There are a few key reasons why Target no longer sells traditional baseball cards in their stores. The baseball card collecting hobby has been declining in popularity for many years now due to broader cultural shifts and changes in the sports memorabilia industry. Fewer kids and collectors are buying packs of cards like they used to in the 1980s and 1990s golden era of the hobby. At the same time, Target has had to adapt their retail product mix to focus on more popular and higher margin items.
One of the main drivers of the decline in baseball cards has been the rise of new forms of digital entertainment that have replaced traditional hobbies for many young people. Things like video games, smartphones, Netflix, YouTube and social media have given kids countless other engaging activities to spend their time and money on compared to the past. Opening card packs was once a fun pastime, but it now struggles to compete against all the modern options vying for attention. Fewer kids are developing passions for sports and collecting that would sustain long-term interest in acquiring and trading cards.
Sports themselves have become less culturally central compared to previous generations. While baseball, football and basketball are still popular professionally, youth participation rates in these sports have gradually declined over the last 20 years. Kids who don’t actively play baseball themselves are less enthused to start collecting related trading cards. Without that initial personal connection and fandom established through playing the sport, it’s harder for non-players to develop lasting enthusiasm for cards.
Changes in how professional sports leagues license and market player likenesses have also reduced incentives for card companies to produce as many products. In the past, leagues and teams received little revenue from cards featuring current stars. But now leagues negotiate exclusive deals that allow only officially licensed card manufacturers like Topps to use active rosters, uniforms and team logos. In turn, these companies don’t need to flood the market with as many new card releases each year to drive sales. Combined box sets and curated vintage re-prints satisfy collectors more than endless new variations. There is less need for retailers like Target to stock full shelves of unopened packs waiting to entice buyers.
Memorabilia speculation fueled by rising player salaries inflated the early 90s sports card bubble that eventually burst. In its wake, the industry recalibrated by paring back production levels and focusing more on long-time collectors than casual fans. While cards are still produced, hobby growth slowed without the frenzy of speculation infecting the casual market. Big box retailers saw less reason to invest shelf space chasing diminishing card product turnover. Stores like Target are also facing intensifying competition themselves, forcing difficult merchandising decisions to optimize profitability. Carrying a niche hobby item that doesn’t deliver strong sales no longer makes financial sense for them.
Perhaps most significantly, Target’s own retail strategy has evolved significantly in recent decades. After growing rapidly through the 1980s and 90s focusing on toys, electronics and general merchandise, Target has renovated many locations into larger format storesconcentrating more on apparel, home goods and groceries. This “category killer” strategy better utilizes enlarged footprints by showcasing higher margin product categories compared to lower profit toys, cards and other hobby items. Having successfully carved out a niche between Walmart and department stores, Target can now afford to de-emphasize some underperforming product lines to intensify focus on stronger sellers. Baseball cards simply don’t align very well anymore with the retailer’s goals of reaching more customers and growing average transaction size.
The decreasing popularity of baseball card collecting driven by generational shifts in entertainment, sports fandom and memorabilia speculation, combined with industry consolidation and changes to sports licensing, have greatly reduced demand and overall production levels of traditional card products over the last couple decades. As Target evolved their own business model, dedicating limited retail space to a declining hobby item no longer made strategic or financial sense. While dedicated card shops still exist to serve avid collectors, mass retailers like Target have prudently exited the baseball cards market given the fall in mainstream appeal and sales potential. Their business priorities now lie elsewhere in servicing customers through expanded product categories beyond nostalgic sports cards of the past.
