Nation's Top Sports Collectibles Dealers Report Record Sales at West Coast Sports Collectors Expo
This past weekend was a record show for many of the dealers participating at the 23rd West Coast Sports Collectors Expo (WCSCE) at the Hollywood Park Casino & Convention Center. The promoters of the event, Hall of Fame Sports & NAXCOM.com, reported that many of the 250 Exhibitors had record-breaking sales at the event.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 25, 2005 -- This past weekend (2/11-13) was
a record show for many of the dealers participating at the 23rd West Coast
Sports Collectors Expo (WCSCE) at the Hollywood Park Casino & Convention
Center. The promoters of the event, Hall of Fame Sports & NAXCOM.com,
reported that many of the 250 exhibitors had record-breaking sales at the event.
“I have been promoting shows since 1989 and never have I been part of a
show where every single dealer does so well” said co-promoter Eric Beckerman CEO
of NAXCOM.com.
“The attendees that showed up this weekend were here to
buy, There was a lot of money walking around the room and a lot more of the big
collectors flying in from across the country.” said Chris Weber of Hall of Fame
Sports and founder of the show.
Some of the highlights include: McAvoy
Sportscards from Omaha, Nebraska reporting over $35,000 in show sales Andy Madec
Sportscards from Thousand Oaks California, reporting an $80,000 sale to one
customer, JP Cohen of Memory Lane in Orange County, California reporting over
$100,000 in sales, and American Memorabilia from Las Vegas, Nevada reporting the
acquisition of an original 1963 Mickey Mantle Yankees contract, complete with
the original press release on Yankees letterhead.
Many of the 250
dealers reported that they had their best Hollywood Park show ever, including
Brian Marcy of Scottsdale Cards from Arizona, who has participated in all 23
WCSCE shows. Paul Stark of Starx Cards from Denver, Colorado, a long time WCSCE
dealer, also reported a very strong show and made the comment that the Hollywood
Park show is the only major show in the country that is actually gaining in
strength.
One of the sponsors of the event, Global Authentication, also
reported a record number of grading and autograph submissions. Steve Rocchi of
Global Authentication commented that their booth was packed the whole time and
the amount of submissions received was equivalent to their top three National
Shows.
In comparison to previous Hollywood Park Shows which have had
guests such as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Willie Mays, Terry
Bradshaw, & Barry Sanders, the autograph lineup for this show was modest but
well rounded.
Hall of Fame Sports brought in 14 guests to the show
including Kirk Gibson and Dennis Eckersley (only their second appearance
together since the historic 1988 World Series). Steve Sax and a trio of free
Dodger Autograph guests rounded out Saturday’s lineup.
In a rare
appearance, Moses Malone, joined fellow NBA Hall of Famers, George Gervin and
Bob Lanier on Sunday. NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson was joined by UCLA and
USC football stars including, Heisman trophy winner Charles White.
“Autograph sales were strong and all of the guests were in great spirits
which added to the positive experience for our customers” said Chris Weber of
Hall of Fame Sports.
Chris Berry, Director of NAXCOM.com Events Marketing
commented that the show is growing because of both NAXCOM.com and Hall of Fame
Sports growing customer base. Chris also pointed to a very successful radio and
print advertising marketing campaign, along with an affordable but diversified
autograph line-up that helped spur the February show. “We have been successful
in promoting this show because we have the best lineup of dealers in the west.
We had terrible weather and we thought that might affect the show… we were
wrong. In fact the only dealer that I can tell you that didn’t have their best
show, was Bob Rehl of All-Pro Sports Memorabilia from Tampa, Florida, who had
his second best show, right behind last Septembers WCSCE,” said Chris Berry of
NAXCOM.com. (For Hollywood Park show and table information contact e-mail
protected from spam bots at 310.568.8825 x113).
During the show,
NAXCOM.com also announced that it is expanding its shows nationwide with shows
in Honolulu (March 4-5), Kansas City (April 15-17), Denver (May 20-22) and San
Jose (August 12-14). “We are getting a lot of support from our dealers who want
to see us expand, said Eric Beckerman. The dealers supported us through the
first few years of the Hollywood Park show which allowed us to grow it into the
great show it has become today.” An experienced dealer, like Andy Madec, took
the front tables at Hollywood park during the initial slow years and now he is
embedded with those front two spots. Any savvy dealer will do the same for our
new shows which will probably take a couple of years for us to
build.”
NAXCOM.com, who sets up computers at the show to sign-up new
users to their Online Marketplace, also signed up a record number of new users.
“Not only were we thrilled about the record number of users signing up, but
these were quality users that will benefit the most from the NAXCOM.com
Marketplace.” said Bill Elder V.P. Marketing for NAXCOM. NAXCOM.com was recently
ranked the #1 site according to 250 On-line collectors surveyed by Landmark
Communications Inc. In fact in 2004, NAXCOM.com became the fastest growing
Sports Collectibles marketplace, according to Alexa.com (an Amazon Marketing
Research Company) rankings catching Beckett as the most visited Sports
Collectibles only site on the net.
Also at the show, NAXCOM.com
presented Memory Lane with their $10,000 cash grand prize for winning the first
annual Vintage Invitational. At the presentation NAXCOM.com announced that
Vintage Invitational II is starting with qualifying rounds on March 1st. The
Grand Prize will again be a $10,000 cash prize. “It will be interesting to see
what happens as Memory Lane, Inc. defends their title from the 2004 Vintage
Invitational contest.” said Kevin Klein, NAXCOM.com Director of Business
Development. “I spoke with a lot of the Vintage Dealers at this weekends show
who guaranteed me that Memory Lane will not repeat as Vintage Dealer of the
Year. So, we’ll see what happens.” For more information about Vintage
Invitational II, go to www.naxcom.com or contact Kevin Klein at e-mail protected from
spam bots or 310.568.8825 x102.
The next shows at Hollywood Park are
June 3, 4 & 5 and then September 9, 10 & 11. Hall of Fame Sports,
announced that Hall of Famer Johnny Bench will be appearing at the next
Hollywood Park Show on June 3 – 5. For autograph information contact Hall of
Fame Sports at 909.592.1357 or visit HallofFameSports.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb212175.htm