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Cards, collectibles and more at Filthbomb Breaks on Long Island
Take a look inside Filthbomb Breaks & Collectibles, a popular sports card and memorabilia store in Glen Cove, New York. Owner Stephen Abbondandolo shares how he went from collecting cards to running a successful business, with nearly 20 employees who are all friends and family.
LONG ISLAND - For one man from Long Island, a passion for sports cards has taken him from binders to a storefront with stocked shelves.
Stephen Abbondandolo opened Filthbomb Breaks & Collectibles in Glen Cove almost 3 years ago - after running his business online for ten.
"I collected cards my whole life," he told FOX 5 NY. "You can collect basically anything. There’s Pokémon, Marvel, Superman. There’s a market for everything. COVID was a perfect storm for the sport card market."
The nearly 20 employees at Filthbomb are all Abbondandolo's friends and family.
His brother-in-law John Yohe, who was originally in finance, came on board and never looked back.
"I come here and have fun every day and mix in some work," he said.
The store has baseball memorabilia like sports cards with legends like Jackie Robinson. There’s a ticket stub from Kobe Bryant’s last game when he scored 60 points and another one from the Yankee game that never was on back on September 11, 2001.
Stephen and his team buy and sell cards and collections, and they also organize breaks where people from all over the world come together online to open up boxes looking for their favorite teams and players.
"Everyone can buy their favorite team, and we open the box, and it goes that person," he said.
Filthbomb ships more than 500 packages a day - some containing thousands of cards while locally the storefront continues to be a staple in the community.