Saturday, March 1, 2025, Salvation Army Community Center, Oak Creek, WI
The Oak Creek show has become a huge behemoth with 1,525 through the door Saturday along with 192 dealer tables. As I write this blog on Sunday, I am tired!
It is a huge effort to pull this thing off each month and I am always wiped out afterwards. No rest for the weary, time to work on the April show!
Back on Saturday, we had 1,000 through the door by 10 a.m. I really recommend that folks start to arrive after 11 a.m. Parking will be tight. You just gotta deal with it. You will have to park across the street in the Target parking lot and walk to the venue. There will also be parts of the building that will be tight -- sorry, that is just the way it is. Come later in the day if you don't like crowds.
Most every dealer in the building was very pleased with the crowds and their sales. All the customers I talked to seemed very happy with the show.
We had to toss out some teenagers who were identified as thieves by one of our dealers. As far as we know, they did not steal anything in Oak Creek but were caught stealing at the Rockford show last week. Initially, we kicked two out but could not find a third teen in the group. One of my good customers, a retired police officer, spotted them sneaking back into the building through a back door. This time we found the third teen and kicked them all out with a warning that they will be arrested for trespassing if they return. These teens are no longer welcome at the Oak Creek show and I will have them arrested if I ever see them in the building again.
One dealer reported that he had a $2K card stolen at the February show. He had the card out on his table. I am amazed that some dealers will not place expensive cards in locked display cases. The reality of the situation is that thieves, like the teens we kicked out, are at every show. Dealers must take some basic precautions like locking expensive cards in a locked display case. There are many different types of display cases available these days. You can find their websites easily with a Google search. You can also buy them on eBay or Amazon. There are always a few companies set up at the Sports Spectacular selling display cases. They are easy to obtain. Dealers! Please obtain a locking display case and protect your cards!!!
While we're on the subject of dealers, I had a couple issues with dealers this month, as usual. One dealer got angry at me after he told me he would miss the April show and I responded that I can't guarantee his spot for May. I can't guarantee space to anyone anymore as this show has become a juggernaut with 163 dealers on my waiting list. I am running the MegaShow on April 19 at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin to give the waiting list dealers a chance to set up. In the meantime, any dealer that skips Oak Creek, is not guaranteed a spot at the next show.
Having said that, I will do my best to get them a spot but space only opens up when registered dealers cancel. If I have to hold them out of a show, I will put them to the top of the waiting list. I have had to hold a few dealers back recently but was able to get them back in at a different spot the next month. They can't expect to return to their old spot. Which brings me to the knucklehead dealer on Saturday who refused to move to a new spot after missing February and set up in his old location which was designated for someone else. I told that dealer that if he does that again I am kicking him out of the show. Every dealer location in the building has a name tag and each dealer must set up in the spot where their name tag is located. Nothing irritates me more when a dealer switches name tags. What makes them think that is okay?
Obviously, I was a little aggravated at the show Saturday. It sucks that I have to deal with idiots when all I want to do is sit behind my tables and buy and sell cards.
Actually, things were great over by my tables located on the stage in the Chapel today, along with dealers Tom Kummer and Omar Torrez. The stage in the Chapel is the last place I have room to add any dealers.
I brought out six display cases and kept the binders at home because I was unable to load any prior to the show. I did well with the display cases and sold a lot of cards. The best part of the day, though, was my regular buying frenzy at my tables. I bought a ton of stuff! I picked up baseball and football team cards from the early 1960s. A nice stack of cards from the 1950s that included a 1958 Topps Willie Mays All Star. I purchased a box of 1967 Topps baseball. A near set of 1980 Topps football. A stack of slabbed T206s. A 1960 Chicago White Sox program and to top it off, a 1964 phantom Chicago White Sox World Series ticket. Cool stuff! I buy such great stuff in Oak Creek every month!! Love it!!
Making this show a success is a real team effort. A huge thank you to all my dealers of which 99 percent are awesome, one percent, not so much. The huge crowds. Thank you for attending!! Mark at the Salvation Army. Love that guy! Vanessa, the Salvation Army volunteer who works the front door. Ken, who makes the amazing Sloppy Joe for the concession stand along with all the other volunteers in the concession stand. Thanks guys! My set-up crew George and Kristy. Along with my bride of 27 years -- Lisa, who braves the wild card show frontier to collect table fee. Thank you everybody!!
We're back at it on April 5. The large stream of messages started yesterday. Give me some time to rest. I will respond eventually. Now for some sleep!!!
A couple of quick notes -- thank you Jeremy for the tales of bad breadth and butt cracks. Someone left a large tray of salad on the stage in the Chapel. It is still there if you want to go pick it up.
Now for some photos from the show that Lisa and I took during the event:
The Oak Creek show has become a huge behemoth with 1,525 through the door Saturday along with 192 dealer tables. As I write this blog on Sunday, I am tired!
