Photo courtesy of Beth Gore.
All Star Sports Cards Emporium sells baseball, basketball, football and hockey cards, as well as collecting supplies such as binders.
Mike Gore has loved collecting baseball cards for 30 years. His wife, Beth Gore, said she didn’t really understand the appeal of his hobby until they opened All Star Sports Cards Emporium in March.
“She didn’t understand why people are buying cardboard,” Mike Gore said
The Clay couple opened their shop at 1477 Gadsden Highway, Suite 136. It’s a retirement project for Mike Gore, who had a career in sales, and he wants to see interest in the hobby of card collecting grow again.
“He’s always wanted to have a shop like this and be his own boss,” Beth Gore said.
All Star sells baseball, football, hockey and basketball cards, as well as collecting supplies such as binders.
“You can collect anything you want to collect for the price point, and that’s the good thing,” Mike Gore said. “There’s so many different things you can do with this.”
In addition to collecting by sport, Mike Gore said, card enthusiasts can collect their favorite teams, favorite players or even cards of a particular age. He said some customers come in to buy a pack of cards and open it before they leave the store, because they’re so impatient to see what potential great cards they got.
“It’s the unknown,” Mike Gore said.
Customers will also come in to trade or sell cards, or even just to talk about the cards in their collection and their significance. Mike Gore said most of his customers are adults, many of them dads who used to collect with their own fathers. He’s hoping to build more interest from kids and has stocked Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! gaming cards, but he doesn’t plan to add cards from other tabletop or trading games.
Beth Gore said she has enjoyed learning about pricing and value of cards, as well as talking with customers who come in about their collections. It adds a whole new dimension to the hobby her husband has pursued for decades. And she has found out one critical aspect of card collecting: “I’ve learned that everything’s for sale.”
No matter how valuable or special the card, Mike Gore said, collecting enthusiasts are always willing to sell or trade for the right opportunity.
There isn’t another shop specifically for card collecting in the area, and Mike Gore said a lot of people have been excited about having a place to pursue their hobby.
“They’re happy to see us here,” Beth Gore said.
