Wow, it’s been two months now since we have been on the road for a show. That show was, the Chicago Sports Spectacular in March. We got up early Thursday morning to make the 10 drive to Rosemount. It was the day after Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19. That moment was the catalyst for a wave of closings and cancellations. The NBA had just postponed their season, and as we drove to Chicago it seemed like every hour someone else was having a press conference to announce more closings. I really believe it was the moment that people started to realize that this might be larger than anyone could have anticipated. Looking back a month later, even with the news of the NBA shutting down, I was not prepared for, or expecting the widespread affect COVID-19 would have on us all. Back to the trip, just as we reached Chicago we received the news, the show was cancelled. Tyler and I decided to make our way around the floor and see what we could pick up before everyone started tearing down. We figured we were there, we might as well try to make the best of it. Luckily for us, there were a handful of people set up. We were able to make the best of the hour or so on the floor and made quite a few deals. So not a total let down.
Now what? We made the 10 hour drive to Chicago for maybe 2 hours of buying. Not the show we were hoping for. Do we just turn around and head home in the morning? Not us, we decided to see if we could still salvage the trip. I had been in contact with one of the dealers named Phil throughout the day and reached out to him to see if he was sticking around until Friday. He said he was and so we decided to meet up with him that morning. We also ran into Tim, who we had met in Columbus, as he was leaving the show. He lives in the Chicago area and was also free to meet Friday so we made an appointment to meet with him as well. It started to look like we could potentially salvage the trip, plus we wouldn’t have to turn around the next morning and make the 10 hour drive back, so we were happy!
On Friday morning Phil and his friend drive over to the hotel. They always have quite the collection and variety of cards so I knew it would be a solid start to the morning. We were not disappointed, after an hour or so going through all the cards they brought we had quite the stack of cards we were interested in!
Tyler and I grabbed some lunch. Tyler got a Turkey sandwich and I got an Oreo Milkshake. I had some leftover deep dish pizza for breakfast so I was still full. Yes pizza is good to eat for any meal, and as I have stated before I do love me some deep dish. The waitress may have laughed at my order, but she said she was jealous. It hit the spot, exactly what I needed after all the stress from the day before.
After lunch we got ready for Tim to arrive. We had just bought a lot of cards from Tim in Columbus just two weeks back so I was unsure how much new stuff he would have. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had completely restocked! While we were working on the deal, I had asked Tim if there were any local shops he would recommend us going to. Once again, trying to maximize our trip to the best of our ability. He said he didn’t have any real recommendations, but that he could pass our information onto a few more of his friends and they might want to meet with us as well.
We went back to the room and started to process the cards when Tim called and said I should expect a call or text from his buddy Eddie. Shortly after that, Eddie called and we had our 3rd buy set up for the day! It was really becoming a productive day and trip. When Eddie pulled up I recognized him from the show in November. I had done a pretty substantial deal with him then so I knew he had a lot of cards we would be looking for. What I didn’t expect was that he was going to have multiple suitcases full of cards! It took Tyler and I quite a while to go through his collection but found close to 200 cards that would be perfect for Hit Parade. While working with Eddie, Tim showed back up with another buddy who had some cards for us to look at as well!
While working on our last deal, we discovered that we had just bought cards from his eBay store that week also. As with our trip to Columbus, it’s always nice to meet the people we’re buying from on eBay and putting a face with the name. As with everyone else that day, we were able to make a nice pain free deal.
Just like in Columbus, we never would have anticipated that weekend was going to play out the way it did. It had the potential to be a complete waste of a weekend and with an assist from Tim we were able to make it a largely successful trip. It also once again shows how important making relationships are in this industry! Without the relationships we have made with Phil and Tim, Chicago would have been a complete wash.
So if you’re at a show and see us, say hello!
If we’re buying from you on eBay, let us know!
If you have cards you’d like to sell, reach out to us!
Or if you like our products, let us know!
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