Who Should Buy Hobby Boxes?
For collectors most interested in chasing autographs, memorabilia cards and rare inserts, hobby is the way to go. The better odds for the cards they seek more than compensate for the higher prices they'll pay per box in most cases.
People interested in the higher end of the sports card industry will find they won't have a choice, as the most expensive products are sold exclusively through dealers and other hobby channels. Brands like Ultimate Collection and Exquisite are by nature too exclusive to be offered to the mass market, and it's unlikely they will ever have retail equivalents.
Who Should Buy Retail Boxes?
What retail boxes lack in inserts, they usually make up in the form of a lower price point and more cards per pack. The pre-priced sports cards boxes sold at large retailers often offer things like eight packs for the price of seven or 13 packs for the price of 12, making them a good buy for those who don't mind the long insert odds.
Younger collectors and newcomers to the hobby can benefit from acquiring base cards in quantity, so it makes sense for them to consider buying retail boxes. They're also ideal for set builders trying to complete larger current sets like the base Topps and Fleer brands.
Retail boxes also make terrific, relatively inexpensive gift ideas for non-collectors to buy for the collectors in their lives. It's a lot less costly to make a mistake on a retail box if it turns out to be not exactly what the collector wants, and experienced hobbyists will have reasonable expectations about what might be inside.
Where it Stands
Experienced collectors sometimes view them with disdain, but the card companies feel that retail offerings help bring in new collectors. Tuff Stuff reported that retailers actually saw increased sales of sports cards in 2006, a sign that retail boxes won't be going away any time soon.
Cognizant of the overwhelming emphasis that the modern collecting community places on rookies and autographs, card manufacturers have also begun to add some perceived value to their retail packs. It's not uncommon today to see retail-only insert sets, and retailers like Wal-Mart and Target have partnered with the companies to offer some boxes with versions of rookie cards exclusive to their stores.
Time will tell how these efforts are received by collectors, and it's possible that the line between retail and hobby products will fade away down the road. For now, both continue to serve the needs of different demographics within the overall collecting population