Local Canadian Card Shop of the Week: Lower Level Sports Cards & Collectibles (Winnipeg, MB)

June 5, 2019

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Mike Bergmann began collecting sports cards back in the early 1980s. While he started with a modest goal of filling a dresser with cards, he has now grown to having a full hobby shop filled with cards, and more in storage. I recently caught up with Mike to discuss what led him into the sports card industry as a business owner and how he is trying to grow the hobby in Winnipeg.

Canadian Local Card Shop of the Week is brought to you by Universal Distribution, Canada’s premier distributor of CCG’s, sports cards and non-sport cards, trading card games, role-playing games, comics, toys, figurines and more.

JOEY SHIVER – Can you tell us how long you have been in the hobby and what led to your decision to become a card shop owner?

MIKE BERGMANN – I started collecting in 1981 when I noticed my next door neighbor opening something on his door step. It was packs of 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee Hockey cards. I didn’t know cards existed until that moment. He gave me a card (1980-81 OPC Penalty Minute Leader with Jets player Jimmy Mann) and told me where I could get them. I went home, showed my mom the card and told her someday my dresser would be full of cards. She didn’t believe me. Ha, ha.

I think I was born to be a sports card shop owner. Since visiting one for the first time in 1986, I’ve wanted my own. I wasn’t encouraged to do so. I was working at a comic/collectibles shop in 2012 when my wife asked why I wouldn’t open my own card shop since I now knew more of the business side of a collectible store.

Finding the right space and accounting/tax/government documents were a few reasons that scared me. Buying and selling cards has always been part of my collecting experience. When I started in the hobby, all my doubles were sold at my family’s yearly garage sale. When cards became more popular and more shops popped up in the area I lived, Winnipeg, I started pricing my cards individually or making team lots, then selling those at garage sales.

In 1987, I went to my first card show. I set up as a vendor at a show for the first time. I also started to buy my friends’ collections as cards weren’t cool anymore in their minds, nor was the gum that came with them.

After getting married and moving into our own house, I had so much inventory, I needed to make a decision, sell off my collection or open a shop. The cards were literally taking over the whole basement while the garage was nearly full. I sold off or got rid of all I had on four or five occasions before finally taking the plunge and getting over my fears. I opened my store on November 30, 2012.

The reasons why I made the decision to open a store: I’ve always been able to sell cards (buy them too) because there are always collectors wanting cards — and yes, even 1990s cards, I enjoy helping people find what they are looking for, and I enjoy the social aspect of the hobby.

JS – Can you tell us a little about your store? Can you talk about your setup and what type of inventory you carry? Also, what services do you provide?

MB – I want people to have as much fun as I’ve had in the hobby. It’s fun to see people of all ages collecting. Lower Level is geared to the collector, not the investor or speculator. It is fashioned much more like a traditional shop where there are more cards from previous years than current product. I attempt to put as much affordable product as I can on the shelves so that children and families won’t be intimidated by seeing only high-priced boxes and singles.

I have only accepted cash at the store to encourage people to think about what they are spending. I bring in most current hockey products, especially the most set building friendly ones. I do not bring in every new basketball, baseball or football product because it’s harder for me to sell them. Other shops in Winnipeg offer more variety of current unopened basketball, baseball and football so I leave that to them. I believe people want cards from all eras and all sports, so I stock my store that way. I am always buying and make an offer on pretty much every collection that walks in the door. I trade a lot whether it be with families who are needing Panini hockey stickers to finish off their sets or with people who open a lot of boxes and only keep the players and teams they collect.

I have a span of over 40 feet of shelving full of unopened product from 1985 and up. Lots of 1990s boxes as people still like to open them. Because Upper Deck Series 1 and 2 Hockey is popular, I have all but ten series in stock of the 60 produced since 1990. I carry singles from all sports, the oldest being from 1933 Goudey, the newest being 2019 Score and a lot in between.

It’s a misconception that Canadians only collect hockey. I never set out to take customers away from other card shops in Winnipeg so I’ve had products that they do not necessarily carry, older packs and boxes from as many sports as possible.

Singles are sorted by product/year, by team, player… with monster boxes full of $0.25 and $1 cards. I always ask customers what they are looking for then find a box or two that they can look through to meet their collecting needs. My son just priced and sorted five monster boxes of hockey jersey and autograph cards by team. My son and I are in the midst of sorting and integrating and finally having all the 5 million plus single cards ready for easy searching and pulling for customers (about 2/5 done). The good news is I know where everything is, it’s just not all integrated and put onto shelves yet. We’re about two years away from where I’d like to be when it comes to having all the shop’s cards sorted and priced.

