Saturday, March 18, 2023. Chicago Sports Spectacular, Rosemont, IL
After a lousy Friday, I did not expect much on Saturday. The crowd was better and more people spent time viewing my display cases but sales were not much better. Disappointing.
The saving grace for me was the many folks who stopped by to chat. I seem to know more people at this show than any other show. It was great to see Iowa dealers Tim and Susan Payne; and big Mark from Dubuque. I saw Minnesota dealers John and Johnny. Al from Milwaukee stopped by and we had our running joke about doughnuts.
I saw Jim and his lovely wife, who are always on the hunt for Wisconsin supper clubs. My old pal Chuck stopped by and purchased a few cards. I remember when Chuck would come out with his son when he was just a lad. Chuck informed me that he is all grown up and engaged to be married. Congrats! My time flies!!
Troy from Mears Auctions stopped by. I told Troy that the coolest thing I ever saw at any show was his booth at one of the Chicago Nationals where he had a full Lou Gehrig game used uniform on display, from the hat, jersey, pants, stirrups and cleats. It was cool!
Troy told me that back in the day, he would walk the big Chicago shows with a cart and buy as many jerseys as he could because they were real inexpensive back then before the interest in them exploded.
Jim C. stopped by for a chat. I saw another Indiana guy, Bob Lucas. Old Gary Rapata stopped by as well.
I really should have brought a mobile bar and served cocktails to make it a real party.
I saw the weird guys from the summer show who wore costumes. Those guys are weird and give me the heeby geebies.
I had time to chat with my main man Kevin Wolff. I learned that Kevin is a renaissance man. He is a mild-mannered landscaper by day while at night, he is an artist, creating Bob Ross style paintings. He also paints murals in restaurants and teaches painting. Kevin also played some hockey. He gave me a hockey card of himself. He also signed that cool photo of his world record catch of a fish. Thanks Kevin! What a cool dude!
My best sale came at the end of the day. Earlier a guy came around and photographed a bunch of my cards. He came back later and sat down at Dave's table. Dave apparently met these guys recently at Eddie's show in Darien. He said they spent four hours at his table in Darien. This time, they sat for an hour and purchased a couple of cards with Dave. Then, as the show was closing, they went through my cards. Ended up being my best sale of the day. Thanks Darien dudes!
I also purchased a bunch of cards from Junior, as usual. Though I missed out on some good buys when Junior brought over a stack of Koufax cards. With low sales, I did not have the funds on me. Then he brought over a nice stack of Ernie Banks cards while I was in the bathroom. Dave snapped those up and got a good deal. Junior is the man!
Even though sales stunk, I have to admit that I did have a good time.
Next up is the Orland Park show on Sunday, March 26, 2023. I am feverishly pricing a new binder of 1970-71 Topps basketball. I hope to have it finished by Sunday. Looks like I'm going to be snowed in on Saturday, so I should have the time to get it done.
Next Oak Creek show is coming up fast on April 1! Once again I have sold out 180 tables and have 130 dealers. The wait list continues to grow. Dealers, if you could pay me in advance for your spot prior to April 1, I would greatly appreciate it. I just don't have the energy or the time to walk the building and collect table fee from 130 different dealers. Please send table fee via PayPal, friends and family, to abrandongordon@hotmail.com.
See you all in Orland!
I think I took this photo below on Friday at the Spectacular. This is the view from Dave's cases. You would have thought we had scurvy or something with the lack of people by our booth.
After a lousy Friday, I did not expect much on Saturday. The crowd was better and more people spent time viewing my display cases but sales were not much better. Disappointing.
The saving grace for me was the many folks who stopped by to chat. I seem to know more people at this show than any other show. It was great to see Iowa dealers Tim and Susan Payne; and big Mark from Dubuque. I saw Minnesota dealers John and Johnny. Al from Milwaukee stopped by and we had our running joke about doughnuts.
I saw Jim and his lovely wife, who are always on the hunt for Wisconsin supper clubs. My old pal Chuck stopped by and purchased a few cards. I remember when Chuck would come out with his son when he was just a lad. Chuck informed me that he is all grown up and engaged to be married. Congrats! My time flies!!
Troy from Mears Auctions stopped by. I told Troy that the coolest thing I ever saw at any show was his booth at one of the Chicago Nationals where he had a full Lou Gehrig game used uniform on display, from the hat, jersey, pants, stirrups and cleats. It was cool!
Troy told me that back in the day, he would walk the big Chicago shows with a cart and buy as many jerseys as he could because they were real inexpensive back then before the interest in them exploded.
Jim C. stopped by for a chat. I saw another Indiana guy, Bob Lucas. Old Gary Rapata stopped by as well.
I really should have brought a mobile bar and served cocktails to make it a real party.
I saw the weird guys from the summer show who wore costumes. Those guys are weird and give me the heeby geebies.
I had time to chat with my main man Kevin Wolff. I learned that Kevin is a renaissance man. He is a mild-mannered landscaper by day while at night, he is an artist, creating Bob Ross style paintings. He also paints murals in restaurants and teaches painting. Kevin also played some hockey. He gave me a hockey card of himself. He also signed that cool photo of his world record catch of a fish. Thanks Kevin! What a cool dude!
My best sale came at the end of the day. Earlier a guy came around and photographed a bunch of my cards. He came back later and sat down at Dave's table. Dave apparently met these guys recently at Eddie's show in Darien. He said they spent four hours at his table in Darien. This time, they sat for an hour and purchased a couple of cards with Dave. Then, as the show was closing, they went through my cards. Ended up being my best sale of the day. Thanks Darien dudes!
I also purchased a bunch of cards from Junior, as usual. Though I missed out on some good buys when Junior brought over a stack of Koufax cards. With low sales, I did not have the funds on me. Then he brought over a nice stack of Ernie Banks cards while I was in the bathroom. Dave snapped those up and got a good deal. Junior is the man!
Even though sales stunk, I have to admit that I did have a good time.
Next up is the Orland Park show on Sunday, March 26, 2023. I am feverishly pricing a new binder of 1970-71 Topps basketball. I hope to have it finished by Sunday. Looks like I'm going to be snowed in on Saturday, so I should have the time to get it done.
Next Oak Creek show is coming up fast on April 1! Once again I have sold out 180 tables and have 130 dealers. The wait list continues to grow. Dealers, if you could pay me in advance for your spot prior to April 1, I would greatly appreciate it. I just don't have the energy or the time to walk the building and collect table fee from 130 different dealers. Please send table fee via PayPal, friends and family, to abrandongordon@hotmail.com.
See you all in Orland!
I think I took this photo below on Friday at the Spectacular. This is the view from Dave's cases. You would have thought we had scurvy or something with the lack of people by our booth.
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