It is a huge effort to pull this thing off each month and I am always wiped out afterwards. No rest for the weary, time to work on the April show!
Back on Saturday, we had 1,000 through the door by 10 a.m. I really recommend that folks start to arrive after 11 a.m. Parking will be tight. You just gotta deal with it. You will have to park across the street in the Target parking lot and walk to the venue. There will also be parts of the building that will be tight -- sorry, that is just the way it is. Come later in the day if you don't like crowds.
Most every dealer in the building was very pleased with the crowds and their sales. All the customers I talked to seemed very happy with the show.
We had to toss out some teenagers who were identified as thieves by one of our dealers. As far as we know, they did not steal anything in Oak Creek but were caught stealing at the Rockford show last week. Initially, we kicked two out but could not find a third teen in the group. One of my good customers, a retired police officer, spotted them sneaking back into the building through a back door. This time we found the third teen and kicked them all out with a warning that they will be arrested for trespassing if they return. These teens are no longer welcome at the Oak Creek show and I will have them arrested if I ever see them in the building again.
One dealer reported that he had a $2K card stolen at the February show. He had the card out on his table. I am amazed that some dealers will not place expensive cards in locked display cases. The reality of the situation is that thieves, like the teens we kicked out, are at every show. Dealers must take some basic precautions like locking expensive cards in a locked display case. There are many different types of display cases available these days. You can find their websites easily with a Google search. You can also buy them on eBay or Amazon. There are always a few companies set up at the Sports Spectacular selling display cases. They are easy to obtain. Dealers! Please obtain a locking display case and protect your cards!!!
While we're on the subject of dealers, I had a couple issues with dealers this month, as usual. One dealer got angry at me after he told me he would miss the April show and I responded that I can't guarantee his spot for May. I can't guarantee space to anyone anymore as this show has become a juggernaut with 163 dealers on my waiting list. I am running the MegaShow on April 19 at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin to give the waiting list dealers a chance to set up. In the meantime, any dealer that skips Oak Creek, is not guaranteed a spot at the next show.
Having said that, I will do my best to get them a spot but space only opens up when registered dealers cancel. If I have to hold them out of a show, I will put them to the top of the waiting list. I have had to hold a few dealers back recently but was able to get them back in at a different spot the next month. They can't expect to return to their old spot. Which brings me to the knucklehead dealer on Saturday who refused to move to a new spot after missing February and set up in his old location which was designated for someone else. I told that dealer that if he does that again I am kicking him out of the show. Every dealer location in the building has a name tag and each dealer must set up in the spot where their name tag is located. Nothing irritates me more when a dealer switches name tags. What makes them think that is okay?
Obviously, I was a little aggravated at the show Saturday. It sucks that I have to deal with idiots when all I want to do is sit behind my tables and buy and sell cards.
Actually, things were great over by my tables located on the stage in the Chapel today, along with dealers Tom Kummer and Omar Torrez. The stage in the Chapel is the last place I have room to add any dealers.
I brought out six display cases and kept the binders at home because I was unable to load any prior to the show. I did well with the display cases and sold a lot of cards. The best part of the day, though, was my regular buying frenzy at my tables. I bought a ton of stuff! I picked up baseball and football team cards from the early 1960s. A nice stack of cards from the 1950s that included a 1958 Topps Willie Mays All Star. I purchased a box of 1967 Topps baseball. A near set of 1980 Topps football. A stack of slabbed T206s. A 1960 Chicago White Sox program and to top it off, a 1964 phantom Chicago White Sox World Series ticket. Cool stuff! I buy such great stuff in Oak Creek every month!! Love it!!
Making this show a success is a real team effort. A huge thank you to all my dealers of which 99 percent are awesome, one percent, not so much. The huge crowds. Thank you for attending!! Mark at the Salvation Army. Love that guy! Vanessa, the Salvation Army volunteer who works the front door. Ken, who makes the amazing Sloppy Joe for the concession stand along with all the other volunteers in the concession stand. Thanks guys! My set-up crew George and Kristy. Along with my bride of 27 years -- Lisa, who braves the wild card show frontier to collect table fee. Thank you everybody!!
We're back at it on April 5. The large stream of messages started yesterday. Give me some time to rest. I will respond eventually. Now for some sleep!!!
A couple of quick notes -- thank you Jeremy for the tales of bad breadth and butt cracks. Someone left a large tray of salad on the stage in the Chapel. It is still there if you want to go pick it up.
Now for some photos from the show that Lisa and I took during the event:
A young whippersnapper pulled this card out of one of the free packs I gave away.
I forgot who showed me this, but I remember they said they purchased it at the show for $20 and were very pleased.
Thanks again everybody! Next up for me is Machinist Hall in St. Louis on March 8 and Valparaiso on March 9.
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