What's On Second Sports Cards — Local services in San Mateo

Just browsing through the smaller Streets of San Mateo's dusk experience, before going back to one of my favorite Restaurants to pick up this evening's Dinner choice, without having to stress my kitchen on that fine mid-week hump day, I came across this small baseball and sports card store, which I had come across online once before, when looking for a unique birthday present for a friend's young son not to long ago, and here it was! In bright colors, or the lack thereof. It sure looked different in pictures online! Well, perhaps those posting had been done quite a while back, before the COVID-19 crisis effected our whole planet, and all of us went into "super-savings" mode, which includes but not limits our electricity usage. This business; What's On Second Sports Cards was absolutely partaking in "energy saving" methods of the third kind. In plain : The lack of light, especially with the onset of the evenings darkness, could make prospective customers miss out on this now "pale" seeming existence. Well, ok, appearances are often deceiving, so they say. No deception here though, as the inside of Sport Cards Store resembled much of the outside. I was barely read it by a smaller voice coming from behind the desk. Without getting up he glanced at me and our eyes met. It almost seemed like he wasn't expecting any visitors, at all! Plenty of what it advertised in its name, yes cards, sport cards, but it resembled more a library out if a movie from the 70s, grey, the air smelled of old books and sweet cigars. The silence was almost bothersome. I felt out of place, exchanged a few quick words, information was given monotonous voice, I thanked the man who had remained seated pen in his hand, during this whole time. Outside I was almost glad it was over. I had walked 2 blocks, nearing my point of origin, the Restaurant. I could smell the food, the aroma of a welcoming essence! Dinner time! By then I had just about forgotten this "hole in the wall! Some sports cards...

I recently got back into card collecting and What’s on Second happens to be the first shop that I visited . This shop has a charm if its own and is one of the last few stores that I have ever seen where you get real genuine personal service from the long time owner Jordan . Jordan welcomed me and treated me like a life long customer the very first time we met . He asked questions about what I collect and shared experiences with buying and selling cards . Since then I’ve been a frequent return customer and he makes me feel like a valued customer .one cool thing that I’ve noticed is that no matter how busy the shop gets Jordan has a skill with making sure to acknowledge every customer and taking care of multiple customers at once.

I won’t go into detail but let’s just say he takes good care of repeat customers and you wont find a relationship with any store, let alone the owner like you will at What’s on Second card shop.

I’m not great at reviews , or with words in general but believe me shopping or even just visiting here is an experience and it’s like a small little place untouched by history where business is done the way business should be done and a handshake means something. Just come visit and you will see...

So while going out to dinner with my three sons, we stumbled across this magical little sports card shop. We had dinner reservations so we thought we would hit it up after dinner, but by the time we had finished dinner and walked back the place had closed. There was still someone inside, but thought it must be the people that work there. We went back home, home being Vallejo. My son had looked through the window and saw they had Pokémon cards. Now if you have a kid, or kids in my case that are obsessed with Pokémon cards you know that they sell out so fast it’s ridiculous. We decided to go back the next day to check them out. It was worth it, I bought them a booster box and a trainer box, the owner was super nice and helpful, he let my kids choose their own box out of several. He mentioned it’s the feeling they get when picking the right box. Boy was he right, the booster box had a card worth $500 and several that are rare. This place makes you feel welcome and at ease, with no pressure to buy anything, although you will want to buy...