Night Owl Cards

Several of the Rite Aid chain drug stores in the area are closing, including the two right in town. Walgreens bought Rite Aid a few months ago and it was only a matter of time before the local Rite Aids would be shutting down. This is not good news. I grew up buying baseball cards at the drug store. Some of the major card-buying moments and acquisitions from the first 20 years of my collecting career came from drug stores. I can see the insides of those various stores right now, where the card boxes were positioned, everything. When it comes to traditional card purchasing, you will never be able to convince me that big-box stores are the better way to go. So, Rite Aid has carried that nostalgia for me, even though they haven't been an impressive source for cards over the years. A number of years ago, I snagged from Rite Aid some Chrome cards . That may have been the highlight. Much more recently, Rite Aid's been OK for repacks. Upon hearing the news of Rite Aid's c...

My wife announced Sunday that she and my daughter were off to Rite Aid to get some makeup supplies. Now, whenever I hear the word "Rite Aid," only one thing comes to mind: "The last drug store on earth that sells baseball cards." OK, I realize there are other drug stores out there that probably sell baseball cards. But there were a lot more of them when I was younger. In fact, for the first, oh, 28 years of my life, the only places you could find baseball cards were drug stores and groceries. Every drug store sold cards. I could name a half dozen off the top of my head, and if you give me 5 minutes to think, I could name you about 10 more. It was just a fact of life. Open a drug store. Stock it with medicine, cigarettes and baseball cards. But, now, I can name only one. Rite Aid. So, immediately, I said, "they have cards there!" And I gave my wife some money to bring back a pack to satisfy my daily ripping urge. She came home with more than a p...