‘Trying to chase it’: Brooks Vernon turns card collecting love into family-run Magic City Collectibles
By Julian Mitchell
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HOMEWOOD, Alabama (WVTM) — Being a card collector means you’re always chasing, searching for the next thing.
“I don’t even know how to explain it; just, you got to love it. It’s the thrill of it, trying to chase it, seeing what you can get, just that’s the fun part,” Brooks Vernon, owner of Magic City Collectibles, said.
Vernon has been chasing that feeling since he was a kid.
“Me and my dad went to Target and bought a box there. I was collecting basketball at the time, I was real big into the guys that came out that year. Got me hooked and couldn’t stop. Just yeah, love it,” Vernon said.
He’s turned his love now into a business called Magic City Collectibles. A card shop is running at just 18 years old.
“One day he told basically my dad was like, ‘Hey I want to start a card shop,’ so my dad was like, ‘Alright we can try this out,” Maddie Vernon Walker said.
It’s a family business, too; his sister Maddie Vernon Walker runs the Pokémon and trading card games side of the shop.
“When you have family with you every day and trustworthy people, you feel like you’re in the right space,” Vernon Walker said.
Since the shop opened three years ago, it has been nothing but growth. Vernon’s done trades with MLB players like the Royals’ Jac Caglianone and Bobby Whitt Jr.
“It’s kind of crazy cause you meet them and it’s like you don’t know what they’re going to be like, but they’re just like you. Just a collector and into it,” Vernon said.
Of course, it all starts for Vernon with the kids who are falling in love with collecting at a young age, just like he did.
“I try to help them through their collecting journey even if it’s like, hey, I got 20 bucks and it’s a $30 box, I’ll pay the difference and get it for them,” Vernon said.
“You never know who’s going to be the next me or want to open a shop, collect, flip and make money.”
Vernon has collected some rare cards in his collecting journey, but the shop he has is something truly one-of-one.
“It’s just a fun journey because I get to do it with my dad every day, family works with us, sister runs the Pokémon. So, it’s just crazy, fun way to do it. Family business and keep it going,” Vernon said.
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