An interview with Kiki Beslic from BBrothers Collectibles shop in Germany

The motto of the BBrothers store in Langenfeld, Germany is "Preserving the Culture", and that's exactly what Kiki and Ivan Beslic are managing to do in this small town near Düsseldorf - giving folks who might not know much about the sports card hobby an introduction and giving fans and collectors an oasis in a country that is becoming more aware of the hobby as we know it today. Kiki is not just an icon in the German hobby community - he was featured several times as a guest expert on PWCC's "Iconic 100" card countdown and is regarded worldwide as an encyclopedia of sorts in the hobby. He gives some interesting takes into how things work over on his side of the pond.

BBrothers autograph card featuring Kiki, Ivan and Aste | BBrothers

Author: Kiki, you've traveled the world in search of great cards, attending legendary shows such as the National as well as card shows in Germany. How is the sports card market in Germany and Europe doing, in your opinion? Do you see Europe approaching a similar hobby level as North America in 5 years time? What has to happen for that to be a reality?

Kiki: My brother Ivan and I have been collecting since 1997 and we have never stopped our journey. We had a peak in collecting in the 90s - in a time where literally everybody collected cards - in a time with MJ, Shaq and Grant Hill Commercials in national TV - the NBA was everywhere and the cards were our way to participiate in that NBA world as kids. During the 2000s the real collecting world moved into the Internet and our trades and talks moved online. I missed the old way of doing things - we are old school and we started hosting card shows in Langenfeld, Germany. We started in 2009 and we had a total of 17 Shows until 2019. We have welcomed hundreds of collectors from a total of 14 different countries at our last show. We have travelled to many Events worldwide, card shows like the National and it was always exciting in the US for us. The level of the Hobby in the States was so high that it was overwhelming. We dream of that passion in Germany too, but it feels like we are still far away from that level. This is our way to keep the hobby alive. We are still not on the same level like our U.S. friends, but many things are going into the right direction and we are currently moving with giant steps.

U.S. collectors are visiting our shop, our shows as well as German collectors. As a matter of fact, more then 50 German collectors traveled to the National this year- that's 50 that are inspiring their friends to do the same maybe next year. The Hobby is in good hands currently and we are looking forward to the future of the hobby in Germany.

Author: What are the biggest differences between Europe and North America in terms of collecting? Soccer and Formula One are more popular here in Europe, but what else have you noticed?

Kiki: European as well as North American collectors are in the same boat when it comes to collecting. A die hard collector is trying to get everything complete as much as possible when it comes to a Set of their favorite team or player. But there used to be a huge difference.

Europe is much more Sticker oriented. Collectors love stickers over here, especially at Events like World Cups. "Panini Sticker" is a brand name, as everybody of course collected them. It was all about those stickers. In the 90s we finally arrived in the trading card Era that came directly from the U.S.
Soccer is our main sport over here, but thanks to MJ, Gretzky and other Goats everybody wanted to be like Mike and to collect those cool cards.

When it comes to Memorabilia Collecting there is truly a huge difference. A U.S. Collector would have a signed jersey from his favorite player framed on his wall - he would have received it from a company with COAs and all that. A European Collector would get his jersey signed at practice or at a game and he would most likely wear it like that at the next games.

Author: If you had to name 3 superstars from American sports your customers come in and ask about the most, who would they be? Is it true that Ohtani is becoming a global star or is baseball still not on the radar in Europe?

Kiki: The demand for Michael Jordan is still huge! As soon as we got MJ´s available, you could bet that his cards are gone as soon as the door opens. Its kind of the same with Kobe Bryant - collectors love him and the demand is huge. If I had to name a third one it would be Tom Brady as Football is very popular. If I ranked the top sports in Europe, I would say 1. Soccer, 2. Basketball, 3. Football, 4. Hockey and 5. Baseball. I would say the demand for Baseball not very high at the moment, BUT Shohei Ohtani captures the imagination worldwide, that's why more and more collectors are actually asking for Baseball to pull his cards. The impact is real. It's similar to Caitlin Clark and WNBA Cards - collectors are looking for the biggest stars and one like Ohtani could have a massive impact to change the whole European landscape, just like MJ did it with us in the 90s.

Author: Thanks Kiki! It's been a pleasure.