S&S Baseball Cards & Collectibles has been a staple of the baseball card and memorabilia industry for over 50 years. What started as a small hobby shop in suburban Chicago in the late 1960s has grown into one of the largest and most respected vintage card and collectibles dealers in the United States. Their dedication to providing top quality products and excellent customer service has helped foster a loyal customer base and earned them a strong reputation among collectors and enthusiasts.
In 1968, Scott Sloane decided to pursue his passion for sports by opening up a small hobby shop on Main Street in Evanston, Illinois. As a kid growing up in nearby Skokie in the 1950s, he remembers collecting and trading baseball cards with his friends. He maintained his interest in the cards even through college and beyond. Seeing an opportunity when not many shops catered specifically to the growing collector market, Scott opened S&S Hobby Shop with just a few thousand dollars worth of inventory focused mainly on baseball cards from the 1950s and 1960s.
Word quickly spread of the new shop specializing in vintage sports collectibles. Being one of the only such shops in the entire Midwest region helped them gain early customers and build their brand recognition. Throughout the 1970s, they expanded their inventory to include a wider array of vintage cards from other sports like football, basketball and hockey. They also began stocking more current year issues and other collectible items beyond just cards like autographed memorabilia, bobbleheads and photographs to appeal to a broader collector base.
In 1982, Scott’s son Steve joined the growing family business full-time after graduating from college. He brought a lot of fresh new ideas and was more tech-savvy than his father which helped modernize some of their operations and marketing strategies. Under Steve’s leadership in the 1980s, they greatly increased their store size by opening a much larger retail location in nearby Glenview, Illinois. This allowed them to further expand their inventory selection and displays to really showcase their vast product offerings.
A key focus during this time of growth was building trusted relationships with hobby shops and dealers across the country to source bigger collections and make consignment a bigger part of their business model. By the late 1980s, they had developed extensive connections and became a primary buyer and seller between collectors and other stores nationwide. This national reach helped cement their status as a premier vintage sports memorabilia retailer.
The internet boom of the 1990s completely changed the collectibles industry landscape. Many shops struggled to make the transition or maintain relevance. However, S&S adapted rapidly by launching sandsportscards.com in 1995, making them one of the pioneering online vintage card and memorabilia retailers. Their huge inventory database and knowledgeable staff made for a very user-friendly early e-commerce experience. Being an early adopter allowed them to gain even more customers beyond their local markets.
As online sales skyrocketed, they were able to expand beyond just being a eBay seller to building out a full fledged and extremely robust websites with high resolution photos of all their inventory, detailed item descriptions, authentication information, order tracking and other features. Customers could research and purchase from all eras and sports with confidence thanks to their digital presence. This helped further cement their status as a industry power player well into the 21st century.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, they kept pace with evolving technology and buying/collecting trends. Their websites became fully mobile optimized while also enhancing research tools, search functions, grading reports, auction calendars and community forums. S&S was now a true one-stop-shop for collectors both online and through their store locations. To capitalize on the robust vintage card market, they also began specializing more in high-end consignments from estate sales, collecting liquidations and decades old personal collections.
Today, still managed by the Sloane family into its third generation, S&S Baseball Cards & Collectibles operates two large retail stores, state of the art e-commerce platforms and provide authentication, grading and consulting services to dealers, auction houses and collectors worldwide. Their dedication to quality, community involvement and innovation over decades has allowed the company to become a multi-million dollar business and true institution within the hobby. While trends and favorites come and go, the Sloane family legacy of integrity and expertise will likely be a stabilizing force in the industry for many generations to come.
