My card shop died and the hunt for the Honus Wagner of junk wax?

I dropped in at my LCS, but someone else was running the shop - I'm looking around absentmindedly trying to figure out if there was some kind of change, feeling like I’m in the Twilight Zone since things were just different.

The fact was, my long time LCS was actually bought out [my last visit was in December] and now a new guy owns the place - the longtime shop owner finally made his play to get out of the owning a card shop, that seemed more like a sparsely attended library.

While I wasn't actually on a first name basis with the previous shop owner, I've used my LCS as an outlet for the miscellaneous cards, supplies and loose packs I might purchase every other month or so - who knows if I’ll be back any time soon and wonder if this new incarnation of the shop will last over the next couple of years.

The most familiar card shop to me is an out of town one I may visit only a couple times a year - on a sightseeing trip, I had the opportunity to stop by recently, but was a bit overwhelmed.

I made the trip after a long day and while I feel like I wanted to go to town - I just didn’t know where where to start.

I had looked at the ‘junk wax / junk sets’ display near the entrance - a part of me wants to be tempted by a cheap single box or set purchase, though it’s more crap I’m going to actually pay to take home instead of the other way around.

I picked up a 1990 Fleer factory set for $6 because of a peculiar Jose Uribe [#74] card - which has become infamous because it has been listed on eBay for outrageous sums [from like $25,000-$758,000].

Some people say the card is being used for money laundering purposes - regardless, the notoriety may have driven the card value to like a few bucks [or not].

I fancy myself as a collector who can appreciate the weird stories that may circulate - about the baseball cards I collect.

There were two types of sets available at the shop - the set in the ‘holiday’ box was $15 but I settled for the ‘brown box’ factory set without the full color, graphics.

I thumbed through the set afterwards at Starbucks since was my friend was hanging out there while waiting on me - I was thrilled to find the Uribe, though it was a little off-center, so that jarred me back to reality.