Topps is an American company best known for manufacturing trading cards, stickers, and other sports and non-sports memorabilia products. For decades, Topps has produced iconic baseball cards that are collected by children and adults alike. Over the years, Topps baseball cards have been manufactured and shipped out from different addresses depending on the era.
One of the earliest Topps baseball card production facilities was located at 38-15 President Street in the Borough of Queens in New York City. This address housed Topps operations starting in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s when the company was first ramping up baseball card production. It was at this Queens location where some of the very first post-World War 2 baseball card sets like 1948 and 1949 Topps were printed.
By the late 1950s, Topps’ business had continued to grow significantly and they needed a larger manufacturing plant. In 1958, Topps moved their primary card production to a new 76,000 square foot facility located at One Whitehall Street in Manhattan. This became the headquarters and production center for Topps baseball cards for many years going forward. Iconic sets of the late 50s and 1960s like 1959 Topps, 1967 Topps, and 1969 Topps were all manufactured at the Whitehall Street plant.
As interest in collecting baseball cards exploded in the late 1960s and 1970s, Topps again found they needed additional space to meet rising demand. In the early 1970s, Topps acquired an even larger 138,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Located at 1500 Oak Street, this became the primary production site for most Topps baseball card sets of the 1970s and 1980s. The Whitehall Street plant remained active to supplement operations. 1975 Topps, 1981 Topps, and 1987 Topps are just some examples of hugely popular sets created at the Duryea facility during this boom period for the hobby.
By the late 1980s, Topps decided to consolidate their baseball card manufacturing entirely to Duryea. This allowed for streamlined production processes and greater efficiencies. In the 1990s, Topps once again started looking for an even larger long term manufacturing site that could propel them into the future. In 1995, Topps opened a brand new 450,000 square foot production facility at One Topps Way in Allenhurst, New Jersey, located along Route 9.
The Allenhurst plant, with over 4 times the square footage of the Duryea facility, became the main hub for all Topps hobby products going forward. Iconic modern sets like 1998 Topps, 2000 Topps, and 2013 Topps were all created at One Topps Way. This state-of-the-art Allenhurst campus also included corporate offices, shipping and distribution centers in addition to advanced printing equipment. The ownership location provided ample highway and shipping access to get products out efficiently.
Today, Topps remains headquartered at One Topps Way in Allenhurst, New Jersey even as the baseball card market has drastically changed over the decades. Their original Brooklyn roots faded long ago but Topps has always adapted to scale up manufacturing as the hobby grew. From Queens to Manhattan to Pennsylvania and finally New Jersey, Topps’ journey reflects how baseball cards went from neighborhood commodity to worldwide phenomenon attracting legions of dedicated collectors near and far. No matter where their cards were printed, Topps has stayed committed to producing affordable and high quality memorabilia for sports fans of all ages.