A new card and collectibles shop in Sault Ste. Marie is celebrating its grand opening today — despite a break-and-enter nearly derailing its first day of business.
The Card District welcomed patrons into its store at 372 Queen St. E. this morning, just two days removed from a brazen break-in resulting in the theft of approximately $3,000 to $5,000 worth of merchandise.
The theft came just days after brothers Austin and Hunter Ralph worked feverishly to renovate and decorate the interior of the store — with the help of some family members — after they got the keys to the commercial space last week.
“Some people broke through the door, and they cleared out some of the Magic the Gathering stuff — just scooped a bunch of stuff and then ran off,” Austin told SooToday.
But the brazen theft wasn’t enough to stop the pair of local entrepreneurs from delaying the grand opening of The Card District.
“When I first heard about it, I was stressed out,” Austin said.
“But luckily, we grinded it out yesterday — got everything cleaned up, organized some more stuff, went through what really went missing — and look at us, we’re all prepared and ready for today.”
The Ralph brothers have taken some additional measures to secure their new business since the break-in happened.
“We got that all figured out,” Austin said.
The co-owners of The Card District credit another local cards and collectibles shop here in the Sault for inspiring them to launch their very own business.
“We started collecting cards about a year ago, and we thought why not go local and open a card shop?” Austin recalled. “We really got the idea from One of One Cards & Collectibles — we just decided to shoot the bullet on it and go and open a store.”
There was no shortage of customers when the store opened its doors this morning for the grand opening, as several people came in to look at merchandise and chat up the owners.
“Amazing. Everybody’s been nice,” Austin said.
The Card District is open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More information on the business can be found on Facebook and Instagram.
