Trading cards in high demand
Plus: Busy Saturday morning at the airport; Top Charlotte news of the week
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Collectors dust off old baseball cards, and newer ones of exciting rookies are popular among home-bound fans
Jim Kleinberg (right) helps a customer on a recent Saturday at AAA Collectibles in downtown Matthews. The trading card and memorabilia store was founded in 1992, but Kleinberg bought the shop earlier this year.
by David Griffith
It was a quiet, focused crowd inside AAA Collectibles in downtown Matthews on a recent Saturday, as shoppers perused glass cases for baseball cards to add to their collections or browsed boxes that might contain a coveted card they’ve been looking for.
The small card shop is experiencing what people in the collectibles industry nationwide have been seeing since the pandemic hit — a surge in interest.
With in-person events canceled, some people are rediscovering old card collections and looking to pick their collecting hobbies back up, said AAA Collectibles owner Jim Kleinberg.
Several high-publicity trading card auctions have happened in 2020, adding to the excitement — prized rookie cards of LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the NBA sold for $1.8M each, while a rookie card of MLB superstar Mike Trout sold for $3.84M.
And in April, ESPN’s release of the Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance” caused auction houses and eBay to see a surge for Michael Jordan cards and memorabilia followed by an even greater interest in sports trading cards, according to a story published earlier this month in CNBC.
“People are organizing and taking care of their collection that has been sitting in a closet for 15 years,” Kleinberg said.
The increase in free time coincided with exciting rookie classes in football, baseball and basketball. New sets of sports cards are released every year to adjust for each season, and rookies are typically highly sought after. Possessing a player’s first ever trading card, especially if they develop into a star, can hold a lot of value.
“It’s really been a perfect storm,” Kleinberg said. “Guys can’t go to Hornets games or Panthers games, so they’re taking that money and investing in sports cards.”
The pandemic hasn’t been entirely smooth for AAA Collectibles. It closed for three months in spring, and the printing companies that make sports cards had to decrease production because of the pandemic, leading to less supply. The result was increased costs to acquire stock of new cards.
Higher prices and high demand are good for businesses like Kleinberg’s, but they do present a risk to consumers — scalpers, who buy up entire shipments of cards and then sell the boxes at inflated prices.
However, scalpers tend to target the inventories of big-box retailers like Walmart and Target, and stay away from hobby shops like AAA Collectibles, Kleinberg said.
Kleinberg started collecting cards when he was 7 or 8 years old, buying 10 to 25-cent packs with his allowance money each week, and has been collecting most of his life. AAA was founded in 1992 and Kleinberg purchased the store earlier this year.
Saturdays are the store’s busiest days. The shop sees surges of customers when games end at nearby youth athletic fields and young players and their parents pop into AAA Collectibles to check out what’s new.
It’s not only sports cards that are a draw. Kleinberg said there has been a boom in interest for competitive trading card games like Pokémon, but “sports cards are still the king.”
David Griffith is The Ledger’s reporting intern.
Editor’s note: Because of the holidays, The Ledger will be on a reduced publishing schedule the next two weeks. Oh, we’ll be around — just not quite as frequently, as we spend time with our families and recharge for 2021.
Today’s supporting sponsor is Soni Brendle:
Airport packed with holiday travelers
BIG CROWD: This was the scene at around 7:30 a.m. this morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where some 74,000 to 95,000 travelers are expected to move through during each of the peak holiday travel days: today, Dec. 23., Dec. 26 and Dec. 27. Airport officials said 14,000 to 15,000 of those passengers will originate in Charlotte. By comparison, last December’s peak travel days saw between 30,000 and 33,000 local passengers and more than 100,000 connecting passengers, airport officials said.
This week in Charlotte: CMS data shows more students had failing grades in first quarter, Charlotte FC names its president, city council gets look at new transit proposal
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Politics
City Council gets look at transit plan: (Biz Journal) A $12B transit plan created by former mayor Harvey Gantt’s 25-person task force was well received by Charlotte’s city council Monday, although there are concerns over the fact that the proposal includes a one-penny countywide sales tax hike.
Former DNC co-chair dies: (The State) Don Fowler, a South Carolina native, Democratic party leader and former Democratic National Convention co-chair, died Tuesday at age 85. He is being remembered as passionate and relatable by political allies and opponents alike.
Education
More CMS students receive failing grades: (Ledger🔒) About 1 in 7 students enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools had an “F” in at least one subject in the first quarter of 2020-21 — about double the number who had a failing grade on eyear earlier. A CMS executive summary provided to the Ledger explained what is being done to address the problem.
Four perspectives on CMS reopening: (Ledger🔒) CMS’s decisions surrounding virtual learning vs. in-person teaching have been highly controversial. To get a better idea of all the nuances, The Ledger talked to four people with deep ties to the school district to hear their perspectives.
