Sports Card Shops Near Me, 10 Best Ways to Find Them!

Searching for sports card shops near me? Here are the 10 best ways to find them! Great new local card shops open up every week, and even the best sports card collectors have a hard time tracking them all.

Want to find the most established and trustworthy card shop near you? Here’s how to find the best local card shops for all your collecting needs!

1 – Google Maps

We all know and love Google Maps. When it comes to finding local card shops near me, Google Maps is the best resource.

What makes Google Maps great is the ease of use for mobile. Enter “sports card shops near me” or “sports card shops” in the Google Maps search bar, and you’ll instantly have every local card shop on your phone.

Another great feature on Google Maps is the pop-out window with the card shop details.

The pop-out window includes all the store information you will need, at your fingertips.

A clickable link to the store website, street address, store hours, phone number, and popular questions and answers about the shop.

Also, popular times people shop at the store, so you can avoid any crowds.

Finally, and maybe the most useful feature on the Google pop-out window, the Google Reviews. The more reviews, the more established and popular the card shop is. You’ll be able to see the card shop star rating, from 0 to 5 stars.

Don’t be fooled by a perfect 5-star rating if the total review count is low or in the single digits. A great card shop will not only have a high rating of close to 5 stars, but also lots of reviews.

2 – Yelp

It seems Yelp might not be as popular as it was just a few years ago, but it’s still a great resource for finding local card shops for card traders and collectors.

The interactive map features are great, but it’s the in-depth reviews that make Yelp so helpful.

If you are feeling generous, add a Yelp review after your local card shop visit. If you had a good experience, share it.

You’ll be helping out the shop owner, and helping others find great local card shops that take care of their customers.

3 – Facebook

You may or may not be a Facebook user, but there’s no denying its usefulness in finding local card shops near me. Facebook has 2.9 billion monthly active users. Can you believe that? That’s almost 40% of the entire world’s population!

Anyways, the great thing about Facebook is that even the smallest card shops have a Facebook page.

It’s possible that a newly opened local card shop doesn’t show up on Google Maps, but it’s highly likely a new small business selling trading cards and collectibles started a Facebook page on day one.

4 – Beckett

Dr. James Beckett published his first price guide in 1979, and since then, the name has grown into an authority in the sports card, trading cards, and sports memorabilia market.

The Beckett name took off in the mid-1980s when they began publishing the Beckett Baseball monthly magazine. The monthly price guide was a must-have item for sports card collectors, especially in the dark ages before the internet.

Even now, collectors love purchasing vintage printed versions of the Beckett magazine. So naturally, every local sports card shop in the world needs to sell the Beckett magazine in their shop.

So Beckett has the location of nearly every card shop, and they are nice enough to display them on the Beckett website.

You can sort the map by full-service ‘Card Shops’ or just the ‘Newsstand,’ locations where the Beckett magazine is sold.

5 – Yellow Pages

Some of you might remember the actual Yellow Pages, a giant book with tiny font listing every home and business in the country. Well, I’m here to tell you the Yellow Pages still exists!

And it’s actually quite useful. Simply type “sports card shops near me” in the search bar, and you will instantly find dozens of registered businesses selling sports memorabilia, collectibles, and trading cards.

The thing I like best about the Yellow Pages business search is the ‘Sort’ option. It allows you to display card stores in alphabetical order, distance from your home, or by rating from the Better Business Bureau.

And now you’ll be able to tell your grandparents you just used the Yellow Pages, and they won’t believe their ears! Pretty cool!

6 – Topps

As the king of the sports card world since their legendary 1952 set of cards rolled off the printing press, Topps has been busy gathering data from every local sports card shop in the country.

Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s their job to know the location of their customers, and where Topps cards will be displayed for sale. So Topps is generous enough to offer the location of every local card shop in their database.

As Topps has been the most popular brand of baseball, hockey, football, and basketball cards for decades, it makes perfect sense to use them as a resource for local card shops nearby.

The PDF version of the list is attached here, but there’s no telling how out-of-date it is. And you will need a magnifying glass.

But now you have hundreds of local card shop addresses and phone numbers! Old school! Topps keeping it real with an actual list of local sports card shops. You can thank me later.

7 – Better Business Bureau

In all seriousness, when you are making serious buying (or selling) decisions with your sports card collection, you want to deal with a reputable card shop.

Yelp reviews and Google ratings don’t always tell the whole story. Information on a card shop’s Facebook page isn’t always 100% true.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) attempts to credit trustworthy businesses, and document complaints so consumers are in the know.

The BBB website has a great search function. Enter ‘sports card shops near me’ in the search bar, along with your location. You’re able to sort the results by all shops or ‘BBB Accredited only’ shops.

Once you have your results, you can also sort the list of local card shops by BBB Rating.

More Ways to Find Sports Card Shops Near Me

8 – Reddit

As one of the most popular websites on the internet, the Reddit sports card-collecting community should not be ignored. If you have a question about finding trading card shops, chances are it’s been answered on Reddit.

9 – Quora

Just like Reddit, the Quora forums cover nearly every question that’s ever been asked. Best card shop in San Francisco? Quora can tell you. Best Collectibles shop in Burlingame? Quora knows it.

10 – Bing

Don’t forget about Bing! The sleepy little search engine still has great info about ‘card shops near me.’ And Bing has doubled its search engine market share over the last three years from 1.2% to 2.5%.

You have got to respect Bing, check out their sweet map search. They are not giving up!

