Actual Card Store in Little Rock!

[TC84]

I live in S.E. Arkansas about 2 hours from Little Rock. On a whim I checked Google for Sports Cards in Little Rock and there's actually a legit one there. I have a major doctors appt on Tuesday so I am planning on checking it out. I haven't been to a card shop in a while, usually have to settle on Walmart boxes.
So my question is this, what football cards are best bang for your buck? I like NFL cards with the RCs in their NFL uniforms, not college like Prestige. I'm on a pretty tight budget so I plan on only being able to buy a few packs, no boxes or anything high end.
Any advice would be great help! Thanks.
TC

 

[SymphonicMetal]

So my question is this, what football cards are best bang for your buck?

Raw vintage and its not even close.

Unlike modern football cards, vintage football card prices are badly depressed. You might be able to wheel and deal with the owner for a package deal on vintage where that is not going to happen with the new , shiny unopened material where you will be paying top dollar for it.

If you go for graded vintage (or graded anything for that matter) , the dealer will pull out his smart phone and check the recent "comps" and you'll be locked into whatever the most recent sales were.

My philosophy is to take the path of least resistance when it comes to buying cards........and in this case vintage football is that path. Chasing the market may work once in a while but most of the time it is a losing proposition.

 

[metsman1986]

Maybe they have a $$ box with singles or boxes separated by teams...........Most of the card shops do...........

 

[TC84]

Well, it was a card shop in that they had cards in it. lol... You could tell they were pretty new. Not alot of inventory. About 50 or so graded cards, they did have boxes with lower end cards separated by sport/team. Apparently I just missed the Cowboys boxes, someone came in a month prior and bought them all, so I had about 20 Cowboys to choose from. I flipped through some of the other teams and everything seemed pretty low end so I didn't bother diving in. They had some raw vintage but nothing that stood out. There were maybe 6 hobby boxes on the shelf, no hobby packs, only blasters of Absolute football and a few of other sports. They had a nice memorabilia showing. Muhammad Ali signed glove, framed 8x10 autos, some autographed jerseys, and some full size autographed helmets. I did find a Dirk RC (Stadium Club) for $3, and I bought a blaster of Absolute (BAD choice) and some soft sleeves.
But....... they DO have a Michael Jordan Fleer RC BGS 9 in their case. I'd never seen one in person before so the guy let me take a closer look at it. Just awesome! He said they have 2 more at PSA right now. The owner turned down 7k for it so the guy thinks it's gunna take 8.5k to 10k to get it. Just holding that piece of history made the trip all worth while. Plus they have a trade night every month so I may check that out every once in a while - I live 2 hours away. All in all it was kind of a let down, but like I said, they're new and need to build up inventory and customers.
TC