Card Traders of Austin

Card Traders of Austin

Written by Tiffany Young Monday, 07 January 2008

Baseball cards, signed memorabilia, posters, sports magazines and trading cards fill every corner of Card Traders of Austin.

Owner Walt Case has seen a change in the card trading business in the past 12 years since he and his partner bought Card Traders of Austin. Now, he said, there is more high-end, expensive products in cards and memorabilia, and it’s more of an adult hobby than it used to be because of the higher prices.

While baseball cards are still the biggest seller for trading cards, football cards have come on very strong in the past eight to 10 years, Case said, with basketball cards coming in third.

The store also carries a variety of trade cards such as Magic: The Gathering and YuGiOh.

“Magic’s been around since the ’90s,” said Case. “It’s not a large source of our business, but we do have about 10 to 12 percent of our sales [from Magic].”

Most stock is bought directly from distributors or wholesalers, but the older memorabilia comes from individuals.

As far as gauging what to carry, Case said, “You just kind of have to have a feel for the particular brand and gauge your clientele by what they like,” adding that it doesn’t always work out, and it’s not always the same from year-to-year.

For value, rookie cards and autographed cards ranging in price from $10-$3,000 is what most collectors look for. The most expensive card he has in stock is a 1953 Willie Mays card valued at $2,700.

To find out the value of a card, price guides can be very useful, but as Case pointed out, if a player does really well, very quickly, the price guides may not be able to keep the information up to date.

While it’s difficult to predict when customers will visit the shop, weather can be a prediction of how busy the store will be: when it rains, customers pour in.

“If the weather’s bad, you get more traffic,” Case said.

Competition in the card trading business is not what it used to be when Case started out. While there used to be many card shops in the area, now there are only a few in Austin.

“It takes a significant amount of investment to start a card shop today,” Case said. “It can be a volatile business because there’s nothing in here that anyone has to have.”

While Case has some memorabilia at his home, he mostly sees the inventory at Card Traders of Austin as his and his partner’s collection, leaving him little reason to add to his collection at home.

Eric Harmatuk, whose dad worked with Case at IBM, and Gary Woodmancy originally opened Card Traders of Austin 15 years ago. When Harmatuk got married and joined the corporate world, and Woodmancy wanted to pursue other business interests, Case was ready to quit corporate America. Case, who had worked at IBM for 30 years as a computer programmer and in management, and his partner Craig Vernier went in together to buy the store.

Jim Bailey will soon join the partners as a third owner of Card Traders of Austin making the hours they work more flexible. The owners run the place themselves, with occasional part-time workers when needed.

Spin the Wheel

At Card Traders of Austin, visitors can pay one dollar to spin a wheel and win a prize. No matter what is landed on, everyone wins and each prize is worth at least a dollar and ranges up to a value of ten dollars.

Hours: Mon – Fri 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. • Sun Noon – 5 p.m.

Card Traders of Austin, 8650 Spicewood Springs Road, Ste. 128 • 250-0958, crdtrade@swbell.net