WATERVILLE, Maine (WABI) – A sports card business popularized by TikTok recently opened a store in Waterville.
“You just get that thrill of either hitting or not hitting a big card and just to see that on my son’s face when we started doing it just lit a lightbulb in my head,” answered Owner Nate Fortier.
After 14 years in the Army, Fortier began growing a business streaming pack openings on TikTok, selling the results.
As the business grew and grew, he knew it could be more.
“At the end of the day, we were like, how do we expand off that? Well, the next step was brick and mortar,” said Fortier.
Especially in the Waterville area.
“It was a need in this community, and we just wanted to help fulfill it,” he added.
The Card Shop, located on College Ave, features a community room full of tv’s, a pool table, an Xbox, and more.
A perfect place to watch football. They don’t want you to just buy a card and leave.
“We didn’t want people to come into the shop, and just be, ‘Oh, I’m gonna spend some money.’ You know, we don’t want that, we don’t want that persona. We want people to be comfortable when they come in here. Just a sense of, if you don’t know anything about cards, we’re going to help you learn something about cards,” said Fortier.
There’s one thing that’s Fortier’s favorite part of owning the business.
It’s not being around sports all day or even the excitement of opening a pack and finding an incredibly valuable card.
“Family’s probably the biggest key to me. I did 14 years in the Army, and I was away too much. Now it’s time to be with them,” Fortier concluded.
Since opening the store, Fortier has also started selling non-sports cards such as Pokémon and Magic the Gathering.
A good amount of their business still comes from online sales. A link to that can be found here.
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