Part 2: Special Series “Treasure Hunting” Wheeling and Dealing

Hunting Tips for Sports Memorabilia, Vinyl Records

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Life is one big treasure hunt if you know when and where to look. 

“There’s never been a problem finding collections of inventory,” said Owner of Vinyl Cave Records and The Globe in Superior, Tom Unterberger. 

Unterberger gave us some hunting tips for cool sports memorabilia and vinyl records.

“It’s a constant learning experience.  When you deal in this much stuff you have to know something about everything.”

Beginning collecting can be very exciting. 

But, buying out of emotion can get you into lots of trouble if you aren’t knowledgeable. 

So, Tom advises to do you research!

“You can’t go blind especially when you’re buying collections, you have to know what you’re buying.”

The record store stocks 400,000 titles carrying a fine selection of rock, country, pop and jazz. 

So, how did he get all those in just 13 years?

“When something gets popular, we build into it.”

Tom says knowing your audience plays a huge role in knowing what to collect. 

“We have a specific item we are looking for usually.  Collections come in all the time.”

Sometimes that might mean you have to travel to increase your product. 

“I traveled quite a bit out to the Dakotas.  I used to go to shows in the Cities and we’d buy out a dealer when we went to a show.  Just kept increasing inventory.”

Location is key. 

Walking down tower avenue is a huge collectibles corner. 

“We have comic books, sport cards, spots memorabilia, magic gathering, Pokemon, Yugio, just about anything you can collect.” 

But, sometimes the products may just come to you. 

“A lot of it just walks right in.  If we treat somebody right on a purchase, we seem to get a lot more from that by word of mouth.”

Collecting can be very rewarding. 

“You just love having it, you enjoy having it, you enjoy listening to it, it’s just something you can’t really put into words.”

Who knows, it may become a hobby that is shared by both you and your family.

“You have to have a hobby.  It makes life more interesting.”