The set-up has changed a lot since I first opened and it’s still not how I envision it. If I waited for my vision of the perfect card store, I wouldn’t progress. Two years ago, I had to have my store closed for five months and that really affected the way my store looks and functions. I wasn’t able to sort for about two years due to stock being in storage and the floor set up being less than ideal. I am still working on getting more cards out, more sets out and displayed (1950s and up), McFarlane figures (over 200 different), Starting Line up, collectibles, jerseys, etc.

Almost all the storage and protective supplies for sports cards that are available to me, I have in stock.

I run my store for those who physically visit my store. That takes a lot of time and effort already, so I do not do online sales. I buy, sell, and trade. I use social media to let people know about my store, doing what I can to attract more local people to my shop and to the hobby. I want collectors around the world to see what I have to offer in hopes that if they visit Winnipeg, they will pop in and check it out.

The store may not be how I want it yet, but I’ve been able to have my shop open for almost seven years now. I continue to strive to make my shop the way I envision it. Many steps still need to be taken, but I attempt to take a step forward every day, no matter how small that step is.

JS – This is a new series we are running to include Card Shops in Canada. For collectors who haven’t been, what would you say are the main differences, if any, between your shop and what are found in the US?

MB –From visiting about nine shops in the US in the last year, I would say the biggest difference is not having pre-war tobacco baseball cards. I have only been offered them twice at my store and they sold within hours of buying them. Every store I visited in the US had pre-war tobacco cards. I am attempting to collect at least one card from each pre-war set for my personal collection. It’s far easier to do that in the US.

Another difference is that there’s a lot more volume of current baseball, basketball and football singles in the US. I would like to change that, but that’s how it is right now.

JS – With you being located in Winnipeg, I would imagine you have a fair share of Jets fans. Can you talk a little about your local collectors and what teams and players they support most?

MB–The majority of my customers are Winnipeg Jets fans. I would say many local card collectors have Jets cards in their collection, some a lot more than others and some just Jets cards. Dale Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne, and all the current Jets are popular to collect. I would not describe Winnipeg collectors as just Jets collectors, though. I’ve had customers asking for each of the teams in the NHL. Last year during the Jets lengthy playoff run, I had more people asking for Golden Knights cards than Jets cards.

There are many who collect their favorite NFL teams and players. I’d say the most popular NFL team with those who come to my store is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors are popular when the teams are doing well. Raptors cards are in demand right now as they play for the NBA Championship.

Baseball card collectors ask for 1965 to 1971 OPC baseball cards. These are popular and harder to find.

CFL football cards have started to become popular with a very dedicated group of CFL collectors in Winnipeg who connect with other CFL collectors across Canada. There is a fantastic Facebook group called CFL Trading Card Collectors, a group of dedicated CFL collectors who look to connect with even more CFL collectors.

From my viewpoint, I see local collectors collecting across the spectrum of cards from all eras and sports.

JS – Hockey appears to be a huge seller in your store. How much of the other major sports releases are in demand among your customers?

MB – You’re right, hockey is a huge seller and the best seller at my store. Part of the reason is, for the most part, what I pre-order for hockey, I get in. This hasn’t been the case with football, baseball and basketball products. Most are severely allocated, which hurts my attempts to get more people buying and collecting these other sports at my shop.

Because I sell singles and base cards too, not being able to supply collectors with boxes, even cases of products, affects my ability to have singles and base cards of more products in stock. Those who do not need base cards can sell them to me. I never say no to base cards. There is a lot of demand for other major sports releases among my customers and Winnipeg collectors. Whatever is hot in North America is also hot in Winnipeg. Most recently, the demand has been for 2019 Bowman Baseball, 2018-19 Donruss Optic and Prizm Basketball. I’m sold out of these boxes.

JS – Are there any products that are on the release calendar you are really looking forward to in the next few months?

MB – My customers are looking forward to 2018-19 SP Authentic and 2019 CFL Football. I am looking forward to 2019-20 MVP Hockey retail as it is always popular with children and families.

JS– Your FaceBook page advertises the Winnipeg Sports Card Show. Can you tell us about those shows? How popular are shows in your area in 2019?

MB–I’ve always believed card shows help the hobby grow and also help card shops gain more customers. About three years ago, a few other collectors/frequent show vendors and myself started planning to run three shows a year in Winnipeg. We felt there was a lack of well-run shows in the area. Last year, there were a total of 11 shows in and around Winnipeg. I was part of planning seven of those. Four were done as a fundraiser for the Elmwood Giants Baseball “Learn to Play” program, getting children to learn and play the game of baseball. This year, my goal is to attempt to have one show every month, except for July and August. We’re on track with that as we’ve had five shows in the first five months of the year.

