Classic Materials Sports & Collectibles — Local services in San Francisco

The employees that work at this store don't really have the greatest customer service skills, and some of them look miserable and don't even seem like they want to work there. One of them (a middle-aged man that walks with a limp, I think) even tried to convince me to spend an extra $40-$50 on a Pokemon TCG: Sword & Shield - Darkness Ablaze booster box (includes 36 packs) priced at $170 in-store, even though they sell online for $125-$130 (including shipping costs + tax). Like, I get that these are the prices that the store owner set, but I tried to haggle the price down to $150 (even then, you're still making a decent profit).

The employee: "You don't even know what condition they're in, or what you're going to get!! You're going to have to wait for it to be shipped, if you buy it online."

You really want me to overpay for something I can get for $40-$50 cheaper online, compared to the $170 you are OVERCHARGING for, simply because I can readily get it in my hands right after purchasing it!? LMFAOO!! C'mon, bruh.

Anyways, I bought a Zekrom & Pikachu GX Premium Collection box for $65 (decently priced, compared to online) and a 50-pack of Card Savers I for $11 (not too expensive for the quality/protection you're getting out of them). Note to reader: The aforementioned products were purchased on 11/14/23, so they may change in price when you go there in 1-2 months or beyond. The store has a great selection of products, but some of them are overpriced by roughly ~10-35%, compared to the prices you can get them for online from Target, Walmart, GameStop, and even the official Pokemon Center website. Also, a VERY NICE collection of Pokemon TCG singles from throughout the past two and a half decades, all laid-out in the middle of the store in lavish display cases as soon as you walk in, as well as on the sides of the main counter on the left side.

Another thing: one of the younger employees (around 5'5") was somewhat rude to me after I made my purchase. When I asked if I could get my receipt as an email (I selected the "Print receipt" option on the portable payment terminal), and he said, "No. You didn't choose email." I then had to explain to him I wanted it as an email, in addition to getting one printed, and he responded with the same line he said previously. My advice to this employee (as I currently work two part-time customer service jobs, and have been since April and June 2023, respectively): When you interact with customers, if they're treating you with respect, you should do the same. And, if you can't separate your personal problems and not allow them to bother you at work and project that stress/frustration onto customers, how can you expect them to respect you? Other than your other job duties, answering simple product questions from customers and handing them products from behind the counter/in the display cabinets so that they can get a better look at the contents is SO EASY.. so...

I would like to share my experience as new collector and finding out this place gave me more joy than buying boxes online from TCGPLAYER witch its supposed to be a legit store but after 3 boxes from them only 68 decent cards that stand out from the rest and 1 good hits per box ish some packs didn’t even had good hits or it was a repeat mind you its a box of 12 cards per pack and each box has 24 packs you can do the math on that I really just love dragon ball and wanted to do it not for profit but for joy but after 3 boxes that cost me $95 from TCGPLAYER each box and only finding less than 20 really good hits on 72 packs of 12 cards per pack I was feeling like I was just wasting money and kinda gave up hope on keep doing that

But for my birthday I’ve got a present from my girl and it’s a. Dragon ball super card game fushion world ultra limit 24 packs in the box that she got from classic materials sports & collectives I really thought it was gonna be another box with few hits as I was used to it but to my surprise after only 4 packs opened I already had 6 good hits and 12 cards that stand out from the rest i thought ive found a God pack with this box cus it was going great well after opening the rest of the pack 24 packs that had the box I’ve got 50 cards that stand out from the rest and just 2 repeat i honestly don’t know how much luck can u get for that but with the experience of opening 3 boxes more than 850 cards from the packs of TCGPLAYER and only find 68 good cards to just open a single box from this other shop and find out 50 not repeat and shiny cards ( means the cards that aren’t the commons) and 3 secret cards+ 6not secret but super rare with the star next to SR* it’s been the best box I’ve opened im definitely going back there and try to get me another lucky box

Probably it’s not the same for everyone and we all want really good hits but sometimes you don’t get much luck and sometimes you find God packs so if you do it thinking you gonna find cards that are worth $2k or stuff like that may god give you all the luck but card games aren’t just for that at least for me it was joy of loving a series of dragon ball and anything related to that I wanna get it this place seems to be the spot where I get my stuff . Well that’s until my luck runs out 😆😆 Prices are fair I mean yeah you can save $5$10 buying online but you gotta wait 5-14 business day to get it so idk how worth that is vs just getting to a local store and pay $10-20 bucks more I mean that’s the business so I’ll say it’s fair hope it helps and if you reading this and buy a box from this place hope you get the same luck...

I stopped by Classic Materials Sports & Collectibles on a whim, and I’m really glad I did because the visit honestly made my day. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a worker named Logan who was super welcoming and easy to talk to. I mentioned I was interested in looking at Pokémon cards, and he was quick to help and walk me through everything they had.

I’ve been into Pokémon for a little while, so I thought I had a decent understanding of the hobby. But I didn’t realize how many different types of cards were out there until I saw their selection. They had not just English packs but also Japanese, Korean, and Chinese ones, which I had never seen in person before. I had a lot of questions about the differences between them, and Logan patiently explained everything in a way that made it really easy to understand. It was clear he actually enjoyed talking about it, which made the experience even better.

They also had a display case of single cards for sale, which definitely caught my eye. There were a few cards I was really tempted to pick up, and I’ll probably be back for those soon. In the end, I walked out with a Japanese Surging Sparks pack, a Chinese Prismatic Evolution, and a Black Voltage Elite Trainer Box. The prices were a little above online listings, but that’s expected at a local shop. They were still close to market value, and the convenience and personal service made it completely worth it.

I left the shop feeling excited and in a better mood than when I walked in. The whole experience reminded me why I enjoy collecting in the first place. I’ll definitely be...