Target temporarily suspending sales of Pokémon and other trading cards
Target has decided to follow in Walmart’s footsteps and temporarily halt all physical sales of trading cards across its U.S. stores, including Pokémon trading cards, Magic: The Gathering, sports cards (NFL, NBA, and MLB), and other trading cards. Beginning on Friday, May 14, Target stores around the U.S. will no longer be selling trading cards. Customers have already spotted seeing signs of the new policy this week.
“The safety of our guests and our team is our top priority,” a Target spokesperson said via Polygon. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to temporarily suspend the sale of MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokémon trading cards within our stores.”
According to the spokesperson, restrictions will only affect physical stores, so customers can still order online at Target’s website.
Several factors are responsible: the production and distribution of cards have been hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the explosion of reseller markets —driven by the sums generated by certain cards at auctions. The news follows Walmart’s move to suspend the sale of trading cards due to “inappropriate behavior and increased demand”.
Recently, we reported about how one Walmart store is locking away Magic: The Gathering cards behind a display case.
Prior to stopping the sales of trading cards, Target implemented a limit to the number of items each customer can purchase a time.
Recently, a fight broke out at a Target store in Brookfield, Wisconsin over “sports trading cards”, which led to a gun being drawn and one man being beaten.
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If you’re having difficulty finding Magic products in Walmart and Target locations, you may want to check out your local game stores near you, and we highly encourage you to support them. You can also order MTG products on Amazon.
