Parents looking for Pokémon cards, or any trading cards, for their kids in the Lewisburg Walmart might have noticed empty shelves over the past few weeks. The cards will soon be restocked and relocated in the store due to safety concerns, clean-sweep inventory purchases, and theft emerging from the skyrocketing price of cards online.
According to Marketplace, sales of Pokémon and other trading cards have skyrocketed since the beginning of 2020. Several celebrities, such as the rapper Logic and Youtuber Logan Paul spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cards. Some nostalgic collectors remember the hobby from their youth and decided to try again during COVID-19 shutdowns. As a result, popularity has surged – now collectors and scalpers both want more and more cards.
The Lewisburg Walmart has been no exception to the craze. Although there are rumors of a fight that took place in the Lewisburg store, no one has been able to confirm this with The West Virginia Daily News, including Lewisburg Chief of Police Chris Teubert. However, the vendors stocking these cards have been nervous with the extra attention from customers.
“The vendors ARE being harassed and stalked at certain stores,” said one anonymous employee of the Lewisburg Walmart. “A friend of mine is a vendor and once when I saw her in Covington she had two other of her employers associates practically guarding her while she stocked the cards, and I noticed 5 guys watching from the stationary aisle (which was in line with where the cards are stocked).”
Recently, Target stores announced they would no longer be carrying the cards due to violent incidents in their stores, such as the arrest of four individuals who assaulted a fifth in Wisconsin. The victim chased the attackers away after drawing his concealed carry gun.
A common reason for the sweeping purchases is resale value online. Some rare cards can be sold for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, leading some scalpers to purchase entire inventories to resell online for a huge profit.
“We’ve had people from Covington, Beckley, Charleston, etc, drive here for trading cards,” the employee said. “They’d also send in multiple people and go to different registers. … One customer informed me of a card he found used to resell for about $10, now, [sells for] almost $50 to $75.”
The employee told The West Virginia Daily News that the cards are flying off the shelves, both through single individuals purchasing the entire inventory and theft.
“After inventory back in March, we were short $1,000+ in trading cards,” they said. “[They were] stolen. That’s just Lewisburg.”
Some stores are even locking down selected cereals, such as Trix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which carry packs of Pokemon cards inside the box. Locally, the Lewisburg Walmart will be moving all trading cards from the front of the store to the back.
“We’ve removed them from their designated aisles, and as of next week, they’re going to be locked in a store room and only certain associates (I think Electronics) will have the keys to that room and it they can only be purchased between designated times,” the employee said.
With the new rules in place, local parents and collectors should hopefully be able to get ahold of packs once again.
“It’s frustrating as someone who collects the cards as a hobby, since these people are just doing it to turn a quick buck,” said Alex Smertneck, friend of the author and Pokemon card aficionado. “I used to buy about a pack weekly whenever I would go to the grocery store, but since November I haven’t even seen the shelves stocked in [my local] Walmart.”
A request for comment from Lewisburg’s Walmart managers was redirected to corporate-level public relations.
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