‘Collectibles versus commodities’: As Target halts sales of trading cards, collectors reckon with fast-changing hobby

Demand at retail establishments, especially big-box stores, has swelled, collectors say, as enterprising card “flippers” descend on stores, purchase their inventories and resell them at sometimes four or five times their retail price online, where “The Hobby,” as collectors affectionately call it, has been sequestered during the coronavirus crisis.