A boyhood hobby has become a career for Reggie Davis, who owns two separate but related businesses: This & That Sports (128 Fenn Street) and Revolution Card Grading (124 Fenn Street), which occupy adjacent storefronts in the Howard Building in Pittsfield.
This & That is filled to the rafters with an eclectic assortment of sports-related merchandise, such as signed cleats, jerseys, helmets, and more. It also carries other pop culture collectibles, including Pokémon cards, Funko Pop! figures, and music memorabilia. Revolution Card Grading is a service that evaluates and establishes value grades for sports and other types of collector cards. It also seals them in a protective casing—called “slabs”—with a label providing vital information about the item.
Davis initially purchased a 50 percent share of the Georgia-based Revolution company three years ago. This spring, he acquired the other 50 percent to become its sole owner, moving its headquarters to Pittsfield while maintaining the production facility in Georgia. “It made sense to keep those operations there because it has established relationships with a printer and other services,” he said.
Davis, who grew up in Great Barrington, said he started collecting sports cards when he was a boy. “I eventually started going to card shows and flea markets and then began trading and selling cards as a hobby, and it grew from that.”
In 2004, while living in Connecticut as a young adult, he opened his first shop in Winstead and subsequently relocated it to Torrington. He then closed the business before returning to the Berkshires in 2014 and taking a full-time job working at FedEx. However, he continued collecting and selling sports cards on a part-time basis. “I had a lot of inventory from my stores when I moved, so I did it on the side, primarily for my own pleasure,” he said.
In 2020, he decided to open a store in Pittsfield while continuing to work at FedEx. He credited his wife, Crystal, with enabling him to do that. “She works in healthcare and helped in the store when she was off duty and I was at my job,” he said. “That was a great thing for her to do because this is really my interest, not hers. But it was difficult for her to work two jobs. So to relieve her of that, I left FedEx in 2021. Also, the business was going well, so I could afford to do it full-time.”
Davis explained that his customers fall into distinct groups. “There are people who build collections solely for their own enjoyment and satisfaction,” he said. “They are more interested in acquiring cards and are less concerned with the monetary value. Others are more motivated by buying and selling cards quickly to earn money. And some people are a mix, where they are personal collectors, but they’ll also buy, sell, and trade.”
His initial focus was on sports cards, though Davis has since expanded into other categories. “People would come in asking for Pokémon or other types of cards, so we added them,” he said, noting that collectibles for fans of athletes and other celebrities, movies, or TV series have long been popular, as have fads like Pet Rocks and Cabbage Patch dolls.
“When I started as a kid, there were just a few companies that produced baseball cards,” Davis said. “There might be a few versions of cards out there for each player. But it has really changed since the 1980s and 90s because large corporations started issuing cards, leading to many more variations and even many versions of cards for individual players.”
According to Davis, the retail price of a pack of new cards ranges widely, typically from $4.99 to $30 or $40 or more, with those containing autographed cards commanding higher prices. The most expensive packs guarantee that the pack will contain one or more autographed cards (as stated on the label), while others include autographed cards without any guarantee.
Given the corporatization of the sector, collectible cards are now a highly competitive industry, with a complex rubric for issuing, evaluating, grading, and valuating the cards along with strict standards, guidelines, and authorizations for registered graders.
As a smaller business, Revolution Card Grading stands out by offering special services, including high-quality color-matching methods and a unique, tamper-proof method of laser-printing the labels directly on the slab rather than the more common attached paper label. Basic pricing per card is $22 for one to nine cards, $21 for 10 to 19 cards, and $20 for 20 or more cards. The “RevPriority” service (with a shorter turnaround time) costs slightly more money. Enhanced slab customization is available for an additional fee.
Davis explained that the grading process evaluates the physical and other properties of a card’s quality in a numerical system from one to ten, a system that can be very finicky. “For example, one day a customer accidentally dropped his card on the floor, and we had to tell him we could no longer grade it,” he said. He also researches the market by visiting sites like eBay to examine price ranges. “Like any other collectible, its ultimate value is based on what people will actually pay for it.”
His primary source of merchandise is distribution companies. “It was very tough getting accepted by a distributor when I started,” he said. “Distributors have strict requirements. They want to know if you have a real store that meets their standards. I had to fill out very detailed applications and even take pictures of every part of the store.”
Once accepted, the distributor sends an allocation of products and tracks the market to identify new products for the retailer. Davis also does his own research and occasionally attends trade shows to identify potential products, noting that some collectible products are unpredictable. “Some have a longer-term popularity while others come and go quickly,” he said.
He points to Pokémon—a Japanese media franchise consisting of video games, animated series and films, a trading card game, and other related media—as a mainstay. “The people behind that were very smart,” he said. “Their products remain popular because new games and characters are constantly being introduced.” Indeed, a new Pokémon expansion is scheduled to launch on September 26, generating strong demand among both children and adults. “When a new release comes out, there are people who actually sleep in their cars near the store to be the first to buy it,” he stated.
Of course, releases of hot items also attract scalpers, who buy large quantities to resell at higher prices. So Davis restricts sales initially when something like a new Pokémon series is released. “We only sell one box per person when it first comes out,” he said. “I could make a lot of money with a few quick, large sales to scalpers. But that would not be fair to the other customers. I don’t believe we should disappoint the kids who are eager to get them.”
It’s just one way Davis is committed to serving his local community. This & That also sponsors special events, including an annual golf tournament to benefit the Berkshire Humane Society. And on October 15, the store will sponsor a Berkshire Sports Cards and Collectibles show at the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsfield.
Visit thisandthatsports.com and revolutiongrading.com for more information and operating hours.