Buy and Sell Baseball Cards Near Me?

Depending on your location, you might have several local sports card shops within a few minutes of your home.

Buying and selling sports cards online has never been easier, and is great for so many reasons, especially if you don’t live near a big city. And new local card shops are popping up every day, all around the country.

Online auctions and eBay are dominating sports card sales, but what about having a little fun?

There are even more places to enjoy card collecting. What if you want to buy and sell sports cards without visiting a local card shop? Here are 5 more options!

1 & 2 – Garage Sales and Yard Sales

Once upon a time, garage sales and yard sales were the best way to find baseball card treasures. Way back before the internet, used baseball cards traded hands in driveways across the country.

The garage sale was the original side hustle meeting ground.

Guess what? Garage sales and yard sales still exist today. And guess what else? Sports cards of every era are still trading hands every weekend at these sales.

When it comes to selling and buying sports cards, this might be the most exciting method of all.

Hold your own yard sale, or team up with a neighbor and throw a garage sale for your baseball cards. Post your sale on Craigslist, and describe a few items featured at your sale.

You might be pleasantly surprised by how many people are still active in garage and yard sale bargain hunting.

local sports card shop near me — *If you see any cards similar to these at your local garage sale… buy’em!*

3 – Pawn Shops

While garage sales and yard sales might be the most work to coordinate, the local pawn shop makes it easy. Walk right into any neighborhood pawn shop and it’s likely you’ll find a sale price for your baseball cards in no time.

The only problem is most pawn shops are famous for their “low-ball” offers. At least in my experience. After all, they do have building rent to pay for. But if you’re looking for a fast sale, this might be your best bet.

Pawn shops usually don’t give great appraisals. They usually don’t buy autographs or have the latest new releases.

The workers won’t have the deep insider knowledge that baseball card shop workers might have. Typically, pawn shops are good at one thing, producing a quick sale, and that’s about it.

4 – Craigslist

Technically, Craigslist is an online service, but I would call it more of a bartering escapade than anything else.

Buying and selling baseball cards on Craigslist can be the beginning of a week-long adventure. Complete with text messages, emails, and phone calls at all hours of the day and night.

Once you finally agree on the sale, you have to arrange a meeting place for payment. Some people don’t like selling on Craigslist, and I don’t blame them. But it can be another option when holding your own garage sale won’t work out.

5 – Card Shows

Although not as prevalent as they once were, card shows can be a great place to buy, sell, and trade sports cards.

Not only could you sell your cards for cash, but you’ll also be hanging out with many other enthusiastic collectors and knowledgeable card dealers.

If you have a large number of cards to sell, consider reserving your own table at the next local card show. And have fun spending the day with fellow card collectors.

Best Pokemon Card Shops Near Me

Searching for the best Pokemon card shops near me? You are in luck. All of the same methods apply to finding Pokemon card shops as the tips listed above.

It’s not just basketball cards, football cards, hockey and baseball sport cards with all the attention these days. Pokemon cards are bigger than ever.

Pokemon Mania

Nearly every single “sports” card shop buys, sells, and trades Pokemon cards. Although it’s not a sport, Pokemon is so big and popular, it cannot be ignored by sports card shops.

You will find the same thing with comic books. Sports card shops don’t only stock cards, but fans of comics will be delighted as well.

All Types of Collectibles

They also go beyond the “big-four” sports and cover golf, soccer cards, UFC, WWE, and MMA cards. Many card and hobby shops also feature comics, rare books, Star Wars collectibles, games, and autographed jerseys and memorabilia.

From Olympics cards, to NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB, sports card shops usually have almost any type of trading card you can imagine.

What else do local sports card shops sell? Almost everything. Team apparel, collector hats, gear, souvenirs, and every type of collectible merchandise you might want. This is why you must visit your local sports card shop immediately!

Hopefully, this is a helpful list of the best ways to find great card shops near you. If I’m missing any ideas, please leave them in the comments below.

card stores near me — 1993 Classic Best Gold #216
1996 The Score Board #185

Why Go To Local Sports Card Shops?

You’re might be asking yourself, “Why would I want to actually drive to a local sports card shop? I have the internet!”

Well, you are correct, you do have the internet. But what you don’t have is the hunt. Without driving to a place, and searching out sports cards with your own two hands, you’re loosing the thrill of the chase, the rush, the fun of sports card hunting!

Check out the cards below, for example. This is what you might find at a local sports card shop. And I bet at least one of these cards triggers a few memories for you. That’s what I’m talking about here!

Collecting sports cards is not only about the 1952 Mickey Mantle. Sure, that’s an epic card. But there are thousands of great cards out there. Most of them you have forgotten about. And many of them you don’t even know exist – until you find them at a local sports card shop.

It’s All About the Experience!

It’s the experience! The fun! Bring your kids, show them how the world once worked before the internet. Actual brick and mortar shops. Like the ancient Romans used to do at the Market of Trajan! Real physical goods to browse and possibly purchase on the spot.

If you still don’t believe me that a trip to your local sports card shop will not be the best thing you do all weekend, I’m not sure there’s much hope for you. I did my best to convivence you. I can’t save everybody, I guess.

One Small Favor

I ask one favor – go to your local sports card shop this weekend, you can thank me later. Hell, you can let me know how much fun you had in the comments below, or send me an email. Be sure to shout out your favorite local card shop. I’ll do my best to promote them. They are out there in strip malls across the country doing important work!