Sports Cards & Gaming Shop Coming to Hellertown
If Robert Parsons was going to open a card shop, it had to be in his own backyard.
The Lower Saucon Township resident and longtime collector will soon open T-Rex Sports Cards & Gaming at 202 Main St. in Hellertown, with a grand opening set for Saturday, Nov. 14. It’s the first brick-and-mortar store for a business he launched more than a decade ago, and Parsons said the goal reaches well beyond the register.
“I’m not one of those guys that’s opening up a business just solely to make money,” Parsons said. “Obviously, you need to make money, you have to pay the rent and everything, but I really want to build a community at the store.”
That plan is already visible before a single pack gets opened. Parsons installed a bike rack out front so local kids can ride over and lock up instead of dropping their bikes on the ground.
“Little things. I don’t make any money from that, but I want them to be able to come and be able to hang out,” he said.
A Shop Close to Home
Parsons said he’d thought about opening a store for a while, but the location had to be right. That meant the community where his family lives and his kids go to school.
“It’s different for me giving back and sponsoring Little League teams and helping out with things when it’s in my own community,” he said. “If I opened up a place 20 minutes away, it’s not the same. I would still give back just because that’s the kind of person I am, but I’d rather give in my own backyard.”
He also sees a gap the shop can help fill.
“In Hellertown and Lower Saucon, there’s not a ton for kids anymore,” Parsons said. “And not that collecting is just for kids. I know collectors that spend millions and millions of dollars on individual cards. Obviously that’s not something kids are going to do, but that’s where the hobby all has to grow from: new people getting into it.”
He added that he isn’t worried about making money off young visitors.
“I just want them to have a good time and help teach them,” he said. “Whenever I’m traveling to shows, I always spend a lot of time giving things away to kids and just talking to them and encouraging them and answering their questions, and I enjoy that stuff.”
From Softball Gear to Star Wars
Parsons, 46, collected as a kid, drifted away from it in his 20s and jumped back in “with both feet” in 2013, when he started T-Rex Sports while he was still living in the Philadelphia area.
The company started out selling baseball and softball equipment. Parsons played travel softball and sold bats, gloves, batting gloves and the company’s own gear at tournaments. Cards gradually took over, and he said he hasn’t really sold equipment in several years. These days he travels the country working card shows. That includes a Dallas show he goes to six times a year and calls his best.
His collecting resume carries some weight, too. Parsons said he owns one of the best Star Wars trading card collections in the world. This summer, he won one of Professional Sports Authenticator’s (PSA’s) best-set-of-the-year awards in the non-sports category. He was still recovering from a broken foot and ankle and flew to Chicago on crutches to accept it.
“I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” he said.
That eclectic streak will show up on the shelves. Along with sports cards, the store will carry non-sports sets such as Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Batman, plus Pokémon and other trading card games.
“I’ll have all the mainstay stuff,” he said, “but I’m going to have stuff in there that (at) other shops you just don’t find.”
Getting to Opening Day
The building has some history of its own. Parsons said it was Hellertown’s original high school, and some of its hardwood floors are about 175 years old. The space was most recently home to Pondelek’s Florist & Gifts. Its Main Street location and available parking sealed the deal for him.
Parsons was healing from his broken foot and ankle in June. He was spending 23 hours a day on the couch with his leg elevated.
“It would’ve been very easy for me to just walk away from it at that point,” he said. “But it’s something I really did want to do, so I stuck with it.”
He’s off crutches now but still goes to treatment several times a week. He admitted the final stretch before opening has been stressful.
A Changing Hobby
Parsons said the industry has “changed multiple times over” since 2013. Fanatics took over the licensing for baseball, basketball and football, which changed how shops get products. Repackers and online breaks have pushed prices for hot cards past what traditional dealers can pay. And phone apps now let collectors check a card’s recent sales in seconds.
“You buy a card and a guy gets hurt, and you lose 40 percent on it,” he said. “It’s just a crazy world now.”
That’s one reason non-sports cards and collectibles such as Pokémon have become so popular with investors. Parsons added that nostalgia is driving a boom in non-sports cards, as collectors with money to spend go after what they loved as kids.
Grand Opening, Giveaways and Hiring
The Nov. 14 grand opening will include giveaways, and nobody has to buy anything to enter a drawing. Parsons said the biggest prize will likely be a brand new PlayStation 5, along with boxes of cards and other items.
The store will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday hours may change to noon to 6 p.m., and he hopes to eventually be open seven days a week.
Parsons is also looking for reliable help to work at the store.
“I like being able to take people under my wing and teach them and help them and show them how to grow,” he said. “I have faith that they can do big things.”
T-Rex Sports Cards & Gaming is at 202 Main St., Hellertown. The store can be reached at 610-419-4192 or sales@trexsports.com, and it’s also on Facebook.
