ROSEVILLE, Minn. — There are a lot of ways you can invest your money, like buying stocks, bonds, or even buildings.
But comic books?
From the outside, Source Comics and Games looks more like an ice rink or a large warehouse. When you walk inside, however, you find yourself surrounded by shelf after shelf of comics, cards and collectable games.
It's one of the largest, if not the largest, comic book shops in Minnesota.
Floor manager Dan Malson says they've been around for 28 or 29 years, and are well known in the community. But like most retailers, they struggled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
They started doing curbside pickups and even delivered directly to their customers. "Something we had never really done before so, something we adjusted to," Malson said.
Even then, business was slower than normal. Then something strange happened. With everyone stuck at home, people started getting bored and turned to their hobbies for comfort. Now comic books and collectibles are becoming more popular than ever.
"People are buying trading cards in insane quantities," Malson said, adding that many products are selling out before they can even put them on the shelves.
And it's literally everything, from "Magic: The Gathering" cards to Pokémon cards and comic books. They normally sell for a few dollars when they first come out, but after a few years the especially rare items can sell for hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars, like a first issue Superman comic that sold at an auction for more than $3 million.
Malson says movies and TV are also driving up prices.
He bought one comic book a few years ago for $3, and says it's now worth more than $700 because the characters are set to appear in a new show on Disney+.
One of the hottest products right now is Pokémon cards. An unopened box of cards from the '90s will cost you anywhere between $20,000 to $200,000 depending on the condition its in.
Back in 1999, that same box was selling for less than $100.