BIG BREAKS
Breaking was on a smooth path to becoming a giant segment in the trading card industry. When the pandemic struck and businesses started shutting down in the United States in March 2020, people were stuck inside with time on their hands and money in their pockets. Collectors wanted to get their trading card fix, and many jumped into breaking. Breaking operations began popping up overnight in the basements of dealers and new collectors were eager to try out something different, something a little riskier with a gambling aspect to it.
The pandemic and the rise in popularity of breaking is what David Gelfman considers a black swan event. The up-tick in breaking would have happened anyway, it just happened much quicker during the pandemic.
“I am seeing a significant increase in every facet,” said Gelfman, who owns “So, I’m seeing more kids getting involved. I have kids in this local community that were like friends of friends of ours that contacted me because they know I’m in the business. I’m helping these kids, teaching them how to livestream, how to case break, what products to offer, how to price it. Now you have middle school, high school kids that are doing mini breaking operations for their friends and their communities
