
Card..... (Neutral Bay)
Some other stores in Mona Vale

I live on Sydney's northern beaches.

Now i don't know of any in Sydney. Does anyone know of any?

KB. · Jan 3, 2014

I personally think without the retail aspect of card collecting that the hobby is more likely to decline then grow as the main means of buying product is to actively seek product out which only the true collectors are likely to do. This also limits the likelyhood that their will be a next generation of collectors who will go on to establish and maintain the hobby in the future.

I personally don't think I'd of picked this hobby up as an adult if it wasn't for the ties to my collecting as a youth when I could go put 50c in a card crazy vending machine or grab a few packs and a beckett magazine from my local newsagent. I see a lot of adult collectors on this site who have kids who love the hobby which shows me it's still viable with kids, so I think the issue more so these days its accessibility and that's where something simple like cheap retail products come in. Keep the hobby boxes and high end products for the hardcore collectors, but allow kids the access to cheap retail products which can be fun for all collectors and help keep the hobby going.

ben82 · Jan 3, 2014

back in the late 80's until the mid 90's was my initial collecting period, my local shops all sold cards sporting and non sports. I was lucky enough to live close to 2 local markets (stock rd and canningvale) both of which had multiple stands selling buying and trading cards. Todays market is clearly aimed at the adults which is short sighted, there is no way if i was a kid i could afford anything being released today except hoops

Fleer57 · Jan 3, 2014

ben82 said:
back in the late 80's until the mid 90's was my initial collecting period, my local shops all sold cards sporting and non sports. I was lucky enough to live close to 2 local markets (stock rd and canningvale) both of which had multiple stands selling buying and trading cards. Todays market is clearly aimed at the adults which is short sited, there is no way if i was a kid i could afford anything being released today except hoops

Did you ever go to US Gear in Carillon Arcade in the early 90s and spend all day staring into the glass counters wishing you had more money? That's how I spent my weekends.

What will it take to get prizm retail down under?!

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