Staff photo / R. Michael Semple
George Samonas, owner of Youngstown Sportscards in Poland, left, talks sports cards with Justin Apel, 17, of Vienna, and his grandfather, Tom Apel of Newton Falls. The demand and cost of sports cards has soared during the viral pandemic.
Mahoning Valley native George Samonas opened Youngstown Sportscards in what he calls “essentially a bedroom” of a historic Poland home-turned-office space to give card hobbyists a place to go.
See, Samonas is a commuter from Columbus to Youngstown now four days a week to his construction company in the same building. On the nights he happened to stay over, “literally the one thing I wanted to do was my hobby and go into a card store, and there was none.”
rselak@tribtoday.com
Staff photos / R. Michael Semple
Brian Orfin, owner of Nowhere Toys, holds a box of Fleer 1991 baseball trading cards at the store in Niles. The demand and cost of sports cards has soared during the viral pandemic.
Mahoning Valley native George Samonas opened Youngstown Sportscards in what he calls “essentially a bedroom” of a historic Poland home-turned-office space to give card hobbyists a place to go.
See, Samonas is a commuter from Columbus to Youngstown now four days per week to his construction company in the same building. On the nights he happened to stay over, “literally the one thing I wanted to do was my hobby and go into a card store, and there was none.”