General Forum

will never be able to work out the exact timeline - late spring/early summer 1981 - local grocery store that has been closed for many years but still is standing (complete with 'do not enter/tagged for demolition) - i had started a paper route - so had money! -- pulled a Jim Kaat card - showed the cards to my dad - he said that had Jim Kaat's 1960 Topps rookie card -- but they were 'back home' in Ohio, we were in Missouri - summer included a visit back to Ohio for family visits and when we got to grandma's house sure enough there were 1960 Topps!!!!  -- (only 72 of them so really dont think dad was a collector, which he said he wasnt, but probably got a couple of packs (have seen the the 1960 Topps were available in packs of 36 cards) -- later that summer after the player's strike dad and i went to the exhibition game Royals v Cardinals game and I got to see Jim Kaat pitch!  -- i think the only time live and in person  --  of course the timeline could of been that i got the paper route - had money - bought cards - went to the game - saw Jim Kaat - dad remembered the 1960 rookie card - visited grandma - got his cards ---   never will have the timeline exact but it all started for my in the summer of 1981 (and continued until 1991 - that was the last year that i had any card until i started again about a year ago

My first sports cards were from K-Mart. I did buy some Garbage Pail Kids from a 7/11 as a kid as well. I remember I traded around until I completed the Second Series.

I bought my first pack from the local drugstore in Westerville, Ohio when I moved there in the summer of 1960. I enjoyed looking at the Topps clear packs. That way I knew at least two cards I was getting. I kept my 1960 and 1961 Topps in a cigar box. Those were the days!

In 1979 my brother and I used to go with our neighbor lady who was in her 50's and no children of her own to GL Perry and get a couple of Topps football cello packs as a gift every week. She passed about 3 years later. I'll never forget her. She, I guess was the one who really got me started collecting. Great memories.

Greer's Pharmacy, at the southwest corner of Passons and Washington in Pico Rivera, California. My first cards were 1968 Topps and I've been hooked ever since (hence my screen name!). Greers was a local independent pharmacy in our neighborhood and is long gone but the memories remain. It's interesting reading that many others also bought their first cards at a pharmacy.

711 convenient store .. football, basketball, baseball, Charlie’s angel cards.. baby Ruth candy bar with 16oz Coca Cola . Yes chewed the gum after pack opened .. 76,77,78,79. Yup i built my empire at young age😂

Maybe not my first...maybe it was.  But it was my "usual" store---Koesterer's Market (pronounced kee-stir) at the corner of 17th Street and Morgan in Belleville, Illinois.  My apologies to the family if I'm spelling that wrong.  They and their market sustained my 1970s childhood...I am quite grateful.

Somehow scored a pack of 1987 Topps from a store.  Don't remember how it came to pass.  Regardless, it was a beautiful thing....

2004 Topps Total at a Kum and Go Convenience Store Pulled a Phillip Rivers RC in one of my first few packs from there (which I still own) and havent stopped hoarding since!

It was from a small store called The Bazaar in Sacramento, CA. They had candy and sports cards. Lots of other stuff, sundries?, but I never got anything else. We were 10 and would ride our bikes there about 2 miles from where we lived. The lady would watch kids like hawks because she thought we would shoplift, never did. I love baseball and would later buy my favorite 1972 Topps baseball cards there but the first pack or packs I bought were the 1971-72 Topps Hockey cards. We played ice hockey so it was a natural thing to do. I think they were 10 cents each. The Bazaar is long gone now and a Whole Foods is there in its place. I actually go there now when I shop for my mother. Thanks for the memories.