As interest in trading cards explodes and values rise, hobby shop owners across the country are recognizing the need to improve the retail experience they offer. More of a cool hangout spot vs. the musty old mom & pop shop. That’s the bet a European card retailer made and the concept has proven so successful that he’s imported it to the U.S.

Trace ‘n Chase — as in tracing a player’s career and chasing their cards — in Totowa, N.J., is more akin to Cooperstown than the local strip mall. Floor space is so ample that there’s a basketball half court to practice shooting three pointers while debating what to buy or waiting for a consultation on the value of what you already own. Behind the court are autographed balls and jerseys along the wall behind lighted glass. Cards are in polished cases as well appointed as those displaying fine jewelry. There’s also a lounge/meeting area on the floor. Upstairs, a VIP lounge features espresso  and arcade games. Of course, there are also on-site streaming studios where breaks take place around the clock.

This is a far cry from old-school baseball card shops, which can look like something out of “Hoarders.” There’s typically more cardboard in storage boxes than in trading cards. Tripping hazards litter floor space tighter than a Manhattan studio apartment. And reams of inventory wait to be priced and displayed in overcrowded cases with no discernible rhyme or reason. The card companies want these types of shops relegated to history’s dust bin with modern ones like Trace ‘n Chase taking their place.

The lounge area at Trace ‘n Chase’s New Jersey shop.

“When you have products that retail for $500 or more, you want the experience to be like going to Bloomingdales. It’s a special occasion. You don’t want to see coffee stains on the floor, cigarette burns on the carpet,” said Jerry Efremides, investor relations manager for Trace ‘n Chase. Efremides said the Totowa location was selected among many candidates due to its accessibility on a major highway with its exit just 19 miles from midtown Manhattan. 

Founder Ioannis Sompolos started out in Greece in 2021 to entice new collectors into the hobby. He wanted to make a card-buying destination that was more aspirational than transactional. Within two years, fueled by the popularity of the NBA and related memorabilia not just in Greece but throughout Europe, his became the continent’s biggest hobby shop. Its growth was fueled largely by online sales — they’ve sold more than 42,000 items on eBay — but Trace ‘n Chase is focused on old-school brick and mortar. 

“It’s still early days, but we expect roughly an 80/20 sales split online vs. in-store,” Efremides said. “The two feed each other: our omni-channel setup lets customers break with us online or visit the shop for collection evaluations and real-time service, and many discover us online and then come in-store — or the other way around.” 

While there are offerings at all price points, most of the products are well into the hundreds of dollars, evenly split between cards and autographed balls and jerseys. The cards are all graded, including the select vintage offerings that included a Wilt Chamberlain 1961 Fleer rookie in a PSA 7 that sold for $12,100 and an autographed Chamberlain 1999 Upper Deck card in a Beckett 9 holder listed for $14,000. 

Sompolos advised fellow European entrepreneurs on building card shops there that can be a destination. His aim was to grow the hobby’s retail footprint in a manner befitting the value of its products. 

“We’re a global brand,” Efremides said, adding that the plan is to expand not just in the U.S. but everywhere.

“We don’t build for Fanatics. We don’t build for Panini. We build as collectors for collectors,” Sompolos added. 

“We are not taking an approach where you’ll see wax from floor to ceiling,” Efremides said. “We want people to come in, have an experience, have room to breathe, see the products in a museum-style setup.”

The card companies wholeheartedly approve. They want the local card shop to be a gathering place for collectors not just to buy, but to hang out. Panini developed a close relationship with Sompolos in Europe, where its products, especially basketball and soccer, were most desired by European collectors. Now Fanatics through Topps has the NBA license starting this season. 

The interest these companies have in Sompolos’ modern retailing model serving as a clarion call for the industry in general was evidenced by Fanatic CEO Michael Rubin attending the Totowa store’s grand opening in September. Sports stars including Odell Beckham Jr. and Karl-Anthony Towns also mingled with customers. 

Sompolos said that in America, as was the case in Europe, his goal is not to dominate the retailing market but to grow it.

“When we built in Greece, we had access to all the products,” Sompolos said. He added that he could have expanded the Trace ‘n Chase brand throughout the continent. “But we decided just to build the market, support other shops, sell to them, bring (together) more collectors in from different areas of Europe. We weren’t franchising. The market needs to be bigger. The market doesn’t need one big player. It needs many small, medium, big players, just because we need to grow them up.”

That goes for breaking, too. Breaking is a practice where buyers pay a flat fee for a certain segment of cards out of a predetermined set of packs. The cards could be worth far more or far less than the cost of entry.

“Since we started, we’ve developed 20, 30 different successful breaking outlets,” Sompolos said. “Tons of online shops, a few brick and mortar shops. All these have gone through us to get supplied, get advice, pick our minds.”

That’s the case for the U.S. flagship store, too. 

“When it comes to breaking, we’re like, ‘Okay, we can do breaking ourselves and we have the advantage of getting cards directly. We have advantages through volume, advantages through price. But we’re going to nurture new breakers. We’re going to help them build their local communities.” Efremides said Trace ‘n Chase “gives breakers the freedom to create” while managing all their back-end operations.

Trace ‘n Chase currently streams on Whatnot, a top live-selling platform, with three channels and features about 15 breakers. “We stream almost 24/7,” Efremides said. There is also a “courtside” person for each breaker, someone who sits next to the breakers and acts as a sidekick to offer additional entertainment to the stream.

Efremides said the mission of all client interactions is to develop educated consumers who will remain enthusiastic about new products and adding to their collections. 

“We encourage our customers to identify their collecting profile and to manage expectations. What is the stuff they are really excited to have and how can they achieve those goals? Are they collecting primarily to have fun or to make money? Or are those things in balance? When to sell, what to buy, how much money to spend, how much time to spend…? This is a hobby, not a full-time job. 

“So we want our customers to stay within their means, from an investment standpoint, regarding not just money but also time. They need to accept that not everybody’s going to pull the $500,000 card. But the exciting thing is that anything of value comes from a single pack.”

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