BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
In the early 1990s the sports card industry was riding a massive popularity surge of biblical proportions.
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?The industry has changed dramatically from...when I first opened my store,? said Brian Vanclieaf, owner of The Great Canadian Card Company. ?The sports card market is soft in Sudbury now.? |
In Sudbury, the hysteria was mainly over hockey cards. At one point there were about 10 stores in and around the City of Greater Sudbury specifically dealing sports cards. This was on top of all the convenience stores, grocery stores and department stores selling the red-hot cardboard pictures of top professional athletes.
The fever caught all kinds of people from all ages and backgrounds. Collectors were pulling cards out of their basements or raiding their grandparents? homes for ?cardboard gold? in hopes of cashing in on the craze.
For awhile, hockey cards seemed to be a great quick investment. However, the interest soon dwindled and the fever broke. The middle to late 1990s saw the card stores drop like flies after being drowned in insect repellent.
Now, only one true year-round sports card store remains open in Sudbury. The Great Canadian Card Company survived the volatile market purge and still deals with sports cards today, but it has had to adapt to stay alive-just like sports cards themselves.
?The industry has changed dramatically from 11 years ago when I first opened my store,? said Brian Vanclieaf, owner of The Great Canadian Card Company. ?The sports card market is soft in Sudbury now.?
The big business in the card market now is gaming cards.
?Right now people are after Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards,? said Vanclieaf. ?When I first opened up my business it was 95 per cent sports cards and now it?s about 30 per cent.?
The early 1990s saw a major explosion of popularity in sports cards.
?People thought they were going to get rich by buying them and tripling it down the road,? said Vanclieaf. ?It didn?t happen.?
In fact, the popularity of sports cards fizzled out almost as quickly as they blazed in.
?People got into it for the wrong reasons,? said Vanclieaf. ?It was a case of the ?in? thing to do at that the time and people thought they were going to get rich, but they didn?t.?
The sports card industry has changed with the times offering items like high-end sports cards with memorabilia attached to them.
In Sudbury, hockey cards are the mainstay and the only sports cards that still generates any kind of real interest.
?There is zero demand for sports other than hockey and it doesn?t matter who the player is,? said Vanclieaf. ?Hockey is still the ?hot? product on my shelves.?
Vanclieaf has about 30 different hockey card products. They range in price from $1.99 to $100 a pack.
The sports card industry isn?t for anyone, but anyone can have fun collecting cards. Currently, rookie cards of Jason Spezza, Rick Nash and Henrik Zetterberg are hot, according to the sports card veteran.
Vanclieaf believes sports card collecting is still a great hobby as long as you do it right.
?You should collect what you like and set a budget for yourself,? said Vanclieaf. ?Having fun is the biggest thing and you should never lose sight of that.?
