Island Sports Cards — Local services in Shallotte

I got back into collecting almost a year ago. I travel for work, which means I visit a lot of card shops. Some great, some forgettable. This one stands out for all the right reasons.

• Owner: Friendly, knowledgeable, and clearly runs the shop for collectors. Some shops feel like closed circles catering only to local buddies; this one makes everyone feel welcome. His employee who works on weekends is a class act as well.

• Inventory: Excellent selection of high-end sets, blasters, and hobby boxes. There’s always something worth checking out. Slabs and singles are constantly coming in.

• Pricing: Some of the fairest you’ll find anywhere.

• Trading & Selling: Zach is upfront and transparent. I lowballed on a card once, and instead of taking advantage, he corrected me. That kind of honesty is rare in this hobby.

• Collector-first approach: When new sets drop, he limits purchases so everyone gets a fair shot. That’s next-level thinking and it shows real respect for the collector community.

This is the kind of card shop that restores your faith in the hobby. If you collect for the love of it, you’ll feel right...

⭐☆☆☆☆ This Store Is a Scam Disguised as a Business

This place sold us retail boxes at hobby box prices and thought we wouldn’t catch on. Either the guy’s clueless, or he’s a scammer with confidence. My money’s on both.

The shop looked like a clearance bin threw up. Zero heat, dusty shelves, and the kind of inventory that makes you wonder if he even likes cards. If you’re looking for pulls, good luck — we got better hits from dollar store mystery packs.

Owner had the energy of a Reddit mod on a power trip. Rude for no reason, condescending like he was selling Rolexes instead of marked-up Panini trash.

Absolute joke of a card shop. If you want to get ripped off and disrespected, this is your spot. Otherwise?...

Scalping from distributor allocations, just contributing to the ongoing problems. Most items are 2x msrp, don't support people ruining the hobby.

Reply to the owner: you're beyond shameful man, distributer pricing is not the msrp. Msrp is the retail price it SUPPOSED to be sold for unless you're shady. Distro is even lower but you know that, retail for any in print ETB is $60 msrp, not 100, not 150. You brag about having the most inventory within a certain radius and that's because you're gouging straight from the distributor the same prices as the people scalping for a living. I mean at your prices it basically is a scalp price shop. You are part of...