PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — The new year is known to spark motivation and many people pick up new hobbies. Ironically, January is National Hobby Month.
National Hobby Month encourages people to share their hobbies with others. Card collecting is a popular one.
“We have a lot of kids that come in every week and get their allowance and buy $5 worth of cards to add to their collection,” Instant Replay Sports Cards co-owner Aaron Bearden said.
Bearden said baseball cards outsell all the other sports combined.
“We have people that come in just to have every card of their favorite player or their favorite team, and collecting companies,” Bearden said.
Many older cards aren’t as rare because companies used to print so many of them. After taking the matter to court, many newer cards are now marked with serial numbers to show their rarity.
Card companies print a limited number, like a one-of-one Patrick Mahomes rookie card.
“We have unopened boxes of cards anywhere from $30-$8,000 a box,” Bearden said.
Alex Ray at the Comic Emporium next door also said cards are some of their best-selling items.
“Magic Cards is a game that started back in 1993 and it’s still going strong,” Comic Emporium ‘Associate Nerd’ Alex Ray said. “It’s a collectible card game meaning you can play with the cards as well as collect them.”
Like sports cards, you can get them cheap, but serious collectors are willing to spend a pretty penny.
“They can be as low as 10 cents or as expensive as tens of thousands of dollars,” Ray said.
Ray said the high ticket items don’t sit for long.
It’s a hobby for everyone.
“We have people as young as 7 years old coming in to collect Pokémon Cards but we have people who are retirees coming in and they are now rebuilding the collections that they had as a kid back in the 60s and 70s,” Ray said.
Both Bearden and Ray said the best way to get started on a card-collecting hobby is to pick something you love.
Instant Replay Sports Cards is connected to the Comic Emporium. However, it’s moving to the Stanford Station Shopping Center.
Both stores are expanding to meet the high demand of customers.
