A midpoint review of my National experience

[SearchPatrol]

Hope all is right for all of you.

1st Off - What an experience. Never thought I would attend a card show as fun as 2021 National. This is better! Just the amount of cards and all the people. Just so many people having a great time. Kids having good fun. I never though cards would be this popular. The hobby is VERY STRONG.

Wednesday- Drove in from Wisconsin. Got in the area around noon. Traffic was bad about a mile out. I guess that should be expected so close to the airport. But much worse than say 2015. Easy to get VIP bag, only took a few minutes. Boy did they sell a lot of VIP badges. Good for them at close to $200 each. Once on the show floor, WOW.

Anyone who has a "bad" National can only blame bad inventory or high prices. You walk in and tables are surrounded by people. Now as some have pointed out, some places are hotter (temp wise) than others. If you have a $.10 box in a "hot" area, sales might be slow. But, I think that's more the selection. But as others have pointed out, YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION. A low end table could be next to a high end table. It feels strange seeing so many Ohtani, Mahomes, Brady, Jordan, Kobe autographs. Just the number of great cards is something special.

If I ran the show it would just stay here in Rosemont. This show right now is just such a huge success.

[mrb842]

Originally Posted by SearchPatrol

Hope all is right for all of you.

1st Off - What an experience. Never thought I would attend a card show as fun as 2021 National. This is better! Just the amount of cards and all the people. Just so many people having a great time. Kids having good fun. I never though cards would be this popular. The hobby is VERY STRONG.

Wednesday- Drove in from Wisconsin. Got in the area around noon. Traffic was bad about a mile out. I guess that should be expected so close to the airport. But much worse than say 2015. Easy to get VIP bag, only took a few minutes. Boy did they sell a lot of VIP badges. Good for them at close to $200 each. Once on the show floor, WOW.

Anyone who has a "bad" National can only blame bad inventory or high prices. You walk in and tables are surrounded by people. Now as some have pointed out, some places are hotter (temp wise) than others. If you have a $.10 box in a "hot" area, sales might be slow. But, I think that's more the selection. But as others have pointed out, YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION. A low end table could be next to a high end table. It feels strange seeing so many Ohtani, Mahomes, Brady, Jordan, Kobe autographs. Just the number of great cards is something special.

If I ran the show it would just stay here in Rosemont. This show right now is just such a huge success.

there was just more of everything everywhere and the best part was seeing that while online forums like this and even worse social media conversation is dominated by breakers, clown influencers and fanatics, you go to the show and you see how small they are compared to everything else. Their setups are basically massive pieces of plastic wall, some cameras, music, a bunch of dudes with hair gel in matching shirts standing around next to a guy with a fake security badge, a picture or two and roughly the same number of customers/attendees as some of the bigger bargain box booths. Change cards and the pictures and they could be four loko, tequila, or some other fad like new coke.