It's been 24 years since an 8-year-old kid named Zack Grakal walked into Matt Federgreen's then year-old Beverly Hills Baseball Card Shop for the first time with his dad and uncle, leaving with a box of 1984 Topps baseball cards and a 1975 Topps Robin Yount rookie card. Zack was hooked, and although Matt didn't know it at the time, he had effectively stoked the fire within his future business partner.
Matt's store quickly became a favorite of the Los Angeles card-collecting community, and his expertise helped him build a national reputation with collectors. Eventually, he was asked to share his knowledge with the world as the baseball card specialist on NBC's Keith Olberman Show back in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, Zack developed a vast collection of his own, eventually refining it to the point when, in 2001, at age of 25, he launched CaliforniaSportsCards.com from his living room. The site quickly became one of the Internet's most popular, showcasing Zack's keen sense of value, as well as his desire to deliver unparalleled customer service.
The two avid collectors, whose friendship and respect for one another blossomed over the years, respectively built impressive inventories and loyal customer bases, and it eventually became clear that they would be stronger as a team than they were on their own. And so, in 2008, Matt and Zack decided to merge, creating a venerable sports card empire that combines Matt's store, which was voted the best in Los Angeles in 2007, and Zack's site, which has doubled its sales every year it's been in business.
The result is a one-two punch that gives serious collectors the best of both worlds—a brick-and-mortar store where local enthusiasts can view product and meet other collectors, and a site that makes it possible for card nuts all over the world to benefit from Matt's and Zack's collective knowledge and experience.
Ask any collector, and they'll tell you:
CaliforniaSportsCards.com + Beverly Hills Baseball Card Shop
= A combination that can't be beat. |
