Rare card found in NZ store sells to NFL player for $64k: ‘It’s a bull market’

Saturday, 20 June 2026

A rare Magic: The Gathering Mind Stone card pulled at a North Island Hobby Lords store has been sold to an NFL player for $64,000.

The New Zealand-based gaming retailer now operates 12 stores nationwide and employs around 140 people, and in recent times has been opening new stores every three weeks.

The company maintains an unlimited leave and sick leave policy for all staff.

A collectible card pulled from the pack at a New Zealand store this week has been snapped up by an NFL player for $64k.

Magic: The Gathering is one of the world's most collectible trading card games, and one of the rarest cards - a Mind Stone - one of only 150 in the world - was pulled from a North Island Hobby Lords store on Monday.

News soon went viral, “and we started getting contacted by a fair few famous people asking to buy it”, Hobby Lords managing director Liam O’Neill said.

That’s how the Kiwi business owner found himself on a video call with a famous NFL player-turned-collector.

Next week the rare card, which was pulled by a staff member, will be accompanied by two staff to its new home in America, illustrating the growing demand for the likes of trading cards, board games, role-playing games and tabletop games.

When O’Neill was first interviewed by Stuff he boldly claimed that following the opening of his Dunedin flagship store he was eyeing expansion, with six further franchise and owner/operator stores planned.

That was less than three years ago and, despite a tough economic environment nationwide, business was booming for the sector, O’Neill said. Hobby Lords now has a dozen stores with Invercargill and Hastings due to open, and employs around 140 people.

The company has also retained its policy of unlimited leave/sick leave for staff, and “we've had zero issues on it”, O’Neill said.

“Not a single person has abused it. If anything, I have to tell my staff to make sure they take their leave, because we enjoy what we do.”

Australia next as business goes from strength to strength

A further four North Island stores would be announced soon, with the company currently opening a new store every three weeks,“ said the 34-year-old who became a father last year.

“My wife is very accommodating.”

Hobby Lords has also just announced major expansion plans to Australia - 18 stores - which would put the brand on similar footing to well-established brand Hallensteins.

“We always knew we were going to go to Australia and we're going to put a lot more stores there versus New Zealand.”

The Australian move was an aggressive one, considering “banks have been telling us, like retail’s shrinking, but that is the complete opposite to our specific niche of retail”, O’Neill said.

“Our particular industry is exploding.”

He said the reason for the expansion was simple: “Demand massively outstrips supply.”

The secret sauce: ‘It turns out we have the formula’

A store like Hobby Lords “now on average keeps more in stock than a jewellery store does,” O’Neill said.

“We can’t get enough, the more stores we open, the more people want it.”

O’Neill said a major supplier recently reported seeing an 18% growth just in accounts being opened.

Hobby Lords, which was launched before the market boomed, has effectively “just hit the wave”.

“It turns out we have a formula.”

That secret sauce was about making a communal space. “Adults can come in, not know a single person there, and make new friends.”

Data from the stores backs that up. Customers spend, on average, three-and-a-half hours inside the stores, which includes playing games, buying food and drink and maybe some retail products.

Smaller centres had also embraced the stores, with a recently opened Timaru store trading “way higher than we were expecting”.

Driving a lot of the interest were trading cards, which O’Neill described as a “bull market”, driven by the likes of the big three: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and One Piece.

Disney Lorcana recently entered the market and “practically overnight, we had orders coming through our site, just ordering box after box after box”.

“People realise there's money to be had, and are trying to pull these big cards.”

For some Pokémon card collectors it was their fulltime job, and one which had the potential to outstrip some more orthodox investments.

Meanwhile, some customers don’t realise the value of the cards they may have, and staff were available to share their knowledge and potentially help trade on the international market.

O’Neill said the stores were particularly popular with families eager to spend time together away from screens and to encourage their children into a hobby which was beneficial for reading/writing and maths.

“It is a lot more old school reminiscence of the before-the-internet times.”

“It's very much a community thing.”