Sean Piper said people traverse the flight of stairs to get to PCA Designer Toys in Keller for a myriad of reasons, but the top three are to buy trading cards, comic books and Funko Pop figures.

Just as the reasons are diverse for visiting the store, so is the range of customers.

“It's this nice amalgamation of stereotypical people that collect comic books or trading cards. And people you would never in a million years guess were into Pokémon,” Piper said. “One of our really good customers is an architect, [a] super clean cut dude...but not your stereotypical trading card collector.”

The backstory

Piper co-owns the business with Ricky Steelman who he met when Steelman owned a podcast network. Steelman hired Piper to do some web design work and during video chats, Steelman noticed Piper’s sizable Funko Pop collection. In 2017, Piper started co-hosting a Funko Pop-focused podcast with Steelman and, in 2021, they opened PCA Designer Toys.


What they offer

Piper said when they opened the business, they only sold Funko Pop figures. Over time, interest in Funko Pop items decreased and Piper adjusted his inventory accordingly.

“... Before, we were selling maybe 50 to 60 [Funko Pop] figures a week,” Piper said. “Now it's maybe 10.”

Collectible trading cards are currently the top selling merchandise category. The store carries most collectible trading cards, including Pokémon, Lorcana and Magic: The Gathering (MTG).


Card prices range from 10 cents to hundreds of dollars per card.

Comic books are also a popular customer draw for PCA Designer Toys. Genres represented in this section are superhero, sci-fi and mystery. Piper said there are also some Disney, Sonic the Hedgehog and Scooby Doo comic books for their younger customers.

Most of the new releases they stock are priced between $3 and $5.

“We do have some hard to find ones, they're referred to as variants or ratios,” Piper said. “They’re going to have certain covers. Don't open those, keep them nice and pressed ... and buy the cheap ones for reading.”


Additional stock includes plushies, collectible figures like Toