The owner of New Wave Hobbies, Kenny Long, has worked normal day jobs before, clocking in and out for nearly 10 years.
Long simultaneously sold collectibles online, usually sports cards and video games, in the earliest days of eBay and Craigslist.
“I’ve known this stuff my whole life,” said Long, looking around his Dickson store filled with various popular characters and sports stars.
So, four years ago, he looked at his two income sources. Long realized he enjoyed and “believed” in the success of collectibles more – and he made more money with those online sales.
Now, Long avoids making internet sales. He wants to sell items face-to-face in New Wave Hobbies. He greets multiple customers on a recent afternoon while flipping through Pokémon cards and making “dad jokes.” A staff member cleans a newly purchased Batman collectible with a Lysol wipe and brush.
“I know Dickson. I’ve been here my whole life,” Long said. “I understood that Dickson needed a card shop. I love doing it. I love being around this stuff. Everything I sell, I like.”
“This is my collection. This is how I collect,” he added.
Expands, even during pandemic
New Wave first built up business in back of a retail strip mall space on Henslee Drive – “just so it wasn’t in my house” – before moving to the front.
“It was just taking a chance,” said Long, adding it started “slow, real slow.”
Then, Long took another chance moving to the current location in November 2020 in the Preston Thompson shopping space, next to Miss Amy’s Dance.
“This market has expanded since the pandemic, for sure,” said Long about his business over the last year.
“We are very, very steady and people bring stuff in almost every single day,” Long said.
He said the shop stays busy with people buying, selling and sometimes simply looking at the collection. One such sale occurred recently when G.I. Joe’s 7-foot-long U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier toy was set up in store. The ship, produced in the mid-1980s and likely the largest toy playset ever made, is still on display in the store.
“It’s really four stores in one, which is by design,” Long said.
Those “four stores” are the most popular items: video games, collectibles, sports cards, and Pokémon cards.
“We have continued to try new things and changed things up,” said Long, noting at one point the store had eight TVs on the wall for video gaming. He took them down to make space, including a wall know lined with G.I. Joe collectibles.
Long is particularly proud of the store’s Pokémon card trade nights where they give away a pack of cards and allow a space for kids to trade and show off their cards.
“This is something I am very passionate about. The interaction you get as opposed to going to Walmart or going to Amazon…it’s getting lost more and more,” Long said.
Long said he still enjoys hearing the excitement from first-time shoppers and interacting with customers.
“I’ve known this stuff my whole life,” Long said. “I just knew (the store would work).”
