Got any cheap Mew? asks one buyer, deploying the frantic tone of an addict, albeit one craving a rectangle depicting a creature from the all-conquering Japanese media franchise. Yet more buyers are gathering for a break a session in which they can bid for merchandise such as cards featuring Pokemon or elite footballers, drawn at random from a real or virtual box.
He said he's put in alarm systems and 24-hour security cameras at his collectable card stores in Ajax and Vaughan. The store's staff have vigorous security training and customers have to buzz in at some entrances, Amendola said. I treat it like a bank essentially, he said. In the past five years, the company has had three break-ins, an armed robbery, and six figures worth of mail fraud and theft, Amendola said.
It's now almost impossible to get your hands on newly released cards thanks to an insane rise in reselling and scalping over the past year. Selling on your old cards to collectors has always been part of the hobby, and like baseball cards or Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon cards can sometimes go for thousands of pounds. However, the resale market for Pokemon has climbed so high that even new cards are valued at hundreds, before they've even been released.
