Walked into a coin store.....

My wife and daughter had their teeth cleaned and I figured while they were getting that done I would head to one of the coin shops on my list of shops to hit in the state of Michigan over the summer(this was #10). They had good reviews on yelp and google so I thought I'd find something good.


As soon as I walked it I seen it was a nice clean store with lots of display cases. I start looking at the displays and see your normal US mint stuff right at the front of the store and then more low dollar stuff moving towards the center of the store, and then the worker who was on the phone when I walked in asked if he could help me with anything. I told him I was looking for nice NGC and PCGS coins, something you would except to see in a coin shop.


To my surprise and shock, I was told to go online and check their inventory and give them a call and let them know what I wanted to see and they'd bring it in to check out. He said they are mostly a bullion shop. Based upon the reviews this isn't what I was expecting at all. I gave myself an hour to look at inventory but since I walked in and walked out I was able to hit up a pawn shop and a jewelry store. Nothing at either. Very disappointed in the trip, I had much higher expectations.

Is this normal? Do you normally call ahead to a new coin shop to ask what they have? I thought that would be redundant and would be laughed at by the owner.... but now I'm starting to wondering if I should call ahead.

 

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That's seriously screwed up.

I've gotten the "we don't have a store-front, only online", but never something like this.

 

The only "LCS" near me has a pretty big online presence. I go in occasionally for their world coin junk bin though it is over-priced. One day I went in with a bit over $3k to buy a couple of ounces of gold. I asked what their prices were on a couple of coins and was immediately told to check on their website. The owner barely looked up from what he was doing to tell me that. I said thanks but no thanks and left. Granted $3k probably isn't much to them but to me it is and I'd rather spend it at a place who treats their customers with a modicum of respect.

 

There is a shop near me, that has a lot of coins listed on eBay. I've gone into their shop before expecting to see some decent inventory in person. But upon arriving, I found the same thing you did, a bunch of cheap inexpensive inventory. If there was something I wanted to see that they had on eBay, I needed to email or call them with the item number and description, then they would bring it in. Needless to say, I've never gone back in and I refuse to even look at their eBay stuff.

 

I don't trust a coin shop unless there is some degree of clutter.

 

It may be the wave of the future. But from the business side of it, they messed up. You don't judge a book by it's cover and risk losing a big sale because of a poor work ethic and poor customer relation skills.
All of these places have websites. But who knows what the traffic is. If you are not directed to go there, they are missing more business than they realize.

 

Very true!

Unfortunately this is not the wave of the future, quite a few coin shops have operated with poor work ethic. Several years back I decided to visit some other coin stores in my state and had multiple poor experiences. One shop had a bunch of guys sitting in the back and chatting. It took some effort to get one of them to finally come forward and show a coin (and it turned out to be a waste as the coin was overpriced). A few others-where the person actually bothered to talk to me-had very little knowledge of the items I was interested in at that moment (most didn't know anything about newer US Mint releases or world coins).

 

Sadly the OPs tale is a common one. Chicken and egg I am afraid. Since so many collectors now go online for purchases, most stores do not stock in the store valuable stock. Most storefronts basically just purchasing fronts.

 

I think a lot of coin shops these days are first and foremost bullion shops. Bullion is easy to understand for buyers and sellers alike. Bullion, not numismatics, is what brings people through the doors. As a coin collector, you just have to work around that.

 

Sounds more like the diamond trade.
Shop online and they will bring it in for you to look at.
With diamonds there are multiple dealers looking to sell the same stone.

 

If your looking for a good coin shop in southeastern michigan .
Here's a very good one .
https://www.openingtimes.co/coin-exchange-center-line-mi

 

I don't even bother going to a so called coin shop any more. It's a total waste of time, unless you want to buy or sell bullion.
The closest one to me, the guy is miserable but successful.

 

Had the same sort of experence in Annapolis. Asked to see some h-10s the guy asked what dates I said all ...as one never knows if they will find an up grade.
He walks in the back comes out with pages of print outs.
This was their inventory printed images of the coins I wanted to see in hand.
I was so put off I just said thank you no.....
WTH?
A store front coin shop that you need to shop on line? No thanks I also gave them a poor review. Thats just so stupid to my way of thinking paying rent in a store selling on line? No thanks I'll spend my cash elsewhere.

 

PM me, I'd like to know which Michigan shop this was ?
I don't get around to many shops but that would be one to bypass.

 

There are dealers that have to store some inventory offsite. There can be several reasons. Security, vault space and insurance requirements are a few. Some dealers use a second secure location just for online sales.

With that said, you would think that a smart dealer would keep some of his better goods in the store.

 

My experience also. The trouble is that I rarely know what I want until I see it.

 

My guy has a lot of cases with mid level stuff on display along side odd collectibles and the like. He doesn't display the good stuff. I don't even ask about the high end coins when others are window shopping in his place. However he doesn't have any issue opening his safe when he and I are alone. With the sort of crime that goes on these days I suppose a shop has to be cautious when folks they don't know are around. I suppose it is a sad statement on society these days.

 

You never know though. I have found surprising coins in shops or antque malls. Yes, 95% are a bust, but if you don't swing, you are guaranteed a .000 batting average, right?

 

exactly. I'm an eye appeal buyer when I shop in the stores and I want to see everything. I've bought a SBA that I seen that I knew I wanted to have. Never would I have thought about spending $15 on a SBA, but after I seen it I had no problem paying that.

What if I told you that the entire online store consist of less than 200 coins, and 99% of those were raw ungraded(but self over graded) coins. You could see the safe sitting next to the guy, he said he kept the coins at a bank SB. I was thinking okay this guy must have some huge coins if he keeps them all at his box. His highest valued coin was $1800 on his website.

Pawn shops and antique malls will hopefully be added. There's just a lot of space between them around me. If I was in metro Detroit it'd be easier. I've been pretty successful a few times at antique shops that I want to at least go in and see what they have. We use to have this nice little honey hole about an hour away. Sadly, the second time we walked in there they told us they were closing it's doors and it was going to be used as a storage unit. I know all those coins went somewhere, just have to look and find them

 

It's like 40 Year Old Virgin. She has a storefront but she only sells stuff online.