When business owner Jorden Williamson opened a Pokémon Booster Box with a mate on Facebook via live a few years ago for fun, they didn’t envision it would lead to opening a popular bricks and mortar shop in central Geraldton, WA.
The trading card enthusiasts who have been friends since they met as teenagers, were having a quiet beer one night when they decided to “unbox” a recent trading card purchase and livestream it to a small audience on Facebook.
To their surprise, viewers across Australia responded by offering to buy more packs to be opened live by the pair, who had taken to the camera like ducks to water. This chance decision connected them to a community of likeminded trading card collectors in the Mid West city and beyond, and ultimately led to them growing their business, JJ Collectibles - or JJ’s for short - to a brick and mortar and online enterprise with customers all over the nation.
Passion and timing the key
Of the businesses’ unexpected start, Jorden speculates that it was a combination of passion and timing that opened doors.
“Living in a town where being part of a community is a big feature, the isolation of the COVID pandemic hit pretty hard,” explains Jorden.
“I think everyone was missing the usual opportunities to get together in person and spending a bit more time online, so when we decided to do our live unboxing, we had a bit more of a captive audience, including people across Australia who had been even more locked down and isolated due to the pandemic, and it struck a chord.”
JJ’s expanded the livestreams from Facebook to popular gaming platform Twitch, where they stream a vast range of content almost daily, as well as creating content for Instagram, You Tube, Tik Tok and setting up an Ebay shop.
The next steps for the business were creating a website and seeking more local engagement via a market stall at the Sunday markets. It was there that they realised the demand for something bigger existed. As interest in and followers from the business grew, Jorden started exploring the possibility of adding a local premises to their online presence.
Tapping into business advice for an experienced sounding board
As the business became more serious, Jorden realised that while passion and connection to customers had fuelled its early success, he didn’t have the background in business to ensure its longevity.
JJ’s approached SBDC Regional’s free business advisory service for help, turning to a local adviser for advice on all things digital. This included guidance on using their accounting platform and building an online presence. Their adviser also used her vast knowledge of the local business landscape to recommend the business have a presence at events such as a range of market days in Geraldton and beyond, to build their customer base.
“Getting together with our adviser was really helpful, because she had an outside perspective on our business and could suggest opportunities we hadn’t thought of,” said Jorden.
“She is also a bit of a digital guru so was really helpful in advising us how to use Xero and set up our online store properly.”
“When there was something that wasn’t in her area of expertise, she was also able to point JJ’s in the right direction to get suitable help.”
Physical presence unlocks opportunities
“Licencing for trading card resellers, particularly Pokémon which was our main line, is very tightly controlled,” explained Jorden.
“Without an actual physical shop, we couldn’t access some of the new releases of products that we and our customers really wanted or expand our service into being a card grading middleman, which is an in-demand service for many collectors.”
While JJ’s founders were devoted Pokémon enthusiasts, they learned that there was a whole world of trading card collections the business could expand their business to, including Magic: the Gathering, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh, Disney Lorcana and sport collections ranging from AFL to WWE trading cards. Additionally, there were gaming supplies and a range of giftware that customers were interested in.
Having a premises meant that not only could JJ’s access the new releases and devote space to different trading card collections and accessories, but they could also start hosting several gaming events a week, building their enthusiastic customer base.
Welcoming everyone into the future
Today, JJ’s has built a reputation for welcoming everyone, from beginners to experienced collectors, to their community.
“As a father, I felt it was important that the business welcomed all ages and was a place where no one would feel they couldn’t ask questions and learn, because we all started out somewhere!” Jorden said.
Looking to the future, JJ’s hope to continue building their reputation for holding exclusive pre-release events for trading cards, where they can attract a national customer base, as well as staying invested in the local community and beyond through their in-person events.
More information
- Visit JJ Collectibles online
- Find out about the free small business assistance available from SBDC Regional for businesses in regional WA, and the SBDC for Perth metro businesses.
- Learn about getting started on social media
- See our range of low cost workshops on topics including ecommerce, online marketing and finance
- Read more WA small business stories
