Cooper Flagg Opened a Card Shop in Bangor, Maine. The Line Started at 3 a.m.
Flagg Trading Company opened Saturday on Main Street in Bangor with a line that wrapped around the block and the NBA Rookie of the Year working the register. Here is the address, the hours, and what an athlete-owned shop means for collectors.
The NBA Rookie of the Year now owns a card shop, and it is not in Dallas. Flagg Trading Company opened Saturday, September 12 at 35 Main Street in downtown Bangor, Maine, about 30 minutes from Cooper Flagg's hometown of Newport. The store is a partnership between Cooper and his cousin Tyler Flagg, who will run it day to day while Cooper is with the Mavericks.
The line started at 3 a.m.
By the time the doors opened at 10 a.m., the line ran up Main Street, around the corner onto Cross Street and down to Columbia. The first two people in line, a father and son who drove up from Lubec, started the queue at 3 a.m. after realizing nobody else had. Others slept in their cars. A 13-year-old from West Gardiner showed up with a Topps Midnight Flagg numbered 32 of 149, which happens to match Flagg's jersey number, and told a reporter it would probably never be sold.
Flagg himself walked the line handing out packs before cutting the ribbon, then worked the register once the doors opened. Store capacity was capped around 50 people, so the outside line was still wrapped around the block an hour after opening.
Store details
- Address: 35 Main Street, Bangor, Maine
- Hours: Closed Mondays. Tuesday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Owners: Cooper Flagg and Tyler Flagg
- Concept: A hangout as much as a store. Flagg has said the goal was something that felt different from a typical card shop, a place people could stay and spend time rather than buy and leave.
Why athletes keep opening card shops
Flagg is not the first. Tom Brady's CardVault chain has been expanding aggressively and now counts JAY-Z, Aaron Judge and Dana White among its investors. Mo Bamba opened a shop earlier this year. What is different about Flagg's is the scale: one store, in a city of 32,000, in the state where he grew up. It reads more like a hometown project than a business play, and the opening-day crowd suggests that was exactly the right read.
For collectors, the interesting question is what an athlete-owned shop can offer that a normal one cannot. In Flagg's case, that is obvious: signed product, exclusive in-store events and the possibility of pulling a Flagg card in a store with his name on it. The shop reportedly sold a Flagg card autographed by his parents on opening day, which tells you the family is treating this as a real project.
If you are planning a visit
Bangor is roughly two hours north of Portland and four and a half from Boston. If you are making the trip, do not expect Cooper behind the counter; he reports to Mavericks training camp at the end of September. Expect a well-stocked modern shop with a heavy basketball lean and a lot of Flagg product, and expect it to be busy on weekends for a while.
Shop owners: this is the template for what a card shop can be in 2026. A grand opening that draws a multi-block line, a store designed for hanging out, and a founder who works the register. You do not need an NBA contract to copy the last two.