Seller Spotlight
Wheelhousecards
Expanding from local card shop to international powerhouse through live breaking
+28K Items Sold
|
+17K Followers
|
+750 Hours Livestreamed
|
⭐️ 4.9 Rating
|
+2.5K Reviews
|
+28K Items Sold | +17K Followers | +750 Hours Livestreamed | ⭐️ 4.9 Rating | +2.5K Reviews |
Meet the Seller
Wheelhouse was co-founded in 2021 by Jon and his college roommate, “Miami Mike,” who wanted a family-friendly hobby shop in the Delaware Valley.
What began as a 500-square-foot card store has since grown into four Philadelphia-area locations and a live-streaming studio.
Jon and Mike had opened multiple cards shops since launching in 2021, expanding from Wayne to Center City Philadelphia.
They’d cultivated a community hosting trade nights and family events that drew in local collectors.
The stores offered a mix of cards, sports apparel, and memorabilia—with Baseball wax proving to be the most popular source of sales.
While they had a good local stronghold, their reach remained limited to Philadelphia-area buyers.
They’d tried selling singles and wax on Fanatics Collect, COMC, their website but found it hard managing inventory across all platforms.
Prior to Whatnot
“We had thousands of people in our email base that didn’t know what breaking was. Selling on Whatnot made it possible for them to come to our shop from home—they didn’t need to come into our store.”
- Kevin, Wheelhousecards
When considering Whatnot
Jon and Mike worried that adding streaming with limited space, staff, or expertise to run it effectively might disrupt their business.
The idea of launching with zero followers was daunting given Whatnot already had established breakers.
They decided to hire an experienced breaker, Kevin, who had sold +$2m running live breaks, to help launch their shop on Whatnot.
Kevin knew Whatnot would be a great avenue to expand into a nationwide audience.
“I sold a box to Iceland the other day, we got people hailing in from all over the world here!”
- Kevin, Wheelhousecards
“Visibility is everything when it comes to streaming, the more hours you put in, the more you get out”
- Kevin, Wheelhousecards
To hit the ground running, their first show included over $5,000 of giveaways to draw attention and hype.
They quickly saw success with $1 case breaks, marathon streams, and Kevin’s upbeat hosting style.
In less than two months they reached 6,000 followers and shipped to buyers as far away as Iceland.
A dedicated five-person team now manages streaming, shipping, and day-to-day operations.
They view their Whatnot channel as a “fifth store” that drives revenue without the overhead of brick-and-mortar.
Growing on Whatnot
Scheduling regular shows and steadily increasing live hours drove early success.
“It doesn’t matter if you have 80 people or 20 people in the room — if the 20 are being active and chatting it up, that’s going to be a successful show.”
Kevin, Wheelhousecards