Enlarge image
Sale exposed: warning sign in a Target store in Los Angeles
Photo: CHRIS DELMAS / AFP
After the hype about Pokémon trading cards got out of hand in the US, retail giant Target suspended sales of these and other trading cards. "The safety of our guests and our staff is our top priority," said the chain, which operates more than 1,800 department stores in the USA, explaining its decision. In addition to the Pokémon cards, the trading cards of the US basketball, football and baseball associations NBA, NFL and MLB are no longer sold in Target stores. The department store chain did not give any further reasons.
According to the US media, Target is likely to be drawn from an incident last week.
In the state of Wisconsin, four men attacked a 35-year-old Target customer in the customer parking lot in order to steal his trading cards.
The 35-year-old eventually drew a gun to scare the attackers away but never fired a shot.
Social media stars are fueling the hype
Trading cards for the Japanese video game characters from Pokémon have been around since 1996. According to industry experts, the cards have regained popularity in times of the corona pandemic because many people stay at home and have to forego numerous leisure activities.
Similar to cryptocurrencies and Gamestop stocks, Pokémon cards also became investment objects.
Rare cards can be priced up to $ 300,000.
That is the equivalent of around 248,000 euros.
A 1999 Pokémon trading card box sold for $ 666,000 in February.
Social media stars like Youtuber Logan Paul are also fueling the hype about trading cards.
The 26-year-old had bragged in a video that he had already spent almost two million dollars on the cards.
Because of the rush, Target had already limited sales in April to one pack of Pokémon trading cards per customer per day.
Now they are only available online at Target.
rai / AFP
