For years, local collectors knew exactly where to find Dwayne Broad.
If you were searching for a rare silver age comic book, a vintage hockey card, an estate-sale treasure or a forgotten piece of Kingston’s past, Broad had likely come across it.
For more than four decades, he built a reputation as one of the region’s most recognizable dealers in antiques, collectibles and memorabilia, operating businesses that evolved alongside changing tastes, shifting retail trends and a rapidly transforming collectibles market.
Now, after years of navigating floods, fires, relocations and a pandemic, Broad is entering a new chapter.
Pickers World has reopened at 2447 Princess St. in the Guardsman Insurance Building under a new name: Pickers World Next Gen.
The name reflects more than a change of address.
For the first time, Broad is sharing ownership of the business with his son, Keenan Broad, whose focus on sports cards, memorabilia, authenticated jerseys and sneaker culture is helping steer the family enterprise toward a younger generation of collectors.
The business currently occupies a compact storefront of roughly 400 square feet, but another unit in the building has recently become available.
The Broads expect to expand into Room D across the hall, more than tripling the store’s footprint and creating room for a broader retail and community-focused experience.
“I’ve kind of pictured in my head what it’s going to look like, very comfortable chairs. I want a couch, if my dad allows it,” he said, laughing. “It’s what the modern collectors want — that 14- to 30-year-old crowd— a place to meet and share.”
The move represents another re-invention for a business that has spent years adapting.
Many collectors still remember Pickers World at its former home across from the former Ambassador Hotel on Princess Street, where Broad operated a sprawling marketplace that became a destination for antique dealers, collectors and bargain hunters from across eastern Ontario.
Broad said the property’s decline was gradual and increasingly difficult to overcome.
“There were fires, floods and years of wear and tear,” he said. “Eventually, the building just couldn’t continue.”
The deteriorating roof became a constant challenge.
“Whenever it rained or snow accumulated, we’d have 30 buckets out collecting water,” Broad said. “Vendors were understandably worried about losing inventory.”
When the site finally became unsustainable, Broad relocated to O’Connor Drive, operating a smaller version of the business while increasingly shifting his attention online.
At the time, he thought retirement might be on the horizon.
“I thought maybe it was time to retire, which I semi-did,” he said.
Instead, he expanded his online presence through platforms such as eBay, MaxSold and other auction sites, spending more time sourcing inventory and less time running a traditional storefront.
Looking back, the timing proved fortuitous.
Broad exited his O’Connor Drive lease only months before COVID-19 upended the retail sector.
“I invoked the exit clause on my O’Connor lease just a couple of months before everything shut down,” he said. “Looking back, it couldn’t have worked out better. It was completely accidental, but it turned out to be a blessing.”
As lockdowns kept people at home, many returned to hobbies they had abandoned years earlier.
“People suddenly had extra time on their hands and many returned to hobbies and collectibles they hadn’t touched in years,” Broad said. “It created a real resurgence in interest.”
The hobby became incredibly busy and I never really looked back
Owner, Pickers World Next Gen
To understand where Pickers World Next Gen is headed, it helps to understand where Dwayne Broad began.
His introduction to the hobby came in the late 1970s during a visit to a cousin’s house.
“I saw some old hockey cards,” Broad recalled. “I offered him what seemed like a ridiculous amount of money for one of them.”
His cousin refused the offer, telling him the card was not worth nearly as much as Broad thought and suggesting he contact a dealer for a price list instead.
Broad took the advice.
Soon, he was buying cards through the mail, studying price guides and placing classified advertisements in local newspapers.
“My dad would drive me around and I’d negotiate with collectors and old-timers during the late ’70s and early ’80s,” he said.
Long before social media, online marketplaces and smartphone apps transformed collecting, Broad was building a mail-order business the old-fashioned way.
“Honestly, I didn’t think it was going anywhere,” he said. “My cousin and I used to joke that maybe we’d open a little shop after retirement.”
Then the sports-card boom of the late 1980s arrived.
“The hobby became incredibly busy and I never really looked back,” Broad said.
Over the decades, his interests expanded far beyond sports cards. He became deeply involved in antiques, records, comic books, estate memorabilia and pop-culture collectibles.
At its core, however, Broad said the appeal has always remained the same.
“It’s all about nostalgia,” he said. “We share those memories and experiences through collectibles.”
He compares the business to a candy store for adults.
“The hunt is a big part of it,” he said. “Finding something special, acquiring it, sharing it with someone who appreciates it, and then moving on to the next treasure.”
The new storefront became available through circumstances that Broad still describes with sadness.
For roughly 25 years, he worked with fellow dealer John Classen, a familiar figure in Kingston’s collectibles community known for vintage toys, action figures, comic books and pop culture memorabilia.
Because their inventories often complemented one another, the two frequently crossed paths through various versions of Pickers World and at other local collecting venues.
When Classen became seriously ill with cancer, Broad stepped in to help manage and liquidate inventory.
“I’d worked with John for about 25 years,” Broad said. “He’d been operating this location and wasn’t going to recover.”
Classen has since passed away.
His store, however, remained packed with inventory.
