Sunday, April 12, 2022, Lake Station VFW, Lake Station, IN
As I previously stated, this is a weird show because two guys, Bob and Darren, run two different shows at the same venue. Now I have done Bob's shows but this was my first Darren show. While the room was filled with dealers, I found it interesting that there was only one other dealer that I recognized from Bob's show. As far as the crowd, seemed pretty much the same as Bob's show.
Like Bob's show, I was plagued by Lowball Lonnie most of the day. This guy is such a drag. As usual, he pulled out a bunch of cards from my binders and asked for them at less than half of my sticker price. Um, no thank you. I would rather keep them. Then he placed some back and still fought me on the price.
He was much more talkative on Sunday than at past shows. While he was trying to get a huge discount, he told me he lost his job but then his story changed three or four times. I doubt he lost his job. He was playing the sympathy card in an effort to get me to give my cards away. He told me he has no one. He lives alone. He doesn't have a wife or kids. Sad, sad, sad. Well, this guy is just a sad hustler. I need customers like Lowball Lonnie like I need a hole in my head. I wish he would just go away.
I had a total of four sales and made just a hundred bucks on Sunday. I was the one having a sad day, not Lowball Lonnie! One of the other sales was from another regular I have dubbed Mopey Mitchell. The other two sales were from good customers. One of the other guys is working on vintage football sets and I know him from the Orland show. He also came out to my pop-up shops in Palatine last year.
The last customer was a younger guy who drove up from Indianapolis and purchased a nice stack of 1968 Topps baseball. One of the reasons I like setting up in Lake Station, Indiana, is that I usually get some customers who drive up from southern Indiana or from Michigan. I don't get these customers at any other show. So I am probably not done with Lake Station and will set up again at either Bob or Darren's shows when one fits my schedule. Both Bob and Darren are really great guys. I also like meeting these people from Indy and from Michigan. If I could just get more of them to attend the show!
Not just the southern Indiana and Michigan collectors, I really need to figure out a way to get any vintage collectors to attend the Lake Station shows. There were at least four vintage dealers at the show on Sunday. We had an excellent selection of vintage cards! Jim and Terry were set up across the way from me. There was also one other vintage dealer, who I have never seen before but he had a really nice inventory. Jim has become the Mantle Man with a number of beautiful Mantles in his display case. Terry had deals galore on his tables. Such a waste that there was such a great selection of vintage in the room but few customers for our wares.
Actually, when I saw Jim and Terry when I arrived in the morning, I thought that maybe Darren's show drew more vintage customers than Bob's show -- Not! I did purchase a pile of cards from Jim and Terry, making the trip worthwhile. Thanks for working with me guys!
I am not sure when I'll next be in Lake Station. I have conflicts for both May shows and the guys have not listed any shows for June yet. I only have one open date in June which is on the 5th. If either Lake Station promoter schedules a show on June 5th, I'll probably be there. I just need to figure out how to lure in more vintage buyers!
Food report: I enjoyed a $3 hot dog with chips from the bar. The bartender called me "honey." I love that!
Not much else to report. Card shows are very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Some shows are filled with vintage buyers while others hardly have any. There is a new show in Wisconsin, around Milwaukee, that fits some dates in my schedule but I am worried that there won't be any vintage buyers at the show. I have to think about that one.
Next up for me is the Woodstock show on Saturday, April 16th at the St. John's Church, 401 St. John's Road. The Woodstock show is the smallest one I do but I have had some really nice shows and some not, so very nice Mr. Hyde shows. My last one there was excellent. Quite a few of my blog readers and Facebook followers came out for me. I really appreciated the support and hope to see you guys again on Saturday!
What do you want me to bring out to Woodstock? Right now I am planning to bring out all of my baseball binders. I also have several autograph binders that I pulled out of circulation a few years ago because sales were very slow. I am thinking about reintroducing one of my autograph binders. The auto binders are freakin' cool. I've got some really neat stuff in there, including dozens of signed old Sport Magazine pages.
On the other hand, I might pull an audible and bring out the cheapy boxes, instead of the binders. I'm not exactly sure yet. The Woodstock show gets a lot of the same customers I saw last week in Rockford, who just went through all of my binders. I might want to change it up for Woodstock.
There are a lot of things I like about the Woodstock show. Curtis, the promoter, is awesome. Such a nice guy. He usually provides doughnuts or muffins for the dealers. The other dealers that regularly set up at this show have real nice inventories, mostly modern cards. Nice folks, all of them. There is just a pleasant vibe in the room.
Speaking of vibes, more along the frenetic variety, don't forget that my next Oak Creek show is coming up on May 7 and will feature autograph guests Dorsey Levens, Craig Newsome and Shannon Clevelle. This will also be my largest show to date with 77 dealers and 122 tables! It is going to be a mad house! I invite everyone to attend except Lowball Lonnie! Does Lake Station have a Lonely Hearts Club where we can send Lonnie?
