Wayne is a dink.
He threw my credit card back at me once and he never smiles.
The store is great, the customer service is terrible.
Wayne and his wife are lacking in their customer service skills. It is a beautiful store but, I stopped going there a few years ago because of how they interacted with me. They aren't overtly rude but, aren't that pleasant and helpful either. Just not a fun shopping experience - maybe because I wasn't spending enough money?
On the other hand, West's Sportscards (118 Ave, very close to Rexall Place) is quite the opposite. The store is chaos and the owner (not sure what his name is) is very friendly and helpful. The chaos of the store adds to the character of the place and they always have what I am looking for - no matter how small and insignificant. I went in yesterday and spent only ten bucks but was treated like gold.
I bought a box of Marvel Series 3 cards.
So I don't know how much money you have to spend to make Wayne happy.
But ya, when I paid with credit, he just kinda threw it like a frisbee to me.
I was pretty put off by it.
That's the thing - how many of us has the guy offended to the point we don't come back? Sure, alone I dont make his car payment but there might be 100 or 200 of us that don't come back. That probably does make his car payment.
They made it seem like my request for Upper Deck singles was a major pain in their ass.
The other one I made in an Adidas 3-striped theme with a back plus made a Tyson Barrie card using the vintage baseball card tutorial but I couldn't find a good resolution picture of Barrie in Colorado and it was the first one I did so I messed up on colouring/transforming the player himself. I do have the photoshop template for the hockey version though if anyone's interested but you can use the baseball one as well, only need to make a few changes outside of transforming the player which takes a while.
Will re-do the Barrie one with a proper transformation once I find a good picture of him with Colorado.
That's the thing - how many of us has the guy offended to the point we don't come back? Sure, alone I dont make his car payment but there might be 100 or 200 of us that don't come back. That probably does make his car payment.
They made it seem like my request for Upper Deck singles was a major pain in their ass.
I always get good service from Card Sharks and Coin/Stamp at the mall near the casino.
Thems good people.
If you ever come out west to Edmonton I would suggest checking out Wayne's Sports Cards & Collectables (17020 90 Ave NW Edmonton, AB T5T 1L6). They have a great selection and the owners are excellent, really focus on customer service.
Some recent hits from the store
I go to Edmonton at least twice a year and pretty much always stay at the mall. Unfortunately I just realized Wayne's existed when I was there like two weeks ago. I bought 8 singles (he has a great selection and low prices) and the guy was really nice. Although I think he mentioned something about Wayne not being in that day, so I don't think it was him. The guy also gave me two boxes of 2011-12 O-Pee-Chee full of random cards from the last 20 years, and there was actually a few good ones. Some higher end late 90's rookies, some McDonald's, and even a few cards from this years Rookie Anthology and Crown Royale (all were base but one rc). Anyway, the store is far superior to the Coin and Stamp in the mall and even farther superior than anything in Saskatoon. Great store.
That sucks. Do you know anyone who bust boxes/cases where you can get first dibs? Have you ever gone out to Toronto when they have the Big shows? I've never been but heard it's great. Nothing compared to the Vancouver Big shows.
Don't personally know anyone who busts boxes or cases and I've never been to a big show anywhere.
Wayne and his wife are lacking in their customer service skills. It is a beautiful store but, I stopped going there a few years ago because of how they interacted with me. They aren't overtly rude but, aren't that pleasant and helpful either. Just not a fun shopping experience - maybe because I wasn't spending enough money?
On the other hand, West's Sportscards (118 Ave, very close to Rexall Place) is quite the opposite. The store is chaos and the owner (not sure what his name is) is very friendly and helpful. The chaos of the store adds to the character of the place and they always have what I am looking for - no matter how small and insignificant. I went in yesterday and spent only ten bucks but was treated like gold.
+1
Whenever Vancouver has the big show, they come to Vancouver to set up. I usually end up spending most of my money on them/their customers. Moe usually brings all his Nash cards he or his customers has and I just pick up the ones I need. Prices on packs/boxes are reasonable as well.