“It was completely full,” Keenan Broad said. “We had to move all of that out before bringing our inventory in.”
The cleanout was substantial.
“We probably brought in close to 10,000 records, display cases and product, and we had about a week to get everything set up,” he said. “We ended up bringing about five truckloads of that inventory home and eventually sold it.”
Subletting MacLean’s lease allowed the Broad family an opportunity to return to Princess Street while honouring the legacy of a longtime friend and colleague.
A new niche for a new generation
Walk into Pickers World Next Gen today, and it becomes immediately clear that the collectibles world has changed.
Glass display cases contain graded sports cards. Authenticated jerseys hang on the walls. Modern memorabilia sits beside vintage collectibles spanning decades.
A Lionel Messi autographed jersey draws attention near a display that includes a Pelé jersey. Nearby are cards featuring basketball superstar LeBron James, Canadian National Basketball Association star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and National Football League MVP Josh Allen.
For Keenan Broad, however, collecting wasn’t something he discovered when he entered the family business. It started years earlier as a passionate young sports fan.
One of his favourite pieces in the store today traces back to an encounter with Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid when Broad was about 10 years old.
Broad said his father gave him and a friend Connor McDavid jerseys from Pickers World while the future NHL star was in Kingston for a ball hockey tournament.
The young Keenan Broad spotted McDavid entering a downtown bar alongside fellow NHL players Taylor Hall, Darnell Nurse and Luke Gazdic.
Though only 10 years old, the boys were not deterred — they barged into the bar and tried their luck.
“We saw the bodyguard walk away, and we bolted into the building,” Broad recalled with a laugh. “We were just looking around trying to find him.”
The search ended abruptly.
“We turned around and he was sitting right there looking at us like, with a look on his face like, ‘What are you doing? Why are you in here?’ ”
Broad managed to get the jersey signed, along with a photograph commemorating McDavid’s NHL draft year. The autograph remains one of the highlights of his collection and under glass at the new location.
“The bar management wasn’t very happy with us, but we got the signatures. That’s all that mattered,” he said, remembering how Nurse and Gazdic weren’t very happy either.
“We only asked for McDavid’s autograph,” Broad said, grinning.
Collecting memorabilia was already becoming an obsession.
Broad had previously met Taylor Hall through youth hockey fundraising initiatives in Kingston and still owns signed items from those events.
Today, the same enthusiasm that once sent him rushing into a downtown bar in pursuit of an autograph has become part of his livelihood — a market increasingly driven by modern sports culture.
“The age group between about 14 and 30 is heavily interested in streetwear, jerseys, shoes and modern sports cards,” he said. “That market is pretty incredible right now.”
Unlike traditional antiques, values in the modern sports-card market can fluctuate quickly.
“The market is very much determined by the time of year,” Keenan said. “If it’s playoff season, certain markets will go up depending on who’s in the playoffs.”
Player performance can dramatically alter prices.
“If a player is having a great season and is in the MVP race or is in line to win an award, that drives up value,” he said.
To track pricing, he relies heavily on recent eBay sales.
“I personally use eBay to determine value because it shows what things are actually selling for at the moment.”
Side-by-side on Princess Street
The difference between father and son mirrors broader trends in the collectibles market.
Dwayne still specializes largely in vintage materials, while his son Keenan focuses on modern sports cards, jerseys, shoes and apparel.
The partnership works because each has carved out a distinct niche, creating a store that appeals to multiple generations of collectors.
“We each have our own product categories, so we’re not really competing with each other,” Keenan said.
While Dwayne remains heavily involved with sourcing inventory and online sales, his son manages most of the day-to-day retail operation.
Keenan said the customer interactions have become one of his favourite parts of the business.
“I enjoy spending time with customers more than selling the item itself,” he said. “I picked that up when I worked at Golf World, helping the customers, sharing my knowledge.”
Many younger collectors stop in simply to talk about the hobby.
“A lot of kids come into the store to just talk,” he said. “I’ll explain the market and help them understand the next steps if they’re getting into collecting.”
The coming expansion is intended to build on that sense of community.
Keenan envisions a space that feels less like a traditional collectibles store and more like a gathering place — much like you would see in places like Kingston Gaming Nexus, with backroom board game tournaments.
“I’d love to put a couch in there if my dad lets me,” he said with a laugh.
The additional room will provide space for more display inventory, including autographed jerseys and showcase pieces, while also creating a more modern atmosphere.
“When we first moved in, it felt more like a flea market,” he said. “I told my dad we needed to modernize the space because that’s what our main client base wants.”
The family is also branching out beyond the storefront.
Pickers World Next Gen plans to launch the Kingston Sports Card Show at the Italo-Canadian Club beginning Oct. 4, with additional monthly shows scheduled through the end of the year.
For Dwayne Broad, however, the business’s future is no longer measured solely by inventory, square footage or sales.
After more than 40 years in the collectibles industry, his focus has shifted toward ensuring the next generation has the opportunity to succeed.
“My wife keeps asking me the same question” about retirement, he said.
“I’m basically giving it another couple of years of my heart and soul to help get him established — but retiring?” Dwayne Broad said. “Once this gets into your blood, you never really leave.”
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