Midwest Cards brings sports cards, Pokemon and a bar to Arena District
August 27, 2025
Article originally published by Columbus Business First >>
Jim Christy, like many sports card lovers of the 1980s and 1990s, has hauled boxes of old cards from home-to-home for decades now.
While those have nostalgic value, he knew the actual value was minimal thanks to the collapse of the card industry in the 1990s.
So when his business partner John Sickmeyer decided to buy a Michael Jordan rookie card in 2020, Christy was a little surprised.
“He told me people were getting back into collecting and the market was really interesting,” Christy said. “He wanted to do it as an investment piece.”
When Covid-19 hit, Christy and Sickmeyer, like so many others, found themselves with more free time than normal as business slowed for their marketing company Postali.
They started buying and selling cards.
“We thought it could be something fun to do on the side while we try to understand what’s happening in the world,” Christy said.
Four months later, Midwest Cards hired their first employee and decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop to support the initial e-commerce business. That space – in the One Marconi Building in the Arena District – ran for four years before Midwest Cards relocated to a new location at 401 N. Front St. this summer
The new shop is in the basement space that once was the Big Bang dueling piano bar.
Midwest Cards also isn’t just a classic shop with new and old cards, non-sports cards (such as Pokemon) and memorabilia. It has a bar (you don’t have to buy cards to enjoy a beer), a podcast/video studio and will be used for events.
“We wanted to have a family friendly space good for lifelong collectors and for people just getting started in the hobby,” Christy said.
Not that it needs those extra revenue streams.
The industry’s come a long way since that 1990s collapse when too much product and too many retailers flooded the market. But card makers, retailers and investors have learned from those lessons. The card collecting world is now a multi-billion dollar business.
The industry’s in the news this week after a rare card featuring Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant sold for a record $12.9 million.
Columbus Business First talked with Christy about the business the resurgent industry and what’s hot these days.
