I love my LCS!

[cnshockey]

Over my time on this board, I've heard some stories about some bad experiences about peoples LCSs and it got me really thinking how lucky I am. I live in an area where hockey is not the most popular sport (California) and am lucky enough to have a shop that carries most/all new products, has very fair prices, has all the supplies I need and at a great price, and best of all has some of the best customer service around. The shop is owned by a man and his wife and they have no other employees. A totally family run business with the greatest customer service possible. Today I was in there to get some bubbles and a few loose packs and I asked the husband if they would have any ITG H&P coming in (last year they didn't). He said they ordered a 12 box case so I was very happy. H&P is slated to come out on the 27th and so I asked when they'd have it by. He wasn't sure so he asks if I have a second and I tell him yes and he is immediately on his phone with his distributor trying to find out when he will have it. Well his distributor wasn't sure so he gave me his card and said to call either later tonight or tomorrow and he would have a date. As he was on the phone, I was trying to decide what packs to buy and I saw that all his SPx packs were put into small envelopes and were all really thick. When he got off, he told me that it was easy to find patches/jerseys in the product so he took the envelopes, put packs in there, added in some decoys, and put them back in the box so no one could pack search. It's so great to see someone who cares so much about making sure none of his customers get cheated and that they always leave happy and it got me wondering who has any other stories about their LCS. If you have any nice stories about your LCS, post em up. Would love to hear them. And if anyone wants to know, the shop I am talking about is Diamond Sports Cards in Concord, CA.

[oilfan10]

That's great Andy! Nice to see you're gonna get to bust a product I think we're all going to love! And of course you're going to save the "Captain Clutch" cards for me?

I love my local shop owner as well. He and his family are just a fantastic group of people who honestly do everything for their customer. That's something that is going to really keep this hobby alive.

[mxaxtxtx]

Hmmm, interesting on the SPX. Not sure if I really like that, I see where he is coming from...but if he owns the store, its not difficult to stop pack searching. I just don't like the idea of altering the product, it kind of seems suspicious.

I agree though with having a great card store. I am from the Chicago area, but go to school in Omaha. I had a really bad experience with a store in the Suburbs of Chicago, so coming back here to my normal guy is a huge relief. If you think Hockey isn't popular in California, wait until you see where hockey is on the hierachy of hobbies in Nebraska.

[TysonX504]

Hmmm, interesting on the SPX. Not sure if I really like that, I see where he is coming from...but if he owns the store, its not difficult to stop pack searching. I just don't like the idea of altering the product, it kind of seems suspicious.

I agree though with having a great card store. I am from the Chicago area, but go to school in Omaha. I had a really bad experience with a store in the Suburbs of Chicago, so coming back here to my normal guy is a huge relief. If you think Hockey isn't popular in California, wait until you see where hockey is on the hierachy of hobbies in Nebraska.

From what I got from it, he doesn't open the packs but rather puts the packs in a envelope with a decoy to make them all the same so you can't pack search, but maybe that's just me and i'm wrong.

[doniceage]

Thanks for sharing always nice to hear a good story about LCS.

Don

[mxaxtxtx]

No, I understand that is what is done. I would just prefer no envelopes. I think its pretty obvious when someone has been digging around and checking packs out in a box, but I feel like with the envelopes you would have no idea. Not saying the card shop owner would pull any funny business, but you never know. If I was the card shop owner, I would just impose a "grab and pick policy"...stop anyone that is going through the packs and say their business isn't welcome. If there's anything I can't stand, its when you see someone picking lose packs and they grab like 4 or 5 packs and only end up buying one of them. Policy should be the pack you grab first is the pack you are buying. You are putting the person in no better or worst position than had there been envelopes over the packs.

From what I got from it, he doesn't open the packs but rather puts the packs in a envelope with a decoy to make them all the same so you can't pack search, but maybe that's just me and i'm wrong.