Market for collectibles spurs new businesses uptown
Erica Lyon, co-owner of House of Cars Carolina/MeLyon Plastics, at 209 S. Main St. in uptown Lexington, holds a diecast Batmobile from Hot Wheels, one of thousands of collectible cars in the store.
{Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
A store specializing in miniature collectible diecast cars along with a business focusing on collectible trading card games have opened in recent months in uptown Lexington.
Erica and Marc Lyon opened House of Cars Carolina/MeLyon Plastics at 209 S. Main St., near the Edward C. Smith Civic Center, this past spring. The business is an offshoot of a California-based House of Cars store started about five years ago.
The store primarily carries the 1:64 scale diecast cars from companies such as Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Johnny Lightning and Greenlight but it also has some of the larger 1:18 scale models. The 1,800-square-foot space is packed with roughly 25,000 diecast cars at any given time.
Erica Lyon said the store started selling from her husband’s large collection at first but now gets new inventory in daily “whether it’s new stuff coming out or something we bought from somebody.” House of Cars Carolina buys, sells and trades the diecast cars.
While her husband was the diecast collector, Lyon’s background is in retail. She worked at Walmart for 20 years, including serving as manager of the Lexington Supercenter. From necessity, Lyon got into the business of contracting with a manufacturer to make clear, hard plastic protective cases for the diecast cars, so MeLyon Plastics was born. Collectors like Erica’s husband needed car cases to protect their investments.
“The protectors are about half of our business now,” she noted. “It just goes hand in hand with collecting.”
The space on South Main was originally going to be warehouse space for the plastic case business but the Lyons decided to go with a storefront when the founders of House of Cars asked them about opening an East Coast location.
Lyon said the store inventory runs the gamut from $1.25 diecast cars for kids who are just beginning to collect up to several hundred dollars for serious collectors.
“We actually get a lot of foot traffic here,” Lyon said. She added that many people come to the store the second Tuesday of each month for the classic car shows uptown. “The collectibles market is pretty strong. And there are a lot of card collectors, too.” Additionally, House of Cars carries baseball, basketball and football cards and will soon offer sets of Pokémon game cards as well.
To offer something to appeal to girls, the store carries Loungefly backpacks, purses and wallets, which are licensed pop culture accessories that reference Disney, Pixar, Harry Potter and Star Wars.
House of Cars also has customized diecast cars. For those interested, there will be a limited-edition Barbecue Festival car this October.
Business hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Beginning in September, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m on Sunday. News of special events can be found on its Facebook page.
A few blocks away, at 18 W. First Ave., Joseph Finney and Storm Sorrell have opened Rocket’s Hideout, which offers trading card games, toys, board games and collectibles.
The name, Rocket’s Hideout, is a reference to Pokémon, one of the most popular trading card games sold at the store, in addition to Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood, Finney said.
A trading card game mixes elements of strategic deck building with features of trading cards. Players generally begin playing with a starter deck and then customize their decks with cards acquired through booster packs, from trading with fellow players or buying single cards from shops like Rocket’s Hideout.
Storm Sorrell (from left) and Joseph Finney, co-owners of Rocket’s Hideout, hold up some collectible cards from the trading card games they sell, buy and trade in their shop at 18 W. First Ave. in uptown Lexington.{Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
“Most people don’t deal with singles but we have a lot,” Finney explained. The store also buys cards for cash and store credit. “We sell a lot of high-end cards to complete a collection.”
Rocket’s Hideout carries the Gamegenic line of deck boxes, sleeves and albums for more expensive collectible cards. Board games such as Mysterium, Pandemic, Mansions of Madness and Sheriff of Nottingham are also sold.
The business started online a couple of years ago but Finney and Sorrell, both avid players and collectors, decided to quit their day jobs and open a storefront a few months ago. They continue to sell through their website, Rockets-Hideout.com.
“It’s still a thrill to do what you love and have a business,” Sorrell assured.
Rocket’s Hideout holds card tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in which players can win prizes. The shop sells packaged snacks and soft drinks to customers who can play, for free, at one of the store’s four tables. Tournaments and other special events are announced on its Facebook page.
Business hours are noon to 9 p.m. daily.
