A new trading card store has opened in Blaine, offering a lounge-style retail experience where singles of football, basketball, hockey and Pokémon cards are displayed in glass cases alongside seating areas and multiple televisions showing live games and sports programming.
The store, Real Sportscards, previously opened a location in Champlin and held a ribbon-cutting event for its Blaine location Thursday, Dec. 11, with the North Metro Chamber of Commerce and Sen. Michael Kreun.
Owner Ryan Holland said the business grew out of his own experience as a collector.
“I started as a side hustle over 10 years ago to subsidize collecting — pay for some of my own collecting,” Holland said. “It wasn’t long after doing that that I recognized a shortage of brands in the industry — small local mom-and-pop shops, but not a lot of marketing and advertising and partnerships with manufacturers.”
With a background in marketing, Holland said he saw an opportunity to modernize the traditional trading card store model. A Coon Rapids native and Minnesota sports fan — particularly of the Timberwolves, Vikings and Twins — Holland said the business aims to reach collectors both locally and globally.
“A big chunk of our business is online,” Holland said. “We can market all across the world for our business, and also market locally and establish a community and do lots of local events in the community. It’s just so easy to reach people.”
Holland said traditional card shops over the past several decades often resembled antique stores, with older inventory stored in boxes.
“There is no wrong way to collect, and a lot of people are still buying vintage and older cards,” Holland said.
He said Real Sportscards instead aims to present cards more like artwork.
“The display cases we use, how we showcase the stuff — it feels like you’re walking into an art gallery more so than a traditional retail store,” Holland said.
The highest-value card currently on display is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card valued at $35,000.
Trading cards now exist for a wide range of interests beyond traditional sports. In addition to football, basketball, hockey and Pokémon, cards are produced for the Professional Women’s Hockey League, the WNBA, soccer and WWE, as well as entertainment brands such as Star Wars, Marvel, Disney and SpongeBob.
To accommodate that variety, the Blaine location includes a section called Real Gaming, which Holland described as a “store within a store” dedicated to trading card games.
The business also operates a livestream platform called “retailtainment,” which functions as a live marketplace.
Holland said the appeal of the hobby is that collectors engage with it in many different ways.
“People buy singles, try to complete sets, are in it for the thrill of the chase and treasure hunt, (or) opening packs and trying to hit the next big card or rookie,” Holland said. “We help facilitate all of those different styles of collecting.”
He said the store emphasizes community, both in person and online.
“Community is a huge part of our business both online and on our app, with our socials, and when you see the store, we have a huge amount of square footage for the community,” Holland said. “People can hang out, have a soda, watch a ballgame, be with other collectors, come in with their baseball or hockey team.”
The Blaine location features a sports lounge with 16 televisions, which Holland described as a “sports bar for collectibles.” He said the goal is to encourage customers to spend time in the store rather than make quick purchases.
Another advantage of the location is its proximity to the National Sports Center. Holland said the store hopes to attract teams with downtime between games.
“Besides grabbing a meal, they have time to spend in entertainment,” Holland said. “So we are doing a lot of sponsorships and co-marketing with the National Sports Center for people to know that we are a destination for some of the fun.”