New Jersey Store Will Celebrate on Hobby Rip Night
Business has been good at The Card Capital hobby shop in Collingswood, New Jersey.
So good that co-owners Bryan Woodward and Brad Kwintner knew it was time for a much-needed store upgrade.
The Card Capital is moving to a new location just four blocks from its current address. The doors will open at 900 Haddon Ave. in Collingswood on September 6.
“Everything in life, you always want to go ahead and make things better and reach new heights,” Woodward said. “I came back here from Florida last February and partnered up with Brad. The goal was always to do bigger and better things, so here we are 18 months later and going from 900-something square feet to 3,200. It’s a big jump.”
A big jump that was warranted.
“We were kind of in like a sardine tin — long, narrow, very little space to do much. It was kind of like you walk down the middle of the store, you turn left, you turn right, you had showcases, you had a wall of wax,” Woodward said. “This one has more of a square design and a much more open floor plan. All of our stuff we had custom built — custom built showcases for the walls, custom built bookcases for all of our wax, and our supplies, storage underneath.”
More Open Space to Collect
Woodward figures that close to 1,000 square feet of the new store is open area. It will be a spot to grab a seat at a table to open some packs, relax on the couch in a mini lounge, watch sporting events on a matrix of four 55-inch televisions, and utilize the wet bar with coffee and a fridge.
“Just the overall experience is going to be far better, cleaner, nicer, more modern,” Woodward said. “There will be nice LED lighting. Overall, this is what you would think of as a modern space.”
Card Capital’s new store used to be an eye doctor’s office. Woodward and Kwintner fully gutted the inside so they could configure the shop to their ideas.
The shop owners’ goal was to create a space where customers could be comfortable and have plenty of room to move around. Woodward noted that Saturdays weren’t uncommon for the store to be a zoo, with clientele two deep at the showcases.
The regulars who frequent The Card Capital are looking forward to the bigger, more modern store, which will satisfy their collecting cravings.
“There’s a few people we’ve shown sneak peeks to, and they just can’t wait,” Woodward said. “They’re very excited. I guess you could say they know what we’ve been dealing with for a little while now. We’re just outgrowing the old space. Too much wax, too many singles, too many customers, to be frank.”
Big Blowout Planned for Rip Night
Woodward and Kwintner initially planned on having their shop’s grand opening on September 6, but due to a few logistics out of their hands, that was pushed to September 14. The store will throw a blowout party for the grand opening that will coincide with Topps Hobby Rip Night.
“That’s where we’re going to go all out,” Woodward said. “We’re going to have tents outside. We’re going to have catered food. We’re going to get some cheesesteaks — we’re local to Philly, so you’ve got to have the cheesesteak, right? Hopefully, we will end up getting one of the big Eagles tailgate buses here.”
The Card Capital — located about 10 minutes from the major sports stadiums in Philadelphia — will be open on September 14 from 11 a.m. until “whenever the party dies,” said Woodward.
“We’re going to have giveaways like crazy — tons of signed memorabilia, packs, boxes, all that good stuff,” Woodward said. “Obviously, very Philly-centric. Most of the stuff we have to give away memorabilia-wise is very Philly-related.”
For its soft opening on September 6, The Card Capital will have a drop-off event with PSA from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the store will be open until 8 p.m.
Woodward and Kwintner are looking to host more in-store events with their new store. Last year, the shop had former NFL quarterback Michael Vick in for a signing. “We’ve got a lot of contacts in terms of athletes and able to get guys pretty regularly, and that’s what we want to do here,” Woodward said. “We want to end up doing at least a signing a month, a trade night a month. We want every weekend to be an event. We built this space with all that in mind.”
