Panama City Beach Hobby proving you can have it all

"We sell fun. That's it. We sell fun." The words of Panama City Beach Hobby's CEO Todd Mueller ring true. Since opening up the brick-and-mortar in partnership with COO Bill Schriver in 2022, the one-stop-shop has become one of the nation's most engaging businesses in the hobby, from its ever-expanding store operation to an impressive array of daily streaming content on eBay Live.

While the shop itself has only been around a few years, the success of PCB Hobby has been decades in the making. Mueller and Schriver met while both serving in the Navy. "We met 30 years ago and have been pals, partners-in-crime, for that long." The longtime friends have built a variety of companies over the years, including a 10-year run in the computer business. "Hasn't been collectibles the whole time," said Mueller, "But, we've always been collecting."

CEO Todd Mueller and COO Bill Schriver | PCB Hobby

Perhaps the depth and breadth of experience helped create the shop's variety, a shop that offers rare coins, trading card games, comic books, sports cards, and more. Mueller always sensed that bringing more to the table would be important to long-term, sustainable success.

"It was kind of my brainchild that let's have different lines under one roof, said Mueller. "We created an environment where you could collect multiple different hobbies or one single hobby. It's a hobby version of diversifying our portfolio."

The brick-and-mortar itself has expanded right along with the brand. "We've expanded our shop, taking over the space next to ours. Then we added a 7,800 square foot headquarters warehouse starting last May." They now have 40 employees.

An essential piece to the continued rise of PCB Hobby has been its enthusiastic and engaging embrace of streaming and live selling. It was a natural fit for a partnership that had spent plenty of time in the computer world. "We quickly realized that it's a good medium for sales," said Bill Schriver. "But also, we got pulled into the entertainment value of it as well. You can build a community quickly. Our streams are fun, we get a little crazy. If you're not entertaining the customers on the stream, if they're not having a good time, if it's all about pushing sales, customers will get bored."

That entertainment value is what Schriver and Mueller both feel has allowed the streaming platform to take off. Today, PCB Hobby is one of the leading sellers on eBay Live's platform. The new warehouse has a series of streaming rooms, small podcast-style studios that allow Bill, Todd, and their team of hobby personalities to produce one of the most consistent streaming schedules in the entire hobby. The daily output of content is impressive, with streams running from 8 A.M. til Midnight. The variety of PCB Hobby's eBay Live content also stands out. In one day, you can tune in to the team live selling Comics, TCG's, sports cards, and coins.

On top of it all, the business has also moved into creating and selling comic books. "We're doing our own exclusives now, we produce books," said Mueller. "We have artists on staff. We do the whole nine yards now. We've grown that department pretty heavily. So in San Diego, we were dropping our own books."

Streams in San Diego included a live event featuring renowned comic book artist Sajad Shah. "eBay asked us to hop in their airstream and go live for a couple hours, and we crushed it, we had 1,000 people in the room," said Schriver. Shah and the PCB Hobby streamers sold some books, the artist himself did some sketching.

PCB Hobby has done plenty of live events from various comic cons. "We love it," said Schriver.
You've got the energy of the con. You're live. The cameras are on. It's just like you're on a television set. And we thrive on that. We love that entertainment. We love being interactive."

So, what advice do Mueller and Schriver have for collectors across all of their lines? "Collect what you love."