Baseball cards have been a staple collectible for over a century, dating back to the late 1800s when companies first started producing sets of cards featuring professional baseball players. For most of the 20th century, the primary retailers where fans could purchase packs of baseball cards were specialty hobby shops, corner drug stores, and general merchandise stores like Woolworth’s. In the late 1970s a major retailer would enter the baseball card market that would help bring the hobby to an even wider audience – CVS Pharmacy.
CVS had its origins in 1963 when the Consumer Value Store was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts. Over the next 15 years CVS would rapidly expand across New England and establish itself as a leader in the pharmacy retail industry. As baseball cards grew into a multi-million dollar industry in the 1970s, CVS saw an opportunity to tap into this hobby by stocking packs and boxes of cards in its stores. Starting in 1978, CVS began dedicating shelf space in its stores to carry the latest baseball card releases from the major card companies like Topps, Fleer, and Donruss.
Carrying baseball cards helped draw more customers into CVS locations and exposed the hobby to a new generation of potential collectors. Being located in drug stores and supermarkets helped normalize baseball cards and presented them as an affordable and mainstream leisure activity rather than something only enjoyed by hardcore hobbyists. The large footprint of CVS locations also meant that cards were suddenly available in many more communities across the country compared to the limited stockists that previously dominated the market.
In the 1980s, CVS established itself as THE place to purchase baseball cards in many regions. With the sport and hobby at the peak of their popularity during this decade, demand for packs was through the roof. CVS dedicated more and more shelf space in its stores to accommodate the ever-growing baseball card business. Exclusive CVS promos also became more common where stores would receive limited edition parallel sets or special bonus packs only available at CVS. These exclusives served as an incentive for collectors to do their shopping at CVS over other retailers.
The early 1990s saw the baseball card market start to decline from its lofty heights of the previous decade due to an overproduction of cards that led to a collapse in resale values. However, CVS remained committed to the category and continued stocking new releases to serve the core collectors who remained active in the hobby. In the latter half of the 90s, CVS also started carrying the emerging sport of basketball cards as the NBA gained a larger following and its stars like Michael Jordan became mainstream celebrities.
As we entered the 2000s, CVS had grown to over 5,000 stores across the United States and had solidified its place as one of the largest and most reliable retailers for the trading card community. While the market had evolved and become more niche with the rise of internet sales and specialty hobby shops, CVS still played an important role in exposing new potential collectors to the world of sportscards. In the early 2000s, they also started carrying other popular collectible cards like Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering to appeal to broader demographics within their stores.
In more recent years, the baseball card aisle at CVS has diminished in size compared to the boom era but packs and sets are still consistently stocked. They remain one of the few major retailers that collectors can rely on to find the latest releases from Topps, Panini, and other card companies on store shelves. Their widespread national presence means there is usually a CVS within reach of most communities across America. For casual collectors just looking to rip a few packs or kids wanting to start building their first baseball card collection, CVS provides an accessible retail gateway into this beloved hobby.
After over 50 years in the baseball card market, CVS deserves recognition as one of the key retailers that helped popularize and normalize the hobby from the 1970s onward. By stocking packs and boxes on their shelves, CVS introduced baseball cards to a new generation of fans and collectors. They established an important brick and mortar presence for the trading card community during the golden era when interest was at an all-time high. And even today, CVS still fulfills an important role by ensuring the latest sets remain widely available on physical store shelves for casual collectors. Few other retailers can match CVS’s half century legacy within the baseball card industry.
