By Dylan Sciacca | Reporter
From the famous Pokemon to the high-worth sports cards, collecting has become more than just a hobby. However, he nostalgia and the money behind it has driven the demand so high that some collectors are struggling to find packs at affordable prices.
Trading cards have been around for over a century, with the first being baseball cards in the 1880s. Since then, they have grown to an estimated $30 billion market in 2025 according to Grand View Research.
The two biggest American trading card types are currently Pokemon and sports cards. Sports have been especially on the rise in recent years because they have expanded from just picture cards to now having autographed, jersey and numbered cards to make collecting more exciting. Pokemon has been a classic fan favorite since the 1990s, when it originally came out. GameStop store manager Alyssa Friedman said Pokemon is usually rising and falling in popularity, while sports cards are generally more consistent.
“Right now we’re on an upward battle, but I think soon within the next 3-6 months it’s going to start coming down,” Friedman said. “Sports cards people come in a lot … and those cards are pretty consistent. They’ve always been pretty on trend with how popular they are.”
Although the business has not changed much, the trading cards have been on a continuous incline for decades. Friedman said that the reason trading cards like Pokemon are getting more and more popular each year is because of parents and adults.
“I think it is more nostalgia than anything,” Friedman said. “It is a lot of adults that used to play the game and watch TV of that era, and the parents are showing their kids what the used to do, and they are passing it down … people are also seeing Pokemon cards that are like $500 or $800, so I think people are seeing the value in it and trying to flip it for higher.”
Friedman said some people may not even be interested in the card game or even the cards but are in it for the money. Often resellers do not open packs and sell them for higher prices online due to how hard it is to get them in store.
“People come in the store, they buy a bunch of stock, and then they want to flip them for more when people can’t find them,” Friedman said. “Some stores like Target have regulations, like only two packs per customer, which seems to help them out some … But yeah, you have to have policies in place to look out for the customer who just wants to enjoy the cards.”
While finding cards in person can be intense and seemingly impossible sometimes, GameStop usually has packs because of the slightly increased prices. This is beneficial to the people who are not as die-hard for the card flipping and more for people who like to open packs and have a low-stress buying experience.
Kelli Shepard is the mother of a son who is an enthusiast of Pokemon cards. She said that they learned quickly that most stores are not worth checking for packs.
“[My son] and I used Target and sometimes Best Buy to see if there were any little singular packs, but every time we went, everything except the Pokemon packs would be there,” Shepard said. “… Later on when we came to the game stop to get his Xbox fixed, we found many of the packs we never found here.”
She said she is willing to pay in-store prices to avoid resellers.
“I don’t mind paying the extra couple dollars,” Shepard said. “I don’t think it is right to fund the people who take it all from the children for money. I’m sure it is more expensive anyways.”
