Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Bubnis.
Hi Phil, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I start the sports card hobby about 20 years ago (2005) when I inherited my older brothers two sports cards he collected when he was young. (He passed away in 2002). I stopped at a sports card store in Orem Utah and met the owner Rodney Eastman. In addition to the regular sports cards, he showed cards that were actually autographed by the player or contained a piece of their actual uniform, a piece of baseball bat, etc. that were randomly inserted in boxes of cards. That hooked me and I enjoyed the hobby for 10 years. About a year after retiring from my employer of 32 years I decided to set up a booth at a couple of local town days (Spanish Fork Fiesta Days and Springville Art City Days). It was a lot of work but I enjoyed meeting and interacting with people, some of whom come in our store nearly (8) years later. After doing that for (3) summers, I found a location in my home city of Spanish Fork where I could set up a sports card/sports memorabilia store and with the support of my wife, leased the building for two years. I opened the store in August of 2019. My advertising consisted of customers I had previously met at the shows, newspaper ads and ribbon cutting by our local Chamber of Commerce.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a relatively smooth road. My timing was extremely lucky. After I opened in 2019, there were some rookie athletes entering the NBA, NFL and MLB that people were following and wanting to collect their rookie cards, etc. When the covid pandemic hit 2020, people had more time on their hands and discovered hobbies including sports cards.
Access to product is another challenge that we have navigated over the years with the help of our wholesale distributors. Our relationships with them is what has allowed us to compete and grow over the years since we opened.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Throughout my life I have always like interacting with people. I worked for and with some incredible people though out my career with an electric utility company. My relationships with my wife, family, friends and coworkers have always been important in my life. I saw the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” during my senior year in high school and the quote at the end of the movie from the angel Clarence “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends” has resonated with me throughout my life.
I think that has carried on with me in our store. I love to interact and share the hobby with the community young and old. I’ve met so many incredible people. I say, the cards are just the conduit for the interactions we have with our customers. My office wall at the store is covered with letters, Christmas cards, etc. from kids and customers over the years, We have collection of coins and patches from the many police officers, firefighters and military servicemen that have come in the store. I have a notebook under my cash register where I’ve used since day 1 to write down people’s names so I could remember them when they came back into the store. I always thought that if I had a business, I would want it to be like the TV show Cheers, where everyone knows your name. As far as the store goes, the community it has brought is what I am most proud of.
Any big plans?
Possibly a second retirement but with an aim for our store to continue to be a positive part of the community.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: venue_sports_cards
- Facebook: Venue Sports Cards
