The Boys of Summer Comic Books & Sports Cards

Downtown Vacaville's 36-year-old baseball-card-shop-turned-comic-store, still stocking vintage sports singles alongside new weekly releases.

Downtown Vacaville's Merchant Street strip has changed a lot since 1989, but The Boys of Summer has stayed put through most of it. The shop opened as a straight baseball card store and has spent 36 years adapting as the hobby shifted, eventually growing into the comic book and sports card shop that anchors the block today.

Sports cards are still very much part of the identity, the shop's name says as much, with vintage singles sitting alongside newer releases for collectors working on specific sets or players. New comic releases have become the bigger weekly draw, though, and the owner runs a hold system for regulars so new issues don't sell out before pull-list customers make it in after work.

Display cases and wall-mounted books split the small storefront into distinct sections, and the collectible toys and figurines scattered through the space give it a browse-everything feel rather than a narrow specialty shop. It's the kind of Vacaville card shop where longtime customers know the owner by name and new visitors get pointed toward whatever just came in.

Weekday hours run late morning to early evening, with a shorter Saturday schedule and no Sunday hours at all. Because it sits right in the downtown core, a stop here pairs easily with the rest of Vacaville's Merchant Street shops for anyone making an afternoon of it.