Lincoln Sportscards and Gaming now open on Woodlawn Road
Stop in for the grand opening this Saturday

[August 27, 2021]  

There is a new business in Lincoln. While it has only been open nine days today, owners Travis Dirks, Jason Glenn and Justin Ott are excited about the response they have had to their business. Lincoln Sportscards and Gaming is located at 527 Woodlawn Road in the strip mall across the road from RP Lumber.

They are equally excited about the grand opening event they will have this Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m. Though this is going to be a busy weekend in Lincoln, they are hopeful that many will stop in to see what they are all about and receive a free set of cards. The cards will be Topps name brand, 2021 version, series one and two. Guests will receive a free pack as they arrive, while supplies last on Saturday.

Before going much further, it should be explained that in this instance the word “gaming” does not refer to the electronic gambling machines that is often associated with the word.

In the ‘learn something new every day’ category, LDN learned that sportscard enthusiasts not only collect and trade cards, they also enjoy getting together and playing games that utilize their cards. To that end, the shop is set up with tables and chairs so that folks can come in and enjoy playing games together. On their first Friday night open, Glenn said that they had more than a dozen people come in and fill the tables playing games.

The three guys made the decision to open a sportscard store in Lincoln based in part on their own interest in the collecting hobby. Dirks and Glenn are both from Lincoln and Ott is from Hartsburg. They said first they had to leave the county to visit sportscard and gaming shops. They didn’t like that, and wished that there was something close to home that was comparable, if not better than what they were visiting out of town.

Then, as they began taking their ideas and making them a reality they set a secondary goal to have a safe, clean, family friendly environment for those who are into cards and games.

Glenn explained that sportscards have the ability to be a multigenerational hobby that parents can share and enjoy with their kids. It gets kids away from their electronics and offers parents something relatable they can share with their children. The three guys want their store to be one where families feel comfortable bringing their kids, and perhaps even allowing the older adolescents to come on their own.

While sportscards have been around for decades, Ott said that the interest in sportscards grew dramatically in 2020 during the covid shutdowns. The market is leveling off a bit now he said, but at the same time he is hopeful that some of those who started collecting during coronavirus will continue the hobby into the future.

Jason Glenn, Travis Dirks, Justin Ott

Jason, Travis and Justin stand in front of their inventory at the new store.

The store offers a large variety of sports and fantasy cards from baseball to Pokemon. Ott said that they also have a collection of Soccer sportscards that he had hoped would be popular in Lincoln and Logan County because many families are involved in soccer locally, but they haven’t taken off yet. He said maybe part of the issue there is that folks are not aware there are soccer sportscards, and don’t know that they can buy them in Lincoln.
 

In addition to selling cards and offering gaming tables, the shop will also help folks to determine the value of their collects. Ott said that none of the three are professional appraisers, but they do have resources to assist folks in researching the value of their cards. He said that so far in the first week, they have had some come in with huge collections to share, and sometimes trade with others in the store. It isn’t uncommon to want to trade cards, especially if one collector has duplicates of a card another collector doesn’t possess. He said they also had one person come in with a card that he wanted to try and get a value on. Ott said the three guys helped the owner research the card and came to the conclusion that the one card had the potential to be worth a few thousand dollars.

For the three owners the business is a fun way to share their interest in sportscards and perhaps make a little money on the side. They say that they price all their inventory competitively and have seen a respectable turnover of inventory in the first few days.
 

All three also work other jobs, so the store is only open evenings, Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. On Friday they push closing time to 11 p.m. The store is then open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. They are closed on Sunday and Monday.

For their grand opening they will be opening a few minutes early this Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

While it is going to be a busy weekend in Lincoln and Logan County, stopping in and meeting the three owners and wishing them well should only take a few minutes and might be well worth it if you like sports and are interested in sportscards as a collecting hobby.

Hope to see you there.

[Nila Smith]