San Antonio House of Cards and Collectible is a rare Pokemon card shop

In 2020, when the COVID pandemic struck the U.S. and public health measures kept people indoors, the world took up many hobbies, including myself. I returned to the old childhood pastime of collecting Pokemon cards. The mildly addictive rush of opening a booster to pack to pull a rare holographic foil card, more commonly known as holo, was back. But this time I was an adult. I could buy my own cards.

I was only one of a lot of people who started collecting Pokemon cards during the pandemic, said Paul Cavazos, who co-owns House of Cards and Collectibles with his wife Rachel. The pandemic was a profitable time for Cavazos. He saw an increase in business and a jump in the price of rare cards during this time. Business was popping so much, that it gained the attention of Vice News. 

Three years later, House of Cards and Collectibles is still seeing a steady flow of business, and it doesn’t just come from San Antonio customers. 

House of Cards originally opened when Cavazos and his friend Brien Metzger, who had rival collectibles businesses in the 80s, came together to open House of Cards and Collectibles in August 2014 in a space on Huebner near Babcock Road. During that time, House of Cards mostly sold sports trading cards, comics and Star Wars collectibles. 

“A lot of Star Wars,” Cavazos said.

Business grew but the space they were in didn’t. While the rent was free because Metzger owned the property, they were starting to outgrow the space. Metzger had a lot of his collectibles and other inventory at the old spot that he didn’t want to move. So he bought out the business, Cavazos said, and he and his wife moved into the current space at 2105 Vance Jackson Road, San Antonio, Texas 78213 in October 2019. 

Today, House of Cards sells some Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Panini, MetaZoo, Disney Lorcana and even some sports cards. But the store focuses on Pokemon trading cards because that is  also what Cavazos collects personally. The store sells booster packs and trainer boxes from the latest Pokemon sets. But what makes a store like House of Cards unique is the clear display counters filled with rare Pokemon cards from the original base set that released in 1999 to must-haves from the ongoing set. 

The most expensive card is a first-edition holofoil Charizard card from the 1999 base set, except it’s in Italian. The price tag? $2,000. 

Cavazos says that people have called in from other countries to sell their card or entire collections to him. Pokemon is worldwide. 

“We get calls from South Africa. From people wanting to know if we could potentially buy their collection,”  Cavazos said. “Qatar, London, Paris — people from South America.” 

House of Cards might not have a multimillion-dollar card like that, but it does have a fair share of rare cards and authentic Pokemon plushies from Japan.

House of Cards, for me, has become a spot to find cards sometimes cheaper than a $1. Those are important because it helps a budding collector like me complete a set instead of buying a $6 booster pack or $40 trainer box. It is also a spot where collectors can sale their bulk. What’s bulk? It’s the duplicates of cards you may have already found in a set. It adds up. I had nearly 4,000 cards before selling them to House of Cards. 

In a world of online shopping and big box stores, House of Cards is a rare gem that let’s you build your hobbies with people who have the same interest. It even hosts games for local trading card game leagues. Yes. There are still people who play the card games competitively. 

House of Cards is open Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. It’s closed on Sundays and Mondays.