At
age 15, Joe Esposito socked away sports-related magazines with
those great covers. He would deal them the way kids deal cards,
and this activity became a nice enterprise. As a college graduate,
Esposito faced a recession-riddled job market. This part-time
job and passion became a full-time business, and since 1982 he's
grown B&E Collectibles of Thornwood, N.Y., into the giant
for sports magazine collectibles. He says he keeps an inventory
of 250,000 magazines in a 5,000 square foot warehouse, a total
that bulged last spring when he acquired 150,000 publications
from a Chicago warehouse. Joe Sandler, president of Sportslore,
accompanied his wife to an antique bookstore a few years back.
The shop stocked numerous old magazines of all varieties. A long-time
baseball memorabilia collector, Sandler came across 1956 and
1961 covers of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. They cost $40 and
$50, respectively, prices at the moment he couldn't bear to pay.
A week later, he returned to the shop and parted with the cash.
Sandler subsequently got them autographed, framed, and began
hanging them on his walls. He admired his latest acquisitions.
Then, lights went off in his head. He placed ads in newspapers
for vintage sports magazines. Next thing he knew he was buying
an inventory of 10,000 sports magazines. During the past four
years, Sandler has bought and sold about 50,000 issues, and keeps
an inventory of about 40,000 publications.
.
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At
age 15, Joe Esposito socked away sports-related magazines with
those great covers. He would deal them the way kids deal cards,
and this activity became a nice enterprise. As a college graduate,
Esposito faced a recession-riddled job market. This part-time
job and passion became a full-time business, and since 1982 he's
grown B&E Collectibles of Thornwood, N.Y., into the giant
for sports magazine collectibles. He says he keeps an inventory
of 250,000 magazines in a 5,000 square foot warehouse, a total
that bulged last spring when he acquired 150,000 publications
from a Chicago warehouse. Joe Sandler, president of Sportslore,
accompanied his wife to an antique bookstore a few years back.
The shop stocked numerous old magazines of all varieties. A long-time
baseball memorabilia collector, Sandler came across 1956 and
1961 covers of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. They cost $40 and
$50, respectively, prices at the moment he couldn't bear to pay.
A week later, he returned to the shop and parted with the cash.
Sandler subsequently got them autographed, framed, and began
hanging them on his walls. He admired his latest acquisitions.
Then, lights went off in his head. He placed ads in newspapers
for vintage sports magazines. Next thing he knew he was buying
an inventory of 10,000 sports magazines. During the past four
years, Sandler has bought and sold about 50,000 issues, and keeps
an inventory of about 40,000 publications.
.