Take me out to Burbank Sportscards

Jackson Bell

The inventory at Burbank Sportscards is almost vast enough to give

everyone in the Los Angeles area their own trading card.

With a stock of more than 8 million trading cards and growing, the

5,100-square-foot store, owned and managed by the father-mother-son

team of Stephen, Elaine and Rob Veres, barely has the capacity to

contain its enormous selection.

But that size can be viewed as a metaphor for the owners’ passion.

“I love sports and I love the business, which I’ve been doing for

23 years now,” Rob said. “I love going into work every day and

talking sports with the customer and making money at it.”

And good money. When he was 12, Don Osborne Collectibles hired

Rob to manage the sports-trading card section of the store. He said

that as a teenager, he was making $1,500 daily.

Eventually, Rob bought the business, started working with his

family and changed the store to its current name.

Burbank Sportscards boasts the largest selection of

sports-specific trading cards in the world with customers from across

the globe who either shop via the Internet, which comprises roughly

85% of their sales, or make special arrangements to visit the store.

Although he wouldn’t disclose the worth of his inventory for

security reasons, Stephen did say Burbank Sportscards sell more than

100,000 trading cards a month, ranging in prices from 25 cents to a

$3,500 Goudey-brand Babe Ruth card from 1933.

He believes the success of the store is attributed to one reason.

“One of the keys to any hobby -- and that is what this is, a hobby

-- is to have fun,” Stephen said. “You don’t need a lot of money to

buy baseball cards.”