Topps Rip Party Review

New Hartford,NY 2/24/2024

Nick Brower closed his store AAN Collect as he normally does on a Saturday at 4:00 p.m. but in just a few hours he'd be opening his doors to the shop again for his first ever Topps Rip party and I would be attending the shenanigans.

Nick opened AAN in 2023, it's located 50 miles from where I live in Syracuse. I packed up my backpack, jumped in my SUV and started the trek to my first rip party as well. The event would be held from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and my timing was impeccable as I arrived just minutes before 7:00 p.m. The line was almost out the door, Nick was at the front counter giving out two tickets for door prizes and a free break he added to the event himself. 

As expected a lot of products were heavily discounted to celebrate the event. Some items such as Heritage High Number,  2023 Topps Holiday megaboxes, Topps hanger boxes were at reduced prices. Some I believe were even below cost. People went through the line, picking up their two tickets and making their wax purchases. Nick has tables and chairs to the rear of the store and many took their newly purchased hauls in that direction. You also got a special Topps Rip Party pack with four special cards dedicated to the event itself one for every $25 spent. Soon it was my turn. I purchased two 2024 Topps hanger boxes, jumbos and hobbies sold out quickly, a 2023 mega holiday box and of course a blaster of one of my favorite products 2023 Stadium Club. I also received my two Topps rip party packs. Some of the highlights of my wax opening included a sepia Stadium Club Nolan Ryan, a rare photographer's proof Stadium Club Buster Posey, a Corbin Carroll holiday rookie SP and Topps 2024 Chrome insert, a Senga holiday rookie SP, a Ripken Black Stadium Club and plenty of stars and rookies. I also pulled a Jonathan India game used mem card which I promptly gave to a young man near me along with some other cards. I love seeing kids enjoying the hobby and there were 10 to 12 kids among the crowd of 40 to 50 people.

Nick did a great job of traffic control and MCing. Once everyone was inside and settled in, he began to pick tickets for door prizes such as T-shirts and mega holiday boxes. Almost everyone won something, then he picked tickets for free spots in the break which was two boxes of Topps Black Chrome and two boxes of 2023 Bowman Chrome. I was fortunate enough to get the Orioles and Braves and bagged a couple cool Michael Harris rookies and a Jackson Holliday but the big hit was won by another gentleman which was a Topps Black Chrome Mariano Rivera autographed insert number to 25.

It was nice seeing some familiar faces, chatting, talking hobby, sharing pulls and hobby stories. People were happy. Some returned to the register for additional purchases and the crowd was still strong at 9:00 p.m. Nick did a great job running the event. I stayed til the end to chat with my good friend and pick up the stores monthly submission to my SGC bulk sub. One of the cards in that sub happened to be the very Mariano Rivera mentioned previously. I congratulated Nick on his successful first rip party and talked about his ongoing store expansion which will be occurring in the next few months. We left just before 11:00 p.m. and I arrived home slightly before midnight tired but happy to attend a great hobby event.