Gotta catch them all, hours of waiting to buy Black Friday Pokemon cards

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — While millions of Americans indulged in their Black Friday shopping, hundreds of people lined up outside stores in Shanghai Plaza looking for Japanese collectibles, including Pokémon trading cards.

This morning, owner Peter Chen runs two stores specializing in Japanese collectibles, each with hour-long lines. Many customers waited over two hours to shop at trading card and Japanese collectibles store 888 Collectibles and Japanese toy and plush store Kuma Co.

A true collector, Chen began collecting with the original Pokémon Trading Card Game Set, released in 1999.

“I collected Pokémon cards when I was in high school. At first I really enjoyed the game, and then as I got into the cards, it just became fun to collect them,” said Chen. “When I was little I had four pages of Charizards. Unfortunately, I sold most of them during college because I was broke trying to get more money for ramen.”

In 2022, a shadowless first edition would make headlines as it was auctioned for $420,000.

However, Chen said he doesn’t like looking at cards solely for monetary value.

“Pokémon spans many generations,” Chen said. “I’m 40 now and I still enjoy it. And even small children who come to my shop have fun with it. So it’s nice to connect with all ages with just one thing: Pokémon.”

Collector Abraham Davie was hoping to purchase packages of Evolving Skies, best known for the rare “Moonbreon” card that can be worth up to $1,800. But to his dismay, the last box was sold just minutes after he was able to enter the store.

“The shortage of all the packs was a bit of a problem, at least for me,” Davie said, hoping to buy five packs of cards on Black Friday.

Given the high demand, it may be difficult for card lovers to purchase the sets they want, Chen said. Stores often limit the number of items that can be purchased, but sellers can still run out of inventory quickly, he continued. Some people buy up card sellers’ inventory to resell collections or individual cards, Chen said.

“At Walmart and Target they’ll restock, and then they’re just gone.” The second it’s there. You know, some people who have normal jobs can’t really get something like that. Therefore, it is difficult for casual people to still enjoy the hobby.”

Collector Zoey McIntosh was hoping to purchase some Scarlet & Violet Pokémon 151 booster packs or Inteleon Pokémon cards, but had trouble getting them.

To prepare for Black Friday, Chen has been saving some supplies throughout the year, he said, with the goal of offering, at least for a few hours, a card shop experience with some of the largest variety of Pokémon cards in the world.

“Pokémon is really popular right now. It’s sold out everywhere. Sometimes you can get it at Target or Walmart, but overall it’s in high demand,” Chen said.

Javen Miguel, a regular at 888 Collectibles, said he was thrilled when he learned about the store’s Black Friday sales.

“When I come here, it’s normal that they are often out of stock,” said Miguel, who used to shop. “It was kind of strange coming in and seeing everything was full. They had pretty much anything you wanted.”

Chen said they have done their best to maintain available inventory, especially for popular sets.