Hobby Quick Hits Ep.170 "Don't sleep on smaller card shows"

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SPEAKER 1: Hey, everybody. Welcome to episode 170 of Hobby Quick Hits.

SPEAKER 1: We are every other Monday. In between we, I do a show called Card Wrenches with Danny Black from Hobby News Daily and Hobby Hotline Sports Ball. And that show is done every other Friday night live at 9 p.m. And then the audio airs Monday. Just a sort of a programming note there.

SPEAKER 1: I was going to do a different episode, frankly, for episode 170 here. And then I did a, my monthly show in Watertown and just had a, a great show and decided to pivot and do a, you know, it's not gonna be a long episode but sort of a, a show review. And talk about small shows.

SPEAKER 1: Right. I think sometimes we don't, we just sort of dismiss them, especially on dealer sides. But even the collector side, when we compare them to a, a larger show. So I wanna do a show review and tackle small show versus big show, sort of thing, as well.

SPEAKER 1: So that's what this episode, is gonna be about. Like I said, it was going to be something else, but we'll, we'll push that one back, a couple of weeks to, to tackle this one, today, if you're listening to this on Show Release Day, Monday, the 15th of January, it is Martin Luther King Junior Day, the great civil rights and social justice activist.

SPEAKER 1: And, for some, it might just be a day off from work or, I do have the day off from school, but, you know, we're honoring a great man and, and everyone knows my, love for Jackie Robinson and, and, and Jackie and, and Dr King were friends, work together, for, rights for African Americans.

SPEAKER 1: And so, you know, get a moment, think about today and what, you know, Martin Luther King, Junior, Doctor King, stood for and, you know, his dream continues and goes on.

SPEAKER 1: And, and all that. So, take a moment to at least acknowledge that.

SPEAKER 2: Ok. Now, a quick word from our great sponsor followed by the new product release schedule. Then we'll go around the hobby verse to tell you all the latest hobby happenings and news. Then we'll tackle today's topic of discussion.

SPEAKER 3: Hi, this is Pat Hughes Cubs announcer. Coming to you from the Sports Card shop in beautiful New Buffalo. Michigan. The Goer family has built an incredible place here for collectors to buy, sell and trade cards and memorabilia. Be sure to stop by and let them show you around the Sports Card shop.com connecting sports athletes, the hobby and collectors around the world.

SPEAKER 4: Hi, this is Allen Pinkett and I'm here to tell you the Goer family has done it again.

SPEAKER 4: They've just opened up the sport card shop in downtown Valparaiso, Indiana. And it is awesome. If you're a collector, you need to check this place out. Tell them Alan sent you and get a free gift on your first visit.

SPEAKER 5: All right, let's check out this week's hobby wax releases. Take it away, Owen.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So, I'm from sports car shop. Let's go over the weekly releases.

SPEAKER 6: On the 17th. We have Bowman's Best Baseball, 2023 24. Bowman U chrome basketball. Hobby and Delight.

SPEAKER 6: Keepsake, multi sport, premier edition leaf metal draft, baseball, Panini, absolute football.

SPEAKER 6: And on the 24th we have P prime ra and, we have top stadium club, baseball and Leaf Art of the sport. And then moving to the 26 we have keepsake football, premier edition, P Don Rs, basketball. And last, but not least we have 2023 P Phoenix football. Thanks guys. Have a good day.

SPEAKER 5: Let's check out this week's hobby wax releases. Take it away, Owen.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So, I'm from the sports car shop. Let's go over the weekly releases.

SPEAKER 6: On the 17th, we have Bowman's Best Baseball, 2023 24 Bowman U chrome basketball, hobby and delight, keepsake, multi sport, premier edition leaf metal draft, baseball, Panini absolute football.

SPEAKER 6: And on the 24th, we have Pine Prime Ra and, we have top stadium club, baseball and Leaf Art of the sport. And then moving to the 26 we have keepsake football, premier edition, Pin Don Rash, basketball. And last, but not least we have 2023 P. Phoenix football. Thanks guys. Have a good day.

SPEAKER 7: Let's go round the hobby verse and catch up on this week's hobby news.

SPEAKER 1: All right, folks got some news, in the last few weeks here. Let's start with and auctions. Golden auctions, the Tom Brady, one of one super factor from the Bowman draft product, auto, has sold via that site and, and auction 158 $1000.

SPEAKER 1: You know, my thoughts that's, that's a good chunk of change. For a Tom Brady Auto. I know it's a 101. But you can get a lot of Tom Brady football related autos, for what, that $158,000 that card brought, but just one man's opinion.

SPEAKER 1: But congrats to golden, congrats to the seller and winning bidder, the news that's breaking, if you don't know about this you're probably not very active, but, after 20 years with upper deck, Lebron James is leaving to sign with Fanatics, a card and, autograph deal. You won't see him in his Laker uniform until the licensing on the basketball side officially goes to the Fanatics, side from Panini.

