WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A Wichita Falls couple recently opened a storefront in Wichita Falls, turning their lifelong passions into the city’s newest locally owned and operated retailer.

Cards & Culture opened its doors in Wichita Falls on Monday, March 13, 2023, in Crossroads Center, located on Southwest Parkway, between Kemp Boulevard and Maplewood Boulevard.

The store specializes in trading cards, from sports cards to Pokemon cards, as well as vintage apparel and sneakers, tapping into nostalgia for those who grew up during the 1990s. It was during that time that Cards & Culture’s owner Kellen Ayers began his card collection.

“When I was younger I collected baseball cards, just growing up playing baseball, playing all the different sports,” Ayers said. “My dad would always bring me different packages of cards, boxes of cards, so it really started from that.”

Ayers said he eventually began to share his childhood hobby of collecting cards with his son via the mobile app Whatnot. He said the hobby took a new shape during the COVID-19 pandemic and selling cards became a way to earn money.

“That being another source of income as well, it just really kind of all bundled together and started to work out,” Ayers said.

As the pandemic continued into 2021, card collecting resurfaced in mainstream culture, but as the lockdowns began to lift, Ayers said he began to notice a lack of local spots to expand his card collection.

“A lot of places in Wichita Falls don’t offer those cards, the cards we were looking for,” Ayers said.

Around that time, Tamara Hungerford, general manager at Cards & Culture and Ayers’ girlfriend of over two years, also began to notice the lack of a local storefront to expand her collection of vintage apparel.

“There’s not a lot of places in town to find cool vintage tees or even the clothes that we have, like the Supreme, the AntiSocial,” Hungerford said.

Ayers and Hungerford eventually put their heads together, and the idea of opening a store of their own began to take shape.

“We kinda just looked around and thought, well, why not bring something to Wichita Falls like that,” Ayers said.

And on Monday, March 13, 2023, that’s exactly what they did. Cards & Culture officially opened its doors in Crossroads Center, offering a nostalgic selection of clothing, shoes, and cards, unlike anything else in Wichita Falls.

“We wanted to have a little bit of everything, the clothes, the vintage, the sneakers, the cards, we’ve got the boxes,” Ayers said. “We’ve got hobby boxes, we’ve got autographed jerseys, sports memorabilia, just a little bit of everything.”

Ayers and Hungerford are both lifelong collectors, and as such, offer expertise in trading cards from Ayers and vintage fashion from Hungerford that are unique to Cards & Culture. And with the continuing rise in popularity of both trading cards and apparel from the 1990s, it just made sense to them to combine their interests into a single storefront.

Hungerford said their first few weeks in business couldn’t have gone better.

“It was really really great, a lot better than we projected,” Hungerford said. “I love it, I can’t wait to see how far it gets the more people that come in and support us and the more we can pour into our business.”

While Ayers and Hungerford are looking forward to the future success of the shop, it’s the nostalgia that makes Cards & Culture a labor of love for them.

“It takes you back to being a kid,” Ayers said. “You know, ripping your first Pokemon pack as a kid, so it just kind of brings it all back.”

And as the old expression goes, if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.

“We get to come in here and we get to talk about the things that we love and show our passion for the things that we’ve collected over the years,” Hungerford said. “It’s surreal and I love it.”

Cards & Culture is located at 2708 Southwest Parkway in Crossroads Center, behind CiCi’s Pizza. Their store hours can be found below:

• Monday — CLOSED
• Tuesday — CLOSED
• Wednesday — Noon until 7 p.m.
• Thursday — Noon until 7 p.m.
• Friday — 2 p.m. until 8 p.m.
• Saturday — Noon until 8 p.m.
• Sunday — 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Keep up with the latest additions to Cards & Culture’s inventory by following Cards & Culture on Facebook or by visiting their Instagram page.