Lincoln baseball card shop celebrates 30 years, still going strong

LINCOLN, NE — You never know exactly what you’ll find when Wes Johnson opens one of his display cases.

The mystery of sports trading cards is why Johnson has operated Wes’ Baseball Cards in east Lincoln since 1990.

“The fun thing about opening up packs is you just never know what you’re going to get. It’s like a little present every time you open one up.”

Johnson celebrated the store’s 30th birthday last month. The idea of owning a card shop first popped in his head during a marketing class at Lincoln East High School.  Years later, a conversation with his dad pushed him to open his own store.

“I was like, ‘You know, I’m scared. What happens if I don’t do well, what if I fail?’ He was like, ‘Hey try it. You never know, you gotta try it and if it works out that’s great.’”

Taking that risk led to Johnson living out his dream over the last three decades.

“It felt really good. It’s also about the people that come in that I’m able to talk to, get to know and learn about them and their families.”

He’s seen plenty of trends and fads as a small business owner, but never something like the pandemic. He was worried… but it turns out people’s inactivity has rekindled interest old hobbies.

“They’ve got out their cards and have said, hey let me start collecting again. More people have actually got into it again.”

Video games, smart phones and social media put sports stats and entertainment at your fingertips now. But Johnson says cards will always have a place.

“People like to see it in their hands and like to go and say, ‘hey I have a card, hey I have this person’s rookie card.’ I think people like to have tangible stuff too.”

And he has 30 years in business to prove it.