SPEAKER 1: But you will see a dual auto with him and his son, Ronnie, in the 2023 2024 Bowman University product. So I'm sure that will be a hot chase card to, say the least. Speaking of upper deck, they just had their industry conference.

SPEAKER 1: Some news coming out of that, Connor Bedard who's injured right now will be the Young Gun in series two, I believe. Card number 451 also will be on the checklist, version for young guns as well. They are also, they've also obtained the nets used in Connor Bedard's, NHL debut and those pieces of net will be put into, game use cards in the sp game used product.

SPEAKER 1: They also announced they are bringing back the brand ex 2000. Again. You've probably heard my thoughts on ex one of my favorite brands. They're bringing it back to the hobby side, later this year 2024.

SPEAKER 1: And they announced they're going to do golf cards again and there will be young guns in their golf product as crazy as it sounds as we are in the midst of the NFL playoffs. We are one month from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in Florida and Arizona.

SPEAKER 1: And that means we usually get the design for the upcoming Tops flagship brand and we have tops 2024. The design has been released. I will give my opinion. I like it has a neon light kind of feel and, and kind of different than sort of the standbys we've been getting, so I give it two thumbs up. I've seen most people like it.

SPEAKER 1: I've seen a few people, you know, not, you know, not like that neon light sort of look. You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but, you know, something I also take is we're, we're getting close to baseball season, again and a lot of storylines there, right, especially starting in Los Angeles with all their, their signings and as a Met fan, we can only just hope for a better year.

SPEAKER 1: But, you know, baseball cards in the 2024 lineup is, getting re ready to hit the, hit the press and, and be live and, tops has released that, that design, if you haven't seen it, you can go to either Tops website or go on Social Media and scroll a little bit. I'm sure it'll pop up in your feet.

SPEAKER 1: Now, our feature presentation.

SPEAKER 1: All right, I'm recording this audio a day after the Watertown New York monthly show done at the Feni Convention Center in obviously Watertown New York. It's a monthly show. I've start, started doing recently. This was my third one. The promoter asked me to bring the SGC submission table to his show. Try it out and it's been a great success.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, I've, I've done three shows. This is a small show, I think, maybe 40 tables in a, you know, not a small room but not a big room. We're packed in there, pretty good. The one thing I definitely love about this show, it's done on a Saturday.

SPEAKER 1: I'm a big fan of Saturday shows where you're not competing against NFL football, especially during NFL season. But I like Saturday shows, in general. I think they're more well attended, I think people on Sundays, starting to, to wind down the weekend, get ready to go back to work.

SPEAKER 1: You know, and Sundays kind of became, become, an unwritten family day for a lot of people. And again, I wanna paint with a broad brush, but Sunday's kinda like a home day for, for some, some families.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, you got church in the morning, for some and so Sunday is kind of a get ready for the upcoming week and Saturday is more the get out and do stuff kind of day. And so when I've done a show that are just Saturdays and I've done shows that are just Sundays.

SPEAKER 1: The Saturday ones to me, based on the size of the show, comparatively speaking, have been better attended on a Saturday.

SPEAKER 1: A lot of times it's Sunday shows, right? That I found, I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but 1212 30 it starts to thin out as people head home to what, get ready for football games, obviously during the football season. So, I like a Saturday, show and that's what this monthly Watertown Show, has done.

SPEAKER 1: And, for those that don't know much about Watertown New York, they have a military base there, Fort Drum. And so, you know, you get some of the military, folks that are in the hobby and collecting, attend the show, but it's a great mix of dealers with, with various products from sports, non sports memorabilia and for a small show and, and kudos to the, to, to the promoters for a small show.

SPEAKER 1: It has a bigger show feel and I will tell you this. Yesterday's show for me was my best one had, triple digits, in ST submissions, STC submissions. That hasn't happened there before. That many.

SPEAKER 1: So that's good. I think that is starting to build momentum. I did well on my card side, as well. And so I think it, I think this show is gaining momentum and, you know, don't one of the things, you know, the title of the show is Don't Sleep on a small show. And I, and I can't stress that enough. And I think, you know, full transparency folks. I think sometimes I've done that myself in the past. I'm my God. It's a small show.

SPEAKER 1: You know, it's not gonna be that good. Not many people are gonna be there. I think every show is, is an individual show in itself. And this show has started to, like I said, gain momentum, did very well on both sides of the table as far as sec and, and my stuff. Very, very pleased.

SPEAKER 1: You know, if I had any expectations going into yesterday's show, they were blown out of the water by, how, how we actually did so, very pleased again, well done by the promoters. They've built this show up from the ground up. Watertown was missing some, some shows, you know, haven't had, any in that area for me, it's about a 55 minute drive. So not super far.

SPEAKER 1: And it's nice to get out to a different area and kind of see new people as well. And I love my Syracuse folks that don't take that any other way. But, you know, and some of them actually come to Watertown as well. So it's nice to see them there, but it's also nice to see some new faces have some new conversations, make some new, friends and acquaintances, in the hobby, the areas really embraced, this show.