I also want to promote the hobby and how stores compliment each other in Winnipeg. I opened my store to complement what was already happening in Winnipeg, not compete with existing shops. My wife set up the website WinnipegSportsCards.ca to promote the hobby of sports card collecting in Winnipeg and Manitoba, advertising all sports card shows and events pertaining to cards, collectibles and autograph signings — even ones we are not promoters of — and a list of all card stores in Winnipeg and Manitoba, with a blog post on each. My wife has become more involved in the hobby, which also led to my two youngest sons being a lot more involved in the hobby and in my store. My 13-year old son has become my retirement plan. He has ambitions of running the store one day.

Attendance averages out to about 125 per show (lowest was 100, highest was 278). Of the shows I’ve helped with, we’ve had ten straight sell outs of vendor tables. The two community clubs used most frequently can hold 27 and 44 tables. From speaking to vendors, they like it that there is a regular show to sell at. In speaking with the attenders, they appreciate the shows and the variety of cards and collectibles. Even the most seasoned collector can usually find a few things at a show.

The great thing about the hobby is as much as it is about buying, selling andtrading sports cards, it’s the friendships and the community that makes it special.

JS – The way we collect has changed a lot over the years. Looking at the hobby in general, what are some of the biggest changes you have seen since you started collecting?

MB – Where cards are found. It used to be that you could go into almost any convenience, department, grocery, drug, corner store or gas station and find packs of current cards. Card shops had them, too, but what made card shops different was that they would have cards, packs, boxes and singles from previous years. That is not always the case now.

The simplicity of buying a box or two and being able to complete the set. There were no inserts, no parallels, no short prints.

A lot of my customers miss the “good old days” and wish for more sets like they used to be produced, 264, 396, 660, 792 cards equally printed and made more to build sets than for the chase of an expensive card.

There are a lot more ways to collect now because there are so many more parallels, inserts, short prints, jersey, patch and autograph cards. A person can spend a whole year collecting all of his or her favorite player and still have a fun, yet hard time doing so. Back 30 years ago, you were lucky if your favorite player in hockey had two cards (Topps and OPC) or four in baseball (OPC, Topps, Fleer, Donruss)

There’s not as much hoarding as there was years ago. In general, people can’t afford to buy as much as they used to, so they’re not filling storage lockers, basements, crawl spaces, and garages full of cards. Some spouses and partners may disagree with the previous comment.

JS – What are some of the major positives within the hobby and industry right now? What are you hearing from your customers right now in regards to the industry? What do they really love seeing from a product or support standpoint?

MB – More people are coming to the hobby. I hardly had a break from open to close from January to the middle of May. I had customers coming in constantly. It let up the last two weeks, but it was busy again today. People are collecting all eras of cards and all sports. The continued creativity of each card manufacturer’s design team amazes me with how they can continue to find new designs and ideas for cards.

I would say the positive comments from customers about the hobby have more to do with the community of card collectors being built up in Winnipeg than the industry and what it is offering. My customers really like set building and affordable products. There are more and more people buying singles and sets too from all eras.

JS – On the contrary, what are some areas you think could be modified to improve the customer experience? What type of feedback do you get from your customers in this area?

MB – The easy way and shortest way to answer this question is to say there are ways to improve the customer experience and to gain more customers, whether it be lapsed collectors or people who have never collected before.

I have attempted to sell cards in many settings where it isn’t the norm to collect cards, to expose the hobby to more people. From these experiences especially, I would say if the players association and card manufacturers’ game plan added a few elements, we would have another boom because of more collectors joining the hobby.

I have resigned myself to doing what I can with what I can control instead of continuing to email and attempt to reach out to those who make decisions regarding cards, namely players associations and card manufacturers. I lose less sleep this way.

JS – In closing, can you tell us about any sales or upcoming events you have scheduled for the next couple of months?

MB – The main event scheduled is a Sports Card Show on Sunday, June 23 from 10-4 at Chalmers Community Centre, 480 Chalmers Ave in Winnipeg. Come by if you’re in the area.

I am also planning a NHL Draft party for June 21-22.

In the next months, my family and I are working at finding more ways to promote the hobby of sports card collecting in Winnipeg. If we can inspire others to collect and be part of the hobby in other parts of Canada, the US or even the world, that is what we want to do. We think collecting sports cards is a fantastic hobby to get involved in.