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01-15-2013, 05:05 PM #1
Canadian card shops hurt by NHL lockout
http://www.beckett.com/news/2013/01/...y-nhl-lockout/
NHL fans voiced their displeasure throughout the lockout, wondering loudly when the league would come back.
Hockey collectors’ focuses changed to older cards, and some stopped collecting altogether. In the end, it hurt card shops, which rely on new products and tantalizing rookies to move product. It was even worse in Canada where hockey is the national sport.
Sports Card Alley in Nanaimo, British Columbia was one of the shops hit hard by the lockout. The shop saw a drop in sales of more than 50 percent in the month of December 2012 compared to 2011.
With no NHL, customers didn’t think much of buying new cards.
“No customers yet,” said Wild Bill of Sports Card Alley. “They will be waiting for the hockey companies to put rookies in the box that’s worth something.”
Some card shops were able deal with the lockout by promoting other sports. Canada Card World used the time to market other collecting focuses and expand the business.
“While we do have a strong contingent of hockey products available, our diversity with other sports, non-sports and gaming allowed us to experience a period of growth despite having the lockout happen,” said Joey Collins of Canada Card World, based in Stratford, Prince Edward Island. “With that being said, we’re hoping the new hockey season will see a spike in hockey sales as we move forward.”
Between In The Game, Panini America and Upper Deck, there have been 10 products on the market with seven containing 2012-13 hockey Rookie Cards.
Within the next two months, there are four more products on the schedule – including Upper Deck’s SP Game-Used, which hits hobby shelves today.
Employees at Canada Card World hope the schedule remains light because an influx of products won’t actually help.
“We don’t believe there is much UD or Panini can do to boost sales here on in except to have quality products with hopefully some desirable rookies,” Collins said. “We’re hoping not to see a lot of new products in a short span of time flood into the marketplace.”
Few rookies in current 2012-13 products pushed hockey cards. Only two or three of them provided hobby buzz, but not enough to move recent hockey releases the way dealers hoped.
It’s going to take a couple of players such as 2012 draft pick Nail Yakupov or Boston’s Dougie Hamilton to get collectors excited about new products.
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01-15-2013, 06:08 PM #2
My LCS in Montreal area said he did as good as last year, sale wise. So I guess montreal market maybe was less hit because hockey is so popular here. Not sure about other card shop around Montreal. The only exception was some higher end product that did not do as good but he his not afraid as he know he will sell them now that the games are back.
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01-15-2013, 06:16 PM #3
Everything I heard is that the LCS' did as good as last year, if not better, because everyone was coming to find cards to complete sets, bust older stuff, etc. That goes for the two I went to in Phoenix who said they sold more hockey than past years, and from hearing stuff at shows that people weren't doing bad at all, and some in fact doing better.
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01-15-2013, 06:40 PM #4
I believe 3 shops in Vancouver area closed last month, including my LCS =(
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01-15-2013, 06:49 PM #5
I am sure certain card market have been hurt more then other. Also it depend how much a LCS depend on hockey to make it's living. For instance my LCS have 90% of his surface for comic book and other items and card games.
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01-15-2013, 07:29 PM #6
brudder.....
merged post againLast edited by centrehice; 01-15-2013 at 07:32 PM.
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01-15-2013, 07:32 PM #7
My LCS owner did a video shot for a Kelowna business site and he said that the overall business was down considerably. Here's hoping that things turn around quickly, as it's a great store and I'm happy to visit it regularly.
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