Look, I am not going to sugarcoat it, THIS card shop owner is literally a scumbag, who uses…read morebullying and shade-tree-mechanic tactics when dealing with customers
I'm a veteran, an African-American U.S. Navy sailor, who was stationed on the USS George Washington, then Naval Station Norfolk from '95 until '04, so I know the shops in the Hampton Roads area, extremely well. There were/are some outstanding local card shops, owned and operated by genuinely good people in the hobby, but THIS guy wasn't and ISN'T one of them! As a matter of fact, he is a cancer to the hobby, a festering, infected sore to the hobby that never heals!
Back on Saturday, July 19, 2025, (I remember this exact date, because my granddaughter was born on Friday, July 18, 2025 and I had just attended the "757 Sports Cards Show,"which ended an hour earlier).
Anyway, I walked into his shop, he had three customers, a mother/son and a guy in his early 30's, with a college-age young man behind the counter assisting them.
When he got to me, I had already browsed the showcases and simply asked, "Do you all do any trading?" He replied, "Yes," as he went to retrieved his boss, this owner, who was sitting in a closet-size room, in front of a computer, who glanced to his right and literally gave me a look and sighed, as if I was about to waste his time!
I had 2 two-row graded cards shoe boxes of graded cards(95% were PSA 10's). He got up, walked towards me and without even looking at one graded slab, shouted, "How much for everything?!"
I giggled. because I assumed he was joking. Then, he repeated, "How much for everything?!" Which rubbed me the wrong way and at that point, I literally almost grabbed my two boxes of cards and left, as I know these types and I knew exactly where this was going, because I have been a collector in this hobby since the late 70's.
Yet, I replied, "Well, I wasn't expecting this and don't have a number off the top of my head, but I'd rather you just look at the cards first."
THAT rubbed him the wrong way, as he angrily ordered the young man standing to his right, both directly in front of me to, wait for it...lie each of my slabs on his counter and take pictures?!!! So, this young man is taking 20 to 25 slabs out of my boxes at a time, lying them side-by-side on his counter, snapping pics, as the owner walks away!
Then he comes back out of the closet-size office to help the lady and her son, who was also trading, so I patiently waited and waited and...you get my point!
So, after about 20 minutes of just standing there, he finally comes back over, all my slabs are now back in my shoe boxes, after the young man finished taking pictures of them with his iPhone.
THEN, he does what he should have done in the first place, started to browse through my graded cards and then says, the most asinine, ridiculous and INSULTING thing I have heard in a long while, "Even though you have a lot of PSA 10's most of these will go in my $5.00 Slab box!"
Ladies and gentlemen, BOOM!
I now had 100% validation that this guy was a bona-fide SCUMBAG!
Keep in mind, 95% of my slabs were PSA 10's, I had only seven PSA 9's and my other box had 35 SGC 10's even some SGC 10/10's meaning, both the card and the auto graded a SGC 10.
I had not one card that was selling on eBay, Card Ladder or 130 point, for less that $25.00, with 80% of my graded cards selling between $45.00 and $140.00! I had Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy, Ja'Marr Chase, Keyonte George, Tyrese Maxey PSA 10's, numbered rookie cards, as well as James Woods, Lawrence Butler and Brett Baty PSA 10 numbered rookie autos and more.
BUT, this sleazeball, dirt bag, jerk claimed they will go into his $5.00 graded slab box?!
Then, I walked over to his $5.00 Graded Slab Box and he literally had eight cards in slabs I never heard of, EVER! Cards of players I have never heard of, with NOT one slab worth the material it took to encapsulate it!
i gave him a stern look, almost a death-stare, doing my best to maintain my composure, because there was a kid in the store.
Plus, during all this, he was devaluing my graded cards, the grading company, even the player on the card!
These type of low-life scumbags in the hobby are the worst, because they "intentionally" use these unethical tactics to rip you off, at worst or low-ball you, at best!
Imagine how many kids he has taken advantage of and done this to, as I have grandchildren, who are into the sports/trading cards hobby. I wouldn't want within 500 feet this guy!
Now, for some reason I have to re-post this review, because it continues to get deleted, maybe because I called him, exactly what he is, a scumbag!
Finally, when people like him get these type of embarrassing, bludgeoning reviews, within hours or a couple of days, pops up a review, highly praising these types, but take it as a grain of salt, as my review is true, detailed and 100% FACTUAL!
I brought up my race, because people him foolishly believe we are ignorant to the hobby!
