Trading card enthusiasts will soon have a hub to trade, connect and build community in the Lehigh Valley this fall.
Husband-and-wife duo Kailei Picciotti and Andrew Hartzell will open their first storefront at 3087 William Penn Highway, however the inspiration for Kyogre Kards began three years ago.
In January 2023, the duo got an “unexpected opportunity” to launch a Pokémon livestream through Orca Shop Co., an influencer marketing and livestream company.
“We started our channel ‘Kyogre Kards’ and really loved it,” Picciotti told Whatnow Philadelphia. “After several months, we asked if we could buy that portion of their business because they were exploding in beauty and personal care and were trying to venture out of collectibles. They ended up selling it to us.”
From there, Picciotti and Hartzell expanded their hosting efforts across Instagram, TikTok Shop and Whatnot along with doing in-person card shows. They also broadened their offerings beyond Pokémon to include Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z and One Piece trading cards.
“We’ve gotten a good sense of our community—just that love of collecting and the lack of space to do that in this area is what drove us to open a store,” she said.
The store will reflect the blue, white and red color scheme of Kyogre, a Water-type Pokémon.
“We chose Kyogre because Kyogre is the main legendary Pokémon from the first Pokémon game I played with my husband when we first started dating, so we kept with the theme of Kyogre,” Picciotti said.
Kyogre Kards will sell trading cards sourced from distributors, along with individual cards purchased from collectors.
“It’s part of the collectibles genre that you rip a ton of stuff, you see what cards you get, and if you have any duplicate cards or cards that don’t fit your collection, you trade those off to get new things you want,” she said.
Aside from trading cards, the duo will host Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering Wizards of the Coast tournaments.
“People just want to hang out. When you go to in-person events, people bring their own binders to show you their collections. People enjoy doing this hobby with others so we wanted to give them space to do that,” Picciotti said.
Picciotti looks forward to welcoming both trading card experts and newcomers alike.
“I’m most excited to share our vision with our community. I’m really excited for others to see and feel what that’s going to be like,” she said.
Kyogre Kards targets a mid-September opening. Visit the website and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.
