In the early 1990s, when Buffalo Bills items were in great demand during the Super Bowl years and the trading card market was reaching peak popularity, there were sports memorabilia and card shops popping up throughout the Buffalo Niagara region.
Then as a lull hit the memorabilia market and the Bills began what became a 17-year playoff drought, many of these same stores became a thing of the past.
Few were left locally, besides some of the bigger shops like Bases Loaded Collectibles, now in West Seneca, and Dave & Adam’s Card World, whose Williamsville store is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. at 40,000 square feet.
But the local market has been coming back over the past few years. Shops are once again opening as the Bills flourish and the prospects brighten for the long struggling Buffalo Sabres.
“It’s back to what happened in the early ’90s where there are about eight card and memorabilia shops within a 10-mile radius,” said Jeff Szczesek, owner of Bases Loaded, which originally opened in 1983 on French Road in Cheektowaga, before moving in 2021 to Union Road.
“The Buffalo area lives and dies by the Bills and Sabres, so the Bills becoming relevant again with (quarterback Josh Allen) and the playoff runs has done volumes for the local market on both the card and memorabilia end,” he said.
It also follows a trend in the national collectibles market, which has seen significant growth since the pandemic.
“Collectors are a special kind of people,” said Rob Wilson, owner of 716 Sports Cards & Collectibles in the Southgate Plaza in West Seneca. “They take a lot of pride in collecting and taking care of their stuff. It’s a very niche community.”
But this is not your father’s marketplace anymore. The hobby can be quite expensive and, in most cases, success is now dependent on online sales and bringing a unique touch to a brick-and-mortar shop.
While some people rediscovered their collections during Covid-related…
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