Snider Plaza Baseball Cards was a staple card shop located in downtown Toronto, Ontario from the late 1970s until its closure in 2020. The shop was founded by lifelong baseball fanatic Don Snider, who sought to share his love of the game through his collection and retail business. What began as a small 200 square foot space inside a strip mall grew to be one of the largest and most renowned card shops in Canada.
For over four decades, Snider Plaza Baseball Cards was a Mecca for collectors across the Greater Toronto Area. On any given afternoon, the shop would be packed wall to wall with patrons of all ages eagerly searching through rows upon rows of binders bursting with cards. Don took pride in maintaining one of the most expansive inventories in the business, with representations from each year of baseball card production dating back to the very first sets produced in the late 19th century.
In the shop’s early years during the 1970s and 80s, the hobby was still in its relative infancy and focused mainly on classic sets from the 1950s like Topps and Fleer. However, Don had an keen eye for emerging trends and capitalized on the rising popularity of rookie cards for young stars like Cal Ripken Jr. and Mark McGwire. He also stocked unopened boxes of the inaugural Stadium Club, Bowman, and Ultra sets that contained rookie gems like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., and Derek Jeter long before they became household names. This foresight established Snider Plaza as a premier destination for investors and enthusiasts actively building their collections.
The 1990s boom period was truly the golden age for Snider Plaza. Business was never better as interest in the hobby skyrocketed nationally. On release days, lines would form out the door before sunrise as fans eagerly awaited the latest packs and boxes to hit the shelves. Signings from visiting former players also became a regular occurrence, with autograph sessions featuring the likes of Dave Stewart, Darryl Strawberry, and Ozzie Smith drawing crowds that filled the small shop to capacity. The explosive popularity led Don to pursue an ambitious expansion that doubled the retail space.
This new larger location allowed Don to better showcase the immense stock that was continually growing through purchases from other collectors and retired dealers. Every imaginable sport and brand imaginable had representation at Snider Plaza, from the exceedingly rare to the recently printed. In addition to the traditional “big 3” of baseball, football, and basketball, even obscure niche collections like cricket, hockey, soccer, and non-sport offerings became fully fleshed categories thanks to Don’s obsessive acquisition habits. The shop’s inventory became so extensive that an entire additional storage warehouse was eventually needed just to house all the overflow.
As the onslaught of new sets in the late 90s and 2000s threatened to make organization a nightmare, Don spearheaded the development of an intricate electronic database system. Every single card was carefully logged with attributes like player, team, year, condition and assigned a unique barcode. This allowed for lightning-quick lookups to satisfy customer requests and maintained an accurate real-time inventory even as tens of thousands of cards changed hands on a weekly basis. It became a model for card shop management that shops across the continent sought to emulate.
Don’s diligence and custom build database paid major dividends, as it gave him the capability to keep pace with collectors constantly on the hunt for the elusive “need” to complete prominent vintage sets or high-end modern parallels. Being able to source virtually any card on demand cemented Snider Plaza’s top-tier reputation. It also turned the store into a hotspot for online wholesalers constantly replenishing their websites with fresh product sourced directly from one of the largest brick-and-mortar stockpiles anywhere. Even as internet sales rose, Don proved nimble in embracing dual in-store and online sales models to maintain robust business.
Tragically, Don Snider passed away suddenly in 2013 at the age of 65 after contracting an aggressive form of cancer. The future of the beloved shop was thrown into doubt, but his family thankfully chose to keep the business running in his memory. Under the leadership of Don’s daughter Stephanie, Snider Plaza continued thriving through the 2010s by upholding his legendary standards of customer service, selection and competitive pricing. Changing collector habits and the rising importance of e-commerce proved difficult to fully overcome. After over 40 years of operation, the shop was closed for good in September 2020 due to declining profits no longer being sustainable in the modern retail landscape.
While sad for the industry, the colorful history and legacy of Snider Plaza Baseball Cards lives on. For countless Ontario collectors, it was their most cherished hobby store that fostered a lifetime passion. Not only was it the place to discover the latest shiny cardboard, it was a meeting grounds for community and connection between like-minded people. Few shops anywhere rivaled its sheer enormity and dedication to maintaining an unparalleled selection for every taste or budget. Under Don’s visionary leadership, Snider Plaza left an indelible mark on the Canadian sportscard scene. It remains the gold standard against which all future card emporiums will inevitably be measured.