Kind of off-topic, but has anyone here worked at a card shop? Seems like a dream job for card junkies like myself.
Imo, I think it would suck. All these boxes/packs in front of you, you would be tempted to open them all. If you do, you'll have fun but then you won't be making any money. If you can resist opening stuff and just love to see other people open stuff and see what they get, then I think it would be neat.
^ That's so true. Well I think I'd be able to show enough restraint tbh.
I could go on one pack a day which is reasonable. Whenever I go to Dollarama, I like to get a few packs of the Presstine Marketing cards (15 random/cheap cards from mainly the 90s/early 2000s and some post-lockout). Nice to go through a set with that variety of cards and I'm fairly happy, they don't have to have hits or anything.
I think working at a card shop has everything to do with your passion plus your ability to take a loss. First of all, I'm guessing no hockey card shop can operate on a really good profit nowadays without selling other memoribilia plus magic cards or whatever. Plus to start the shop in the first place, you must have a good collection of autographed cards and merch which mots people don't. Most employees from what I know are family members/close friends.
When it comes to the passion part...some people run those shops and do nothing while others are active, have box breaks and youtube channels, hold contests and events and try to get people involved which would make it fun otherwise you'd just be standing at the counter all day.
Anyways I have another question about custom made cards.
There are lots of ways with programs to create vintage looks in cards however what about making them look dated/vintage after printing? First of all, I'm guessing that vintage cards should be printed on card stock rather than photo paper to give an older look (and it's more easier to make card stock look dated compared to a glossy photo). I'm guessing another thing to do is to maybe to print the back of the card on brown type of card stock.
But how do you make the card look worn/aged after actually printing it? Do you burn it a bit on a stove (probably dangerous)? That wet teabag method for making paper look ancient would probably be a bit excessive and not work. And there's obviously a fine line between making it look dated and making it look damaged.
The boxes cost so much, I just go on eBay and look for Rangers and cheap Young Guns. I got some pretty good Young Guns for cheap through buying lots and just searching. No Nugent-Hopkins or Halls or anything like that but I got some pretty good players.
I have a few The Cup rookie patches of Rangers that I don't think I did too bad on. I don't have a beckett or anything but looking at the Buy Now prices I did pretty good bidding.
The boxes cost so much, I just go on eBay and look for Rangers and cheap Young Guns. I got some pretty good Young Guns for cheap through buying lots and just searching. No Nugent-Hopkins or Halls or anything like that but I got some pretty good players.
I have a few The Cup rookie patches of Rangers that I don't think I did too bad on. I don't have a beckett or anything but looking at the Buy Now prices I did pretty good bidding.
If you're gonna do individuals for low-mid end cards including non-prestigious young guns then I'd recommend checkoutmycards.com. There is shipping per card but it's quite cheap and the amoun tof listings and prices I find are often better, less bidding happening. I'd also recommend CanadianHockeyCards if you're in Canada (I dunno their US shipping). Quite a decent selection of rookie hockey cards but I don't like their rookie card prices (the prices on some of their singles are excellent though, lots of 15 cent-$1 cards. They do have some good rookie cards like MVP or Collector's Choice Rookies for $2-4 but Young Guns are always overpriced since that's the one everyone wants.
Btw, anyone know of a material which is really thin but a bit more solid than cardboard. I tried printing the Lidstrom card I made above (the one with the back) on photo paper but gluing the photo paper to a cut-out piece of cereal box cardboard or something is still too flimsy.
EDIT: Made a new vintage using the OPC 1971 for inspiration but added the canvas colour. Gonna re-do this with a vintage effect applied to Giroux himself. Can't wait to do the back of this.
Laces? This is starting to get ridiculous (although I'll admit the back of this one is fairly nice, better than the ones that just say "congrats, you've received a jersey/autograph..."
I'll take the picture when I get home but I have a 91/92 Lidstrom world championship card in his yellow tre kronor jersey and baby face.
Also, I got tons of cards from the 80's where I have about 10 Thomas Gradin cards and a rookie messier card. As well as the Pavel Bure on the beach with his giant legs in roller blades.
