Aces Sports Cards in Woodbury celebrates their Grand Opening November 9th with complimentary Goodie Bags to the first 25 customers, a product raffle and more.
Sports Cards and Memorabilia are a booming multi-billion dollar industry and the Philadelphia area is becoming the center of it’s universe… Aces Sports Cards is set to be a part of the excitement!
The Aces Sports Cards store is located on Broad Street (Rt 45) about two blocks from the Colonial Diner in a strip of stores directly next to the Belia Furniture and Printing Company. There is parking along the street, and additional spots on the other side of the railroad tracks.
Many may not be aware but the Sports Cards and Memorabilia industry is booming the last five years, initially gaining momentum during the pandemic when people were spending more time at home and significant numbers of collectors jumped back into the marketplace.
And the little cardboard photo cards featuring beloved athletes has turned into a big business… A many billions of dollars “big business”.
A 2023 CNBC article states the global sparts card trading market is valued at $44 billion and is expected to approach $100 billion in 2027 (based on data from Verified Market Research). Online retailer eBay is conducting billions of dollars in transactions each year!
This demand is bringing sports card trading and memorabilia back to small town main streets, with local owners opening up businesses where they are surrounded by something they love… sports!
I stopped in last week at Aces Sports Cards and caught up with Chalie Clair (Hometown Gloucester City), who along with friends Eric and Andrew have opened up the sports card shop to focus on buying selling and trading of sports cards and related merchandise.
They are staying focused on sports cars, and not participating in the memorabilia marketplace (such as signed jerseys and baseballs or plaques).
Aces has been open for a few weeks and during my visit several customers popped in including a dad with his young son positioned by the front window looking through a variety of sports cards.
In this digital “everything you need is in the palm of your hand via a smartphone” it’s awesome to see a tangible printed card that for many of us has been at least a small part of our lives, still having a place in 2024… and bring in new fans.
The Aces Sports Card store is bright and open with a row of display cases for sports cards. They also offer retail oriented accessories such as protective card cases, and full boxes of cards from top industry card makers such as Topps… which we all remember from being kids!
And speaking of Topps, it seems the Philadelphia area is becoming the “Center of the Universe” for the industry with two big players based in the Philadelphia area.
In another example of the growing popularity of sports card trading, Philadelphia based Fanatics who under local CEO Michael Rubin is a powerhouse in the sports merchandise space… recently jumped into the sports card world by first winning the rights to make trading cards for Major League Baseball, and then eventually acquiring Topps outright for $500 million dollars.
Another big Philadelphia area name is Ken Goldin who today is the star of Netflix’s “King of Collectibles” which is filmed right at his Runnmede NJ Auction House! Recently he was featured in the news for conducting the bid for Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball. Goldin has a 30+ year history in Sports Memorabilia in our area, having founded Scoreboard in Cherry Hill in the late 80s which in the early 90s had over 250 employees!
For Chalie and his business partner friends, they are just looking for a small slice of that pie!
But it’s clear a big part of the motivation of opening the store is to operate a business based on something they truly love and spend a lot of time being involved in…Sports and sports card trading.
Everyone has a favorite sports team and half the fun of enjoying sports is simply talking about it with friends, which is clearly one of the best parts of the trading sports cards. In fact, Chalie had two buddies hanging out at the shop while I was there… talking sports, cards and the business. And of course a little bit about 42Freeway!
And you know what they say… do something you love and then you will find success.
For the Grand Opening event of Aces Sports Cards on November 9th, they will be open from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
Aces will have food and prizes throughout the day including the following:
The first 25 customers will receive a complimentary goodie bag with sleeves, toploaders, stickers and (1) random hanger, blaster, or mega box at checkout! *1 per customer*
For every $10 spent you will receive a raffle to enter to win the hobby boxes pictured above (up to 3 raffle tickets per person). Winners will be announced as follows:
- Logofractor ~ 1pm
- Panini Elite ~ 4pm
- Topps Update ~ 7pm
***YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE IN STORE AT TIME OF DRAWING TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE, IT WILL BE HELD FOR YOU TO PICK UP***
Links and Location
Aces Sports Cards
1063 N Broad St.
Woodbury, NJ 08096