CMS not one of schools piloting Covid testing: (WFAE) Several North Carolina school districts and many Charlotte-area private schools will take part in the state’s pilot rapid Covid-19 testing for schools, but Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will not be a part of the program. CMS spokesman Brian Hacker said this was due to already having ample access to testing in Mecklenburg county.
Providence Day in New York Times: (New York Times) Providence Day School expelled a Black 9th grader after his mom complained about the inclusion in his English curriculum of a play with racial themes and called the school’s director of equity and inclusion “a disgrace to the Black community.” The mom, a lawyer, said that “instead of addressing the issue” that Providence Day was “trying to make me seem like an angry, ranting Black woman.” A school spokeswoman said the student’s mother had a history of making “toxic” statements about faculty and others at the school and that Providence Day expects members of its community, including parents, “to engage in civil discourse around topics that they might not necessarily agree on.” Providence Day’s head of school gave a more complete reply on the school’s Facebook page on Tuesday night.
Local news
College drug ring busted: (WRAL) State prosecutors handed out 21 charges in a massive drug trafficking ring bust that accounted for nearly $1.5M and thousands of pounds of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs circulating between UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Appalachian State. Most of those charged were current and former students, and drug use was most pervasive in fraternities, investigators found.
Concord police officer killed: (WCNC) Concord police Officer Jason Shuping, 25, was shot and killed while trying to apprehend a carjacker near Concord Mills mall Wednesday night. The suspect was shot and killed and a second officer was injured.
Cooper pardons Ronnie Long: (WSOC) Governor Roy Cooper announced official pardons for five people Thursday, among them Ronnie Long, who was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1976 and spent 44 years in prison.
Liquor stores reduce hours: (meckabc.com) Starting today, Mecklenburg County ABC stores will be open from 1-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday until further notice. The Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board announced Friday that it’s making the change to ensure staff can sanitize stores and restock products.
Where to get a Covid test: (Observer) Need a Covid test prior to visiting family? Here’s info on where to get tested.
Business
No holiday parties. What now? (WBTV) Local businesses have found themselves unable to host their usual annual holiday parties due to the pandemic, and have turned to Zoom and gift baskets instead.
Charlotte Agenda sold: (New York Times), (Agenda), (Ledger’s analysis) Northern Virginia-based media corporation Axios purchased local e-newsletter Charlotte Agenda for $5M on Thursday. The outlet will take on a new name: Axios Charlotte.
Sports
Charlotte FC names president: (WBTV), (Charlotte Post) Charlotte FC announced Tuesday that Nick Kelly will become the club’s first president. With about 15 months until the team takes the field, Kelly will look to build the club’s business side and also convert season ticket deposits into commitments for seats.
Hornets open preseason play: (NBC Sports) Here’s a real shocker: the Charlotte Hornets have become one of the more talked-about teams by national sports outlets thanks to the presence of rookie LaMelo Ball. The team opened 1-2 in the preseason, with Ball flashing superb passing abilities but suffering from poor shooting form.
Good reads
Joe, Liz and Twitter: (Agenda) More than 27,000 Twitter followers and even more TV viewers know WSOC reporter Joe Bruno as an everywhere-at-all-times newshound, but Agenda writer Michael Graff takes us inside the brand new marriage of Bruno and his wife, Liz.
Meet Violet, the viral horse: (Observer) If you thought kids were stubborn about getting what you want, wait until you see this horse in Hickory. Violet, a retired show horse, is known for actions like sticking out her tongue and playing dead, and her attitude has caused her to trend on Twitter.
More Ledger originals
Controversial greenway plan: More than 100 residents of a south Charlotte neighborhood begging not to be connected to a greenway trail logged into an online meeting Monday night to hear county parks officials latest plan regarding greenway access. (Ledger🔒)
Brewery cited: The Ledger has details of an investigation by the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission into Sugar Creek Brewing’s selling of 4-packs off the back of a military surplus truck named “General Growler” in a Waxhaw neighborhood in March. (Ledger🔒)
How Mecklenburg’s Covid deaths compare nationally: Mecklenburg County has one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates among the 100 largest U.S. counties, according to analysis by The Charlotte Ledger and WFAE. The counties with the highest death rates were hit hardest in the first phase of the pandemic, in places like New York, Michigan and New Jersey. Hudson County, N.J., for instance, has a death rate of more than 230 per 100,000 people — nearly six times more deaths per capita than Mecklenburg. (Ledger🔒)
Big South End land deal: A building on 1.9 acres of land in a high-visibility part of South End sold this week for $15.5M to a housing developer, according to property records filed on Tuesday. (Ledger🔒)
—Compiled by David Griffith
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