Be sure to support your local card shops

I'm telling you, the first thing I think I'm going to do when we're free to move about the country again, is visit a local card shop. And I have one particular shop in mind.

Even though I live in Des Moines, Iowa, I'm a river rat, born and raised in Davenport, Iowa. We try to hit the Rock Island Arsenal Commissary and PX for some shopping every other month, or so, and then hit up either Rudy's Tacos for lunch, or Whitey's Ice Cream Parlor for some sweet snacks.

And, you guessed it, I try to stop by a Davenport card shop, in this case, Midwest Collectables. It's not too far from my sister-in-law's place, so it gives my wife something to do while I spend my usual 1-2 hours rooting through a card shop.

Thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, I think I was last there in January when we took my sister-in-law out for dinner.

I really like the place. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the shop is well-lit and well stocked with sports cards, comics and supplies. There's usually a few of the regular customers hanging around, and I love hearing the sports talk and Hawkeye chat, as well as the local neighborhood gossip.

One thing I particularly like about Midwest, is their $1 and $.25 tubs. If you do a bit a of digging, you can find almost anything. One thing that particularly helps with your searching, is the fact they add the year to the front of their clear grab bags. There's usually 9 cards in the baseball grab bags, and 8-14 football cards. Occasionally, they'll have hockey too.

Here are a few of the packs I happened to pick up on that trip.

For example, I found these 1969 Topps baseball cards in the $1 tub. They're not in mint condition, a few are mis-cut, a few have scratches and light creases, but that's ok. It's a chance to actually see and hold some early baseball cards.

In that same $1 tub, I found this plastic case with 13, 1959 Topps baseball cards within it.

Like I said earlier, I can't wait for this epidemic to be over so I can actually shop at a real card shop, other than the card racks of Wal-Mart or Target for some nice, cardboard goodies.

Stay healthy and safe out there.