Anyway, see you Saturday in Woodstock!
As I previously stated, this is a weird show because two guys, Bob and Darren, run two different shows at the same venue. Now I have done Bob's shows but this was my first Darren show. While the room was filled with dealers, I found it interesting that there was only one other dealer that I recognized from Bob's show. As far as the crowd, seemed pretty much the same as Bob's show.
Like Bob's show, I was plagued by Lowball Lonnie most of the day. This guy is such a drag. As usual, he pulled out a bunch of cards from my binders and asked for them at less than half of my sticker price. Um, no thank you. I would rather keep them. Then he placed some back and still fought me on the price.
He was much more talkative on Sunday than at past shows. While he was trying to get a huge discount, he told me he lost his job but then his story changed three or four times. I doubt he lost his job. He was playing the sympathy card in an effort to get me to give my cards away. He told me he has no one. He lives alone. He doesn't have a wife or kids. Sad, sad, sad. Well, this guy is just a sad hustler. I need customers like Lowball Lonnie like I need a hole in my head. I wish he would just go away.
I had a total of four sales and made just a hundred bucks on Sunday. I was the one having a sad day, not Lowball Lonnie! One of the other sales was from another regular I have dubbed Mopey Mitchell. The other two sales were from good customers. One of the other guys is working on vintage football sets and I know him from the Orland show. He also came out to my pop-up shops in Palatine last year.
The last customer was a younger guy who drove up from Indianapolis and purchased a nice stack of 1968 Topps baseball. One of the reasons I like setting up in Lake Station, Indiana, is that I usually get some customers who drive up from southern Indiana or from Michigan. I don't get these customers at any other show. So I am probably not done with Lake Station and will set up again at either Bob or Darren's shows when one fits my schedule. Both Bob and Darren are really great guys. I also like meeting these people from Indy and from Michigan. If I could just get more of them to attend the show!
Not just the southern Indiana and Michigan collectors, I really need to figure out a way to get any vintage collectors to attend the Lake Station shows. There were at least four vintage dealers at the show on Sunday. We had an excellent selection of vintage cards! Jim and Terry were set up across the way from me. There was also one other vintage dealer, who I have never seen before but he had a really nice inventory. Jim has become the Mantle Man with a number of beautiful Mantles in his display case. Terry had deals galore on his tables. Such a waste that there was such a great selection of vintage in the room but few customers for our wares.
Actually, when I saw Jim and Terry when I arrived in the morning, I thought that maybe Darren's show drew more vintage customers than Bob's show -- Not! I did purchase a pile of cards from Jim and Terry, making the trip worthwhile. Thanks for working with me guys!
I am not sure when I'll next be in Lake Station. I have conflicts for both May shows and the guys have not listed any shows for June yet. I only have one open date in June which is on the 5th. If either Lake Station promoter schedules a show on June 5th, I'll probably be there. I just need to figure out how to lure in more vintage buyers!
Food report: I enjoyed a $3 hot dog with chips from the bar. The bartender called me "honey." I love that!
Not much else to report. Card shows are very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Some shows are filled with vintage buyers while others hardly have any. There is a new show in Wisconsin, around Milwaukee, that fits some dates in my schedule but I am worried that there won't be any vintage buyers at the show. I have to think about that one.
Next up for me is the Woodstock show on Saturday, April 16th at the St. John's Church, 401 St. John's Road. The Woodstock show is the smallest one I do but I have had some really nice shows and some not, so very nice Mr. Hyde shows. My last one there was excellent. Quite a few of my blog readers and Facebook followers came out for me. I really appreciated the support and hope to see you guys again on Saturday!
What do you want me to bring out to Woodstock? Right now I am planning to bring out all of my baseball binders. I also have several autograph binders that I pulled out of circulation a few years ago because sales were very slow. I am thinking about reintroducing one of my autograph binders. The auto binders are freakin' cool. I've got some really neat stuff in there, including dozens of signed old Sport Magazine pages.
On the other hand, I might pull an audible and bring out the cheapy boxes, instead of the binders. I'm not exactly sure yet. The Woodstock show gets a lot of the same customers I saw last week in Rockford, who just went through all of my binders. I might want to change it up for Woodstock.
There are a lot of things I like about the Woodstock show. Curtis, the promoter, is awesome. Such a nice guy. He usually provides doughnuts or muffins for the dealers. The other dealers that regularly set up at this show have real nice inventories, mostly modern cards. Nice folks, all of them. There is just a pleasant vibe in the room.
Speaking of vibes, more along the frenetic variety, don't forget that my next Oak Creek show is coming up on May 7 and will feature autograph guests Dorsey Levens, Craig Newsome and Shannon Clevelle. This will also be my largest show to date with 77 dealers and 122 tables! It is going to be a mad house! I invite everyone to attend except Lowball Lonnie! Does Lake Station have a Lonely Hearts Club where we can send Lonnie?
Anyway, see you Saturday in Woodstock!
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