On a weekday afternoon, customers drift in and out of PokéOasis, a trading card shop in Fort Worth. They stop at glass cases and card tables, flip through binders and negotiate trades.
A few miles away, inside Galactic Gamez, retro consoles and tabletop games share floor space with shelves of trading cards.
Many times viewed primarily as niche hobbies for children, collectibles draw attention from players, longtime collectors and serious investors alike.
Last year, the global trading card market was valued at $8 billion, according to market research firm Mordor Intelligence. While some numbers are conflicting, many researchers agree the market could reach nearly $12 billion by 2031.
Amadeo Herrera, owner of PokéOasis, said the surge in interest around Pokémon cards has drawn a mix of longtime players, collectors and newcomers motivated by resale value, creating a broad and shifting customer base.
“It’s pretty huge right now, and it’s still growing,” Herrera said. “I feel like there’s already so many people involved, but there’s a good chunk of people that have just played the game. There’s a lot of people that are in it for the money, and then there’s just straight up collectors.”
Cards have overtaken nearly every other category of collectibles at Galactic Gamez, shop employee Tyler Cox said.
“They are the new stock market,” Cox said.
Herrera’s shop started on social media in 2021 before he gained enough money for a physical storefront in 2023. Even then, his early focus was not foot traffic but hawking collectibles on livestreams and social media.
Herrera no longer sells online. Instead, he travels weekly to card shows around the country to buy, sell and trade.
High-value Pokémon cards sit locked in a glass case at Galactic Gamez in Fort Worth. The store carries an array of high-priced memorabilia and games. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
High-value Magic the Gathering cards are locked in a glass case at PokéOasis in Fort Worth. The store carries cards from many major trading card games and has extensive stock of many high-demand cards. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
“I’m on a flight every week,” he said. “That’s really where the money comes from.”
Galactic Gamez had a slower evolution, Cox said. The store opened eight years ago with a focus on retro video games before expanding into cards, tabletop games and accessories as demand shifted.
Both stores have felt the same surge in demand lately.
“When I was here about a year ago, it was just the kids and their parents coming in and buying the Pokémon cards,” Cox said. “Now, I got grown dudes coming in here without their kids buying Pokémon cards.”
The surge has not come without complications.
Sealed products sit on racks at Galactic Gamez in Fort Worth. Even with so much in stock, the store struggles to meet the demand on several items like new releases of Pokémon card sets. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
“If you’re relying on just brick-and-mortar sales, you’re probably not going to make money,” Herrera cautioned.
Cox pointed to automated bots that buy items and early big-box releases as major frustrations for both collectors and shop owners. The automated buying tools often snap up online releases within minutes, leaving shelves empty and pushing customers back toward local game stores to find product in person, he said.
Early card releases at large retailers also undercuts the smaller shops, Cox said.
The result is a growing divide between players and those chasing short-term profits, he said.
“We know the deal,” he said. “They’re not really the true nerds like the rest of us are. They’re in here just to kind of make a quick buck.”
And that speculative pressure moves between games, the collectors said.
Scalpers who once focused on Pokémon have shifted into newer card markets such as the Japanese trading card game One Piece, Cox said as an example. He has seen prices triple on One Piece collectibles in just the past month, he said.
“They just want to make money,” Cox said.
Herrera acknowledged similar cycles, though he framed them as predictable waves rather than permanent disruptions.
“There’s usually about like four months throughout the year where things slow down, and then everything else is steadily on the rise,” he said.
Price and demand swings can be dramatic even for individual cards.
One of the most recognizable modern Pokémon cards is a near-mint Mega Charizard EX from the Phantasmal Flames set. The card’s value has shown wide fluctuations on secondary marketplaces, with listings ranging from over $900 upon release in early November to roughly $400 at its lowest point in mid-December.
The spread reflects how prices are driven by scarcity perception, influencer attention and speculative buying, where a single surge of interest can rapidly inflate values before settling back toward historical norms, according to Bloomberg.
Shop owners say those swings make inventory planning difficult, particularly when online pricing can shift faster than local stores can reasonably adjust.
Despite the convenience of online marketplaces, both shop workers said in-person buying continues to matter.
“I don’t even buy anything online,” Herrera said. “I’d rather buy it in person. I’d like to see it, inspect it.”
Cox said nostalgia plays a major role in all collectibles.
Game cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System on sale at Galactic Gamez in Fort Worth. Demand is still high for these games even though Nintendo has not supported the system since 1995. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
“A lot of people are really wanting the original thing right now,” he said. “They’re like, ‘I want the system, that tactile feeling.’”
Customers often buy items they may no longer have a way to even use, he said.
Games from several retro consoles behind glass for sale at Galactic Gamez in Fort Worth. Many collectors seek out only games that come complete in their original packaging. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
That emotional pull, he said, has staying power.
“Certain cards are always going to hold a special place in someone’s heart,” Cox said. “A lot of people come in and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, my childhood’s here.’”
Amadeo Herrera holds two of his most valuable Pokémon cards Jan. 20 at PokéOasis located in Fort Worth. The card on the left is valued at $40,000 and the card on the right is considered almost priceless as it is signed by Pokémon CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
Some of Amadeo Herrera’s most valuable cards sit on a table at PokéOasis in Fort Worth. He estimated the total value of these cards to be roughly $500,000. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
Amadeo Herrera holds his two most valuable One Piece TCG cards Jan. 20 at PokéOasis. He only recently started carrying One Piece cards and has seen more customers begin to collect them as well as Pokémon cards. (Joseph Morgan | Fort Worth Report)
For now, both shops will adapt as demand shifts and new products cycle through.
Cox expects current speculation to cool, as it has before.
“People are just waiting until the ‘poke-bros’ drop out,” he said. “That’s kind of how it is.”
Joseph Morgan is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at joseph.morgan@fortworthreport.org.
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