YORKTON — Local sports fans and collectors gathered at Skies the Limit Fireworks and Toys April 12 for an afternoon dedicated to hockey card trading.
Store owner and operator Joseph Schmieder organized the trade day to provide enthusiasts with a space to swap and complete their collections.
“We've got a hockey trade day. Kids come in with their parents or whoever, and they can trade their hockey cards back and forth amongst each other to complete their teams or get cards,” said Schmieder.
Though collecting remains popular, Schmieder noted that formal trading opportunities in the city have been scarce.
“I don’t think I’ve seen it at all in years,” said Schmieder, adding, “I heard Tim Hortons did something in the fall and that kind of inspired me to do it too.”
Schmieder said he regularly sees customers buying hockey card packs week after week but without a designated space to exchange them. His experience hosting Magic: The Gathering events, where players frequently swap cards before gameplay, further cemented his idea for the hockey card gathering.
“It was like, ‘Well, that’s how they trade their cards,’ they need a place. So that was the idea—to just have a place here,” said Schmieder.
While some collectors debate whether hockey card trading is making a resurgence, Schmieder believes the hobby never truly disappeared. He attributes interruptions in trading to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily halted social gatherings.
"I don't think hockey collections have ever stopped," said Schmieder, “we had COVID pass by years back, and all these groups kind of broke apart, and people didn’t connect as fast together. It takes a while to get things back.”
With multiple families arriving within the first hour of the event, Schmieder expressed optimism about the future of hockey card trading in Yorkton.
“Even if it doesn’t go well I’ll do it again,” said Schmieder, adding that he hopes to host similar events at least a couple of times a year.
