SIOUX CITY — Brian DeWolf's Non-Sport Cards & Junque Shoppe has been doing business along Villa Avenue on Sioux City's westside for 29 years, but the array of pop culture ephemera he sells goes back much farther.Â
Customers who step into the veritable bazaar catch a kind of bubblegum smell and quickly see glass cases replete with Star Wars figurines, Desert Storm trading cards, a DVD on American model Bettie Page, old jewelry and more. Those who crane their necks up can catch a glimpse of board games more bizarre than your standard "Life" or "Monopoly." If lucky, a record collector may find a copy of a primo Willie Nelson record or one of the first four Led Zeppelin records in good condition. As a kind of respect for local music legend Tommy Bolin, Deep Purple and Zephyr records have been stocked in the past. There are also shelves everywhere, shelves with books, including the kinds of cowboy novels someone's grandparent likely read, shelves with movies and video games which range from Atari to newer consoles such as Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox.
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"I bought a good collection of video games, recently. Nintendo, basically, kind of the bread-and-butter. You know what I mean?" DeWolf said, punctuating the end of the sentence, as he often does, with a rolling laugh.Â
The Sioux City West alum's business has gradually expanded over time as it's picked up more loyal customers and added memorabilia. "I started on the corner right down here. And then it was a watch shop and then an antique store when I first moved in," DeWolf said. Within the past month, DeWolf's posted on Facebook "We are back open and ready to rock! Slowly filling a new section where everything is $3.50 and under!'
Things are never fully set in place though as DeWolf's constantly adding all kinds of bits and bobs and rotating where some of them are in the store. Behind the counter, DeWolf and other staffers often have multiple video game consoles to try and tend to. While they work, a TV on a wall is playing blockbusters such as "Top Gun: Maverick" or concert films. From the moment the place opens for the day, it's alive.
DeWolf found time to chat with The Journal for our latest installment of "Five Questions."Â Comments have been edited for length and clarity.Â
Where did your love of collecting start?
Garbage Pail Kids. That’s my first thing. That’s what started everything. That’s probably one of the first things I finished too, through time was (Garbage Pail Kids) … They’re very popular, very popular. It’s weird because I don’t really have anything and that was my passion for so many years.Â
What would you say is the funkiest or most uncommon piece you have in the store right now?Â
So probably the funkiest thing right now and halfway new is that coffee mug display over there. It’s just odd. I’m guessing it was either in a bar or a coffee shop at one time and it’s just unusual.
How old is the oldest item?
Probably one of the oldest things I have, from the '40s or '50s (is) the picture with the horse. It’s a local kids show type thing with a cowboy. Deputy Dusty. Not (local to) Sioux City though, darn it.
Scott Lafleur browses video games in a case at DeWolf's Non-sport Cards & Junque Shoppe on Saturday.
Tiffany DeWolf opens a case for Scott Lafleur to pick out game cartridges DeWolf's Non-sport Cards & Junque Shoppe on Saturday.
Customers browse through collectables, games, music, movies, and books at DeWolf's Non-sport Cards & Junque Shoppe on Saturday.
Which game system repair job you’ve gotten has been the most difficult? And how do you even figure out to fix some of the more obscure consoles?Â
Usually we don’t like newer stuff but there are some disk systems, let’s say a Sega CD, for example, that’s kind of odd. A Neo Geo. Those are odd systems we don’t see regularly and, so, when those get fixed you feel really good about it. He’s working on a Super Nintendo right now that has a problem we haven’t seen before so let’s cross our fingers.
(For some of those) there’s not really a YouTube video to watch or anything. So you kind of take technical things you learn from other systems, apply it to those and hope for the best, you know?
Do you worry at all, with us being firmly within the streaming era, that physical media isn’t as prized?
Not really because I think it propels that to become more collectible. And we’ve kind of expanded DVDs and CDs and stuff because shops like Best Buy said they’re not going to carry physical media anymore. So the only way you can get it is either on the used market or something of that nature.Â
A new shelf of collectable mini figurines is part of a new addition at DeWolf's Non-sport Cards & Junque Shoppe.Â
A new room of collectibles is shown at DeWolf's Non-sport Cards & Junque Shoppe.Â