From basement card breaks to two Atlanta card shops
Jon Butts is the founder of Giant Sports Cards, a sports card business with two retail shops in Metro Atlanta and an online store. Butts shares how Facebook groups and live pack openings brought in early customers, why opening a shop changed the business, and what a costly bet on a player taught about inventory risk.
Build more than one reliable source of business, especially in a market shaped by product hype and changing supply. Treat customers fairly, keep inventory decisions grounded, and do not let fads distract from the basics.
What’s the short story of how your business started, and what makes it genuinely different from the other options your customers have?
I had sold a marketing company in 2018 and was slowly backing away from that when COVID hit. Serendipitously, my parents were cleaning out their house and brought over all of my old baseball cards from when I was a kid. Going through them was like stepping into a time machine, and while I hadn’t collected any cards in 25 years, I was re-hooked. Giant Sports Cards started as a part-time hobby in my basement, but I quickly became addicted and spent day and night working to grow the business, as my passion was burning bright.
At the end of the day, we take great pride in not only maintaining the highest integrity in the hobby, but also providing GOAT-level service to all customers, regardless of the size of transaction. Unfortunately, there are many sharks out there in the sports card world that try and prey upon those who might not have a high level of knowledge. We always do the right thing and aim to educate our customers and treat them how we would want to be treated.
How did you win your first customers, and where does most of your new business come from today?
My first customers came through leveraging Facebook groups. I created a group for people who enjoyed sports cards and I would live-stream me opening up packs for them. It was perfect for the stay-at-home climate during COVID and provided people an outlet to get away from all the negative things happening in the world at that time and to connect over our passion for sports.
While our online business is booming, we do most of our total sales through our two retail shops in the Metro Atlanta area.
What’s one decision that changed the direction of your business, and one mistake that taught you the most?
Deciding to take the plunge and open our first retail shop was the best decision we have made. We helped reshape the sports card world by opening the first high-end, ultra-modern card shop in Georgia. The amount of growth we have seen there has been amazing, but being a conduit to creating fun memories in our community is priceless.
Hogs get slaughtered. Inventory was our friend and rapidly appreciated shortly after the company was founded. We got a little too greedy with buying product tied to the hype around Zion Williamson’s rookie year in the NBA and lost a massive amount of money when he got hurt and underperformed against expectations.
What has changed in your industry or in what your customers expect over the last couple of years, and how have you adapted?
It’s changed drastically. There have been major shakeups with league and players association license changes between manufacturers, distributors have been shut out by Fanatics, and there is a massive amount of money flowing in from private equities and wealthy individuals seeking alternative investments. While there are still plenty of collectors in the hobby, the percentage of true collectors has shrunk quite a bit over the last 6 years.
We remain committed to doing things the right way and being a great partner to all manufacturers, regardless of what licenses they have/don’t have. We have also added extra emphasis on growing the sales of single cards (from packs that have already been opened), since we aren’t reliant on any manufacturer on those sales and can scale that side an infinite amount.
If you were advising someone starting out in your industry today, what would you tell them to do first, and what would you tell them to ignore?
There are extremely high barriers to entry, and is nearly impossible to get a direct account from Topps/Fanatics due to the massive demand. It will be crucial for your business to have multiple other strong foundations to survive besides selling wax of sports cards.
Any and all fads. Don’t overcomplicate it – treat people right, do what you’re going to say, keep your head down and work hard.
Thank you to Jon Butts and the team at Giant Sports Cards for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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