Banding Together - Celebrating 10 Years of CardCastle
10 years is a major milestone for us and we wouldn't be here without the support of our incredible customers. We wanted to celebrate by shouting out one of our longest standing supporters - Mike Kennedy from Nick Nack's Full Frontal Attack.
Mike started selling TCG singles in 2010 after his time in the YuGiOh pro circuit left him with an enormous collection. From those humble beginnings, he’s grown into a thriving store with a brick-and-mortar location, an e-commerce site, and online marketplace presence. He discovered CardCastle in 2015, just as he was opening his first physical location and has been using the platform to scan and manage his inventory ever since. As the platform improved and expanded, so did his processes - he's now armed with a CardBot and a brand new location.
We sat down with him to hear the story of how he grew his operation alongside us.
CC: When did you start selling TCG singles?
MK: I was playing as a pro YuGiOh player in the 2000’s and built up a huge personal collection. By 2010, I was playing less but realized that I had enough to start selling, so I opened an eBay shop front and started selling at conventions.
CC: What was your first experience of CardCastle like?
MK: Complete honesty - in the early stages the app was pretty clunky. But you reached out to users asking if we’d like to join a Zoom call to talk about your plans. In the call, I could see that you guys were passionate about the industry and you had great ideas about how you were going to improve things. After that call, I saw all of the things you were talking about start to be implemented and that made me really trust that you’d deliver on your promises. The platform may not have been perfect then, but I knew it would get there!
CC: How did you use CardCastle initially?
MK: I was using the app to scan cards and tracking my inventory on the website. I used your pricing data to determine my prices on eBay.
CC: When did you decide to open a brick and mortar location?
MK: I opened my first physical location in Harrisburg, PA. It was on a military base, which had some limitations so we moved to a new location so that we could start offering organized play. We’ve moved twice since as we keep outgrowing our buildings.
CC: What sets you apart from other stores in your area?
MK: I found success early on by focusing on Digimon. At the time, the two other stores in the area had dropped support for it. I started hosting events and that drew a core crowd that has grown since. More recently, we moved to a new location and it's in an old bank. We’re storing all of our singles inventory in the original vault!
CC: How did you find out about the CardBot?
MK: You sent out a newsletter saying that you were planning to develop the machine and wanted to chat about your ideas. I had another call with you and loved everything you were talking about. From the previous call, I knew you would deliver.
CC: How do you use the CardBot in your store?
MK: We mainly use the CardBot to sift for value. We do that as an initial step after taking in collections or cracking packs. That saves us a lot of time down the track as further tasks are only applied to cards that are worth the effort. We use the inventory management software to push new cards to the different channels we sell through.
If you want to support Nick Nack's Full Frontal Attack, you can find them in the following places:
Address: 7761 Allentown Blvd, Harrisburg, PA, 17112, United States
Website: https://nicknacksfullfrontalattack.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickNacksFullFrontalAttack/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicknacksfullfrontalattack/?hl=en
