Green Bay Hobby Shops Prep for NFL Draft Blitz

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When Mike Worachek moved Card & Coin in Green Bay, Wis., in 2019 to its current location just three blocks from historic Lambeau Field, little did the longtime hobby shop owner think he’d have prime real estate for a major event.

With the NFL Draft and surrounding activities invading Green Bay this week, Green Bay area hobby shops like Card & Coin are going to be busy places for out-of-towners seeking a place to pick up cards and memorabilia.

“Everybody you talk to is like, we know what a Packer game’s like, but this could be three, four, five, 10 times bigger because there will be totally different people coming,” said Worachek, who opened his first card shop location in Green Bay in 1992.

With a once-in-a-lifetime event in town, area shops are trying to prepare as best they can. They want to capitalize financially on this limited opportunity.

“I don’t know what to expect, but I figure with that many people in town, a percentage of them are card collectors and a percentage of them will be checking out the stores,” said Mark Meyer, who owns the other hobby shop in town, Green Bay City Cards.

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Worachek doesn’t have anything special planned for his shop during the draft. He just wanted to make sure he’s prepared with enough product for any type of sports card enthusiast.

“I got mainly retail wax, a lot of blaster boxes, a lot of mega boxes, because that’s what’s selling good now,” Worachek said. “Everyone can afford them, anywhere from $39 to $100. I probably spent 100 grand in the last 45 days to prepare. I don’t know what to expect.”

Worachek has a vast amount of licensed Panini football products, including hot items from Donruss and Prizm. Optic just hit the shelves, so that could be big during draft week.

It’s going to be all hands on deck at Card & Coin.

“I think it’s going to be crazy,” Worachek said. “There’s going to be five or six of us every day. We’ll have one guy at the door with security getting people in and out if it gets too many, making sure no one’s walking off with anything.”

During the weekend leading up to the draft, Meyer stocked up on single cards of some of the top draft picks, including Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Meyer also picked up wax and is getting extra cases of Topps Inception and Bowman U products.

“I contacted my rep at Topps and he was able to get me some extra football (product), which helps,” Meyer said. “Distributors didn’t really help. It’s a rough market right now trying to get wax.”

Meyer decided to host a trade night on Wednesday, the eve of the first round of the draft. The event will run from 4-7 p.m.

“We figured that was the best night to try it,” Meyer said. “We figured a lot of people will be in town on Wednesday, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday everybody’s going to be at the draft.”

Just outside of Green Bay in New Franken, Tim’s Sports Cards & Nascar Die-Cast is about a 20-minute drive from Lambeau Field. Employee Trent Jeanquart is expecting some spillover traffic of collectors to head out to the shop. To prepare, Tim’s Sports Cards picked up Bowman U, Bowman’s Best and Leaf products to have available.

“We have a huge variety of sealed product,” Jeanquart said. “We’ve got a lot of stuff that has people that are in the draft where you can get their cards.”

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The shop also purchased more wax and singles for the big event.

“I know we got some more of most of it in the last month or so,” Jeanquart said. “We have some singles of Sanders, a couple Travis Hunter’s, Cam Ward. We have individual cards too of those guys.”

All three hobby shops in the Green Bay area are being open extended hours during draft week. Card & Coin will be open Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday is TBD. City Cards is scheduled to be open Wednesday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday (which is a day the shop usually isn’t open) from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tim’s Sports Cards will be open Wednesday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Along with all the area card shops, collectors coming to Green Bay will have the opportunity to attend a card show on a rare weekday.

The Draft Day Sports Card Show will be held on Friday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Gatherings 43 in Denmark, Wis. The venue is located 25 minutes southeast of Lambeau Field.

“A friend of mine and I looked at a couple different websites to see what was going on in the area for those couple of days and noticed there wasn’t a whole lot. I think there’s a show in Eau Claire on Sunday,” card show organizer Jesse Schaetz said. “We’re like, hey, let’s try to capitalize on having a mass of people that are projected to be in town. The reason why we did Friday is because Gatherings was booked on Saturday. That’s why we picked Friday, which is taking a bit of a risk, but I think a lot of people will be off anyway we feel like that day.”

Schaetz is hoping 50-55 tables — they are $30 for the first table and $25 for each additional — will be set up for the card show with a good mix of modern and vintage cards.

“Our goal is if we can get 70% sports cards, and what I mean by sports cards is basketball, baseball, football, hockey, whatever it may be and then 25-30% Pokémon and just a large group of buyers,” Schaetz said.

Ideally, Schaetz would like to get 300-500 people to attend the card show.

“We are just hoping to tie the sports-minded people together for that day and give them something to do and that’s really what it boils down to,” Schaetz said.

Admission is free. Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Questions can be directed to Schaetz at 920-366-7061.

For the last 15 years, Panini has set up at the NFL Draft. This year will be no different as Panini partners with the NFL for the NFL Draft Experience.

“We’ll have a booth where people can get their own personal digital trading card and then in addition to that, we’re also the presenting sponsor of the autograph and memorabilia stage for the NFL Draft Experience,” said Jason Howarth, Panini’s senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations. “Then on Thursday night, Day 1 of draft night, we’ll be backstage waiting for the players to be drafted. I think there’s now 19 guys that are attending — 17 of which we have deals with currently. When they’re drafted, they’ll come backstage, we’ll present them with their very first physical draft night trading card. So, they’ll get that in real time as soon as they’re selected.”

Two of Panini’s biggest clients in the draft are Colorado teammates Hunter and Sanders, who both have exclusive contracts with the company.

Panini, which owns the exclusive NFL license for cards until 2026 when Fanatics takes over, will have a digital card activation for fans at NFL Draft Experience. Panini has run its trading card feature in its current format for the past five years at the NFL Draft and also at the Super Bowl.

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“For every fan that comes through our booth, they get an opportunity to get their own digital trading card,” Howarth said. “They’ll get to pick from like three to four different templates for their card. They’ll get that in real time. They’ll get that sent to them via email and they can use that to print. They can use it to post on social, they can use it as a keepsake.”

Howarth said the NFL is anticipating 250,000 fans to come through the NFL Draft Experience, and a good number of those fans should stop at the Panini booth. Also at the booth, Howarth noted that typically 5x7 blowup cards are given away to commemorate the draft.

“I think it’s going to be phenomenal,” Howarth said. “I always say the NFL Draft is like Christmas Day. Everyone’s waiting for that bright, shiny present under the tree.”