Saturday Coin Shop Run

I work at night, so I have places like the post office and the coin shop in my phone address book. I try to put phone number and business hours/days.


I am sitting here because my local grocery store just opened at 7am, my bank opens at 9am, and the coin shop opens at 10am. I may swing by a hardware store that opens at 8am. I might get to sleep after the visit to the coin shop, or catch a nap between the hardware store and the bank

And today is one of my days off work

I think coinhunter has a point. How many people were actually buying anything coin related outside the hardcore collectors just 2 or 3 years ago?

My coin store is open 9 to 5 as well. it is a bit of a bummer, sometimes I sacrifice the lunch break just to get something for my silver kick!

My coin shop is a little add-on to a beauty salon. I believe a couple own the building, she does hair, he does coins. This one is close to work. The other I know of "locally" is in a shopping mall about 30-40 minutes away. I buy much of my stuff online.

ASEs are definitely a hot item these days. My local shop can sell every single one virtually the same day they come in and for $5 above spot. Even at that, they are a good deal because there is no shipping / handling charge.

Our local shop is also a cash-only business and I have no problem with that. A check or a CC would be a lot more convenient and I am willing to pay the extra fee for a CC. My CU is local and I am sure that they could verify my check with a phone call. I would probably spend more as well if it were more convenient to do so, so maybe they are doing me a favor.

The part about being closed on Saturday was a bummer, though. One would think that most businesses would be open then and perhaps closed on Monday to make up for it. I understand that most shop owners work hard much of the time and need a couple of days off each week.

I also know people who collect coins and bullion and some of them work long hours Mon-Fri. They have money to spend but no place locally to do it.

The bottom line seems to be that it was my fault for assuming that they would be open on a Saturday. At least I now have their business days and hours schedule, so won't be showing up when they are closed.

That is a valid argument but my local shop has been open for a long time, so I assume that he is getting enough sales to stay in business. Of course, it is always possible that he makes most of his money outside the shop via various coin buying and selling events. If so, then I could see him being less than dedicated to having the shop open more often.

Well, there's browsers and lookers and then there's browsers and lookers. I often go places with no intent to buy... just to look... and end up walking out with a bunch of stuff. A lot of the time, I don't even know I want something until I have the chance to look it over. I'm sure that everyone is different in this but this is how I am about bullion coin buying.

I find coins online are cheaper that the local coin shops. I suppose they have greater overheads.

I really enjoy shopping for coins at local shops. It's great to be able to see the merchandise and compare this coin to that one. If I buy anything, which is not at all unusual, then I can have it immediately. There is value in that to me, so paying a little more for that is usually worthwhile.

If you get to know the shop owner, you can sometimes get better service and deals on the things that interest you most. I have a local guy watching out for high quality Walking Liberty half dollars. He saves them for me and then lets me know when he has some. He knows what I want, so he never shows me coins that are not in really nice condition or that have a lot of numismatic value. I'm looking for bullion coins but want ones that look nice too. I'm not a BIG buyer or anything like that but I often spend $250-300 when visiting his shop and that seems to be working out well enough for both of us.