The Card District officially opened its doors downtown this weekend after losing thousands of dollars of cards to thieves <\/p>\n
A new card and collectibles shop in Sault Ste. Marie is celebrating its grand opening today \u2014 despite a break-and-enter nearly derailing its first day of business.<\/p>\n
The Card District welcomed patrons into its store at 372 Queen St. E. this morning, just two days removed from a brazen break-in resulting in the theft of approximately $3,000 to $5,000 worth of merchandise.<\/p>\n
The theft came just days after brothers Austin and Hunter Ralph worked feverishly to renovate and decorate the interior of the store \u2014 with the help of some family members \u2014 after they got the keys to the commercial space last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people broke through the door, and they cleared out some of the Magic the Gathering stuff \u2014 just scooped a bunch of stuff and then ran off,\u201d Austin told SooToday.<\/p>\n
But the theft wasn\u2019t enough to stop the pair of local entrepreneurs from delaying the grand opening of The Card District.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first heard about it, I was stressed out,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut luckily, we grinded it out yesterday \u2014 got everything cleaned up, organized some more stuff, went through what really went missing \u2014 and look at us, we’re all prepared and ready for today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ralph brothers have taken some additional measures to secure their new business since the break-in happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got that all figured out,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n
The co-owners of The Card District credit another local cards and collectibles shop here in the Sault for inspiring them to launch their very own business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started collecting cards about a year ago, and we thought why not go local and open a card shop?\u201d Austin recalled. \u201cWe really got the idea from One of One Cards & Collectibles<\/a> \u2014 we just decided to shoot the bullet on it and go and open a store.\u201d<\/p>\n There was no shortage of customers when the store opened its doors this morning for the grand opening, as several people came in to look at merchandise and chat up the owners.<\/p>\n \u201cAmazing. Everybody’s been nice,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n The Card District is open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n More information on the business can be found on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n