SPEAKER 1: I know there's been some news coverage of it, locally in Watertown and, you know, the promoters doing a lot of like, giveaways and door prizes and, very kid friendly and, you know what that means to me. I'm a big kids and a hobby guy.

SPEAKER 1: So, you know, when I first signed on to do the show, I even told the promoter, like, you know, I'll give it a try. I didn't want to commit to any long, anything long term. But, each month I've been there the last three months, it's been getting better and better.

SPEAKER 1: For me, I look forward, to February, you know, weather permitting, this area and Watertown is, you know, gets its share of snow in, in the winter. So I've, I've also let the promoters know, like, you know, if it's a bad weather day, I might not be able to make it. But, and at the next show I actually expanded, you know, I usually have two tables, one STC and one for my, cars.

SPEAKER 1: I, my buddy Chad Merritt, who I set up with, for this show. I, told the promoter that, we're gonna split a third table. So I'm gonna have 1.5 tables along with my SGC table to, you know, get a little more stuff out and, spread stuff out.

SPEAKER 1: So, again, did very well, very pleased and, and again, for whether you're a collector who's debating, going to a show or a dealer debating, setting up at a smaller show. Right. Well, if you're a dealer, you know, ask dealers who've already set up, you know, what's the attendance like? How have you done? Are you pleased? Are you satisfied? Is the promoter doing a good job with the show?

SPEAKER 1: You know, does the promoter have good bedside manner? I know that sounds like a, but that stuff's all important, you know, as a collector. The nice thing is you can go to the show, right? Pay your mission couple bucks and, you know, go once and see what it's like. And if you're not, you know, you don't like it, you don't have to go back, right?

SPEAKER 1: If you, the show doing a good job, got a great selection, then you can return, especially if it's a monthly show. And, obviously, if you're local to the area, you don't have to travel too much. It's not a big deal. But if you are traveling a little bit, you, you know, before you travel, you want to, do you think to yourself is this show worth going to?

SPEAKER 1: And so if you, again, you can ask other people who've attended the show, this show in particular Watertown, like I mentioned already, the kind of just a great, set of dealers that offer, you know, got all the bases covered wax. Is there? Non sports Pokemon supplies, vintage cards, ultramodern modern. It's, in, in walking the show. I just said to myself, I don't care who you collect, what you collect.

SPEAKER 1: There's something for everybody here and that's one of the, the telltale signs of, a well done show, right? Where dealer makes, you know, as best he can, he can't make people rent table space. But you know, a good promoter will try to cover all the bases. And in this case too, even having me come representing SGC for, for both subs and like I said, that's really gaining a lot of traction.

SPEAKER 1: Didn't think with this size show that you would hit three figures in, in subs. And yet we, we did that yesterday so very well pleased and I wanted to shout out, you know, the promoters and everyone in the Watertown area. This thing is really gaining steam and nice to see. And again, just because the show small, don't discount it, right? Don't throw it out or don't pooh, pooh it.

SPEAKER 1: You know, this show is becoming very good and it's a small show. Now, I'm not saying every small show is great or in the process of being great. But you know, you do a little research, attend the show. If you're a dealer, ask people who, who are, you know, if you're a dealer thinking about setting up, come to a show without setting up and walk the room and, and talk to the dealers and, and get their feedback.

SPEAKER 1: Right. Do a little bit of, like an, almost an interview, process with the dealers to determine, hey, should I set up here and, and, and, you know, it's nice. I wasn't at the first one. I think I missed two. I think there's been five. I've been at three, but it's nice to be in on two, the early process of the growth, of the show.

SPEAKER 1: And, so having a good time, listening to some, you know, packing the car up, making the 55 minute track. It's about 62 miles, from my house listening to some tunes, getting amped up and, really enjoy setting up at this show and, kind of getting my show legs back, you know, I've always done shows but was doing, you know, maybe four a year, just the Syracuse Fairground shows, maybe an occasional, out of town out of state one.

SPEAKER 1: But now getting back in sort of a, a monthly routine and, really starting to enjoy that process and, and the set up again, I'm set up with my buddy Chad Merritt and, we, we like to have a little fun and, joke around while, while we're at the show. So, having a good time again, I'll just close again with, check out a small show.

SPEAKER 1: Don't just, you know, toss it aside as a small show. You might be pleasantly surprised what a small show has to offer as a dealer and as a consumer. Thanks, folks. We'll see you soon. All right. Thank you for listening to another episode of Hobby Quick. Its wanna give out our Social Media starting with our website which is www dot sports Carnation podcast.com, Facebook.

SPEAKER 1: You can follow us at www.Facebook.com forward slash Sports Card Nation podcast, forward slash Twitter. We are at Sports Card, NAT T one. So it's Sports Card. Nat I one Instagram at Sports Car Nation Podcast. Or you can email the show Hobby Quick hits at gmail.com again. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.