David JacobsSt. Cloud Times
Sept. 4, 2026, 4:02 a.m. CT
- Owner Dan Heiser has lived in St. Cloud for 20 years
- Game 7 is located at 623 W St. Germain Street.
- The shop houses a unique Joe Mauer statue
ST. CLOUD — Game 7 card shop owner Dan Heiser had long dreamed of owning his own shop one day, and on Aug. 14, that dream became reality when he opened at 623 W St. Germain Street in St. Cloud.
Heiser, a Winsted native, started selling his inventory online during COVID when the trading card industry saw the start of its current rise in popularity. Building up his business online, Heiser soon found he was doing about as well with cards as he was with his full-time job.
After selling cards out of Metz & Co., owner Chad O’Brien told Heiser that the basement underneath the vintage store could be used after some remodeling. After about a month of work, Heiser knew he was ready to open shop.
“I knew I wanted to stay downtown,” Heiser said. “I just like the feel of downtown and being with the O’Brien’s and Metz, and you’ve got the comic bookstore down the street.”
When entering the shop, customers are welcomed by a statue of St. Paul native and longtime Twins catcher, Joe Mauer, which makes St. Cloud the home to quite the unique piece of baseball memorabilia.
“In 2010, the Twins made 10 of these statues that they wanted to put around the city for the 50th anniversary of the Twins,” Heiser said. “So, when I was starting to think about putting a shop together, I ended up seeing that online, and thought, ‘This would be perfect.’ I ended up winning the auction and now I have the original mold of the statue here down in the shop … That’s the one thing in the shop that’s not for sale.”
Before making his way to St. Cloud, where he became the president of the St. Cloud Rox for 13 years, Heiser grew up spending a lot of time in the Twin Cities-area, even briefly walking-on and playing basketball at Cincinnati under Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins.
As he made his way to the Granite City, it was the community that he fell in love with and made him feel at home.
“St. Cloud was just different,” Heiser said. “The people are just a little different, a little bit friendlier and more outgoing. The area in general has everything that you have around the Twin Cities. The people have been welcoming [of my business] and the local business owners have stopped in.”
Heiser plans to do a lot of stuff with youth organizations going forward and to be a hub for collectors to come and hang out, whether that is digging through his quarter boxes for an hour or ripping packs and talking sports.
“There are shady people in the card business that are just out to make a quick buck,” Heiser said. “I’d rather somebody come in and have a good time and get a great deal than make a quick buck. This is a place somebody can come hang out, ask a lot of questions and walk out of here and be happy.”
Game 7 is open 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. everyday.
You can reach St. Cloud Times sports reporter David Jacobs and send story ideas to djacobs@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter,@davidrjacobs10.
