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SCHERERVILLE | Collecting baseball cards isn’t quite the American tradition it used to be.

Sales of cards and other sports memorabilia have been on the decline over the last decade. Baseball card shops across the nation have closed their doors as the memorabilia market has primarily moved online with the help of websites like eBay and Amazon.

But the Baseball Card Exchange is trying to keep the brick and mortar card shop alive with the reopening of its retail store within its 12,000 square foot warehouse on 2412 U.S. 41 in Schererville.

Employee Peter Kiefor said the Baseball Card Exchange knew it would have a market, it was just a matter of waiting for the right time to open.

“We knew there was still collectors, a lot of people who actually wanted to touch the cards and have something in front of them,” Kiefor said. “The thing we wanted to get out of here was to give people somewhere they can go and buy something and open the packs right there.”

Since opening 24 years ago, the Baseball Card Exchange has spent its most recent years as an online only operation with warehouses located in Munster and most recently Lynwood. The business owned by Steve Hart was making better profit at the time without the costs of a permanent location.