Where are the good coin shops gone?

[blindguy]

Where are all the good and friendly coin shops  gone to? When I started to collect many years ago a coin shop was a lot different then today. Collectors would meet there to look at coins and talk with other collectors for hours. There was a big table in the center of the room where we sat and talked coins for hours.The staff new coins and currency and loved to collect as much as the customers. In this area the shop only seem to be wanting to buy silver and gold from the public. Most are not very friendly and don't seem to even like coin collecting.None of them belong to the local club. The only coin shop I found with staff that are coin collectors is 500 miles away in Souix City Iowa. I have to buy all my coins and currency off the internet. I think this is why the local club has so few members and could this be the reason the hobby is losing collectors? When I want to sell some coins I have to use Ebay or send the coins off to a aucton house. I know I am getting old ( I am 60) but I miss the old time coin shops.

[HighlandTiger]

5 hours ago, blindguy said:

Where are all the good and friendly coin shops  gone to? When I started to collect many years ago a coin shop was a lot different then today. Collectors would meet there to look at coins and talk with other collectors for hours. There was a big table in the center of the room where we sat and talked coins for hours.The staff new coins and currency and loved to collect as much as the customers. In this area the shop only seem to be wanting to buy silver and gold from the public. Most are not very friendly and don't seem to even like coin collecting.None of them belong to the local club. The only coin shop I found with staff that are coin collectors is 500 miles away in Souix City Iowa. I have to buy all my coins and currency off the internet. I think this is why the local club has so few members and could this be the reason the hobby is losing collectors? When I want to sell some coins I have to use Ebay or send the coins off to a aucton house. I know I am getting old ( I am 60) but I miss the old time coin shops.

simple answer. Blame the internet,  Ebay and online shopping.

It's the same in the UK. Every town used to have a coin and stamp shop, or maybe two or three. Today I'd be surprised if there were a hundred shops in the entire country. Bricks and mortar shops have gone. The hobby is dying, the kids are more interested in online / video game type hobbies, than the "collecting" hobbies of old. And as the older collectors are dying off there aren't enough younger ones to take their place. 

[Serendipity]

It’s worse here in the UK. It always feel like I’m buying the coins which are available rather than the coins which I really want to buy. At least with a US dealer like APMEX you can get find everything you want in one place, but here in the UK I’m dependent on multiple dealers who don’t stock everything. The political situation in the UK will probably make matters worse.

[Norskgeld]

This is one of the deliberate, intended effects of the internet.

Slowly destroy the ability for people to meet in person by moving them to online groups and social media where you can get 100's or 1000's of "friends", none of whom give a damn about you.

Meeting face to face and shaking somebody's hand creates an energetic bond that connects people, and to the psychopathic control system, that is dangerous and must be eliminated...but not so obviously that people start to notice.

Meeting Uncle Numistacker at the London Coin Fair and Coinex and seeing the coins he just bought is so much better than listening to him on You Tube.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

One thing that might be worth seeking out if you've not looked yet are small local coin shows. In my home town (not far from Toronto) this was the only way we could meet others, see dealers, buy coins, etc as there was no coin shop anywhere near there. I believe the one in my home town is still going strong and last I looked there were a lot of similar ones like it all over southern Ontario. Its probably the way forward for smaller dealers and hobbyists who don't necessarily do enough business to rent a shop space but still enjoy face to face transactions. I learned a good amount going to those little shows when I was younger and chatting to the people who'd been in the hobby for a long time.

[Excalibur1966]

Obviously, the internet. On top of that: it's 'game over' for stamp collectors. I've recently saw an interview with a guy who closed down his stamp shop, the last one in the state: "nobody collect stamps anymore". 

The last coins & stamps shop in my hometown is a guy around 75 , a really old and small shop, and I'm pretty sure nobody is going to take over that business. He decided to stop trading silver a few years ago after he was robbed severel times within a few years.

[ivanNumis]

I personally do know quite a lot of coin shop/bullion dealer owners in Germany, Russia, France and Austria, non of them is younger than 60. There is not much of interest from young generations and most of the sales have been taken over by internet and big franchise corporations. Also I would say it is very hard to start this kind of business today unless you have really a lot of money. We use to have 3 stamp shops and 5 coin shops in my home town, non of them exists anymore.

[RoughDog]

Is it really a hobby?

It doesn't really lend itself to sharing your collection or showing it to people for fear of being robbed.

What kids have purchased precious metals at any time in history?  No me for sure.  Football sticker albums maybe.

I am sure kids collect in-game awards and badges or whatever the virtual computer game things are called.

I think humans don't just change from materialistic to I own nothing.  If they own nothing it's most likely that they can't afford it.

 

[ericCollector]

I am stacking PM for about 20 years and do know only one shop owner who isn't old dude. Not posting any names to avoid advertising, but if you find yourself in Slovakia google for bullion dealers in Kosice, there is only one company there. Shop owner is in late 20s, maybe 30s, fully covered in tattoos, very helpful and passionated about antiques, coins and precious metals. We where there for a holiday and searched for some local antiques, end up drinking beers and talking about coins for 6 hours in some local pub. Highly recommending, it was awesome experience.

[Oldun]

Good time to pick up stamps then for the long haul. Cheap, nobody wants them and they might not exist as a thing in the next 50 years. I would be sorting through some for the future at very low prices for the family future if I were you.

 

[Kman]

Youtube got a lot of people into pm's, especially younger people, especially around 2014 for some reason

Internet is bringing us all together and what a joy 😛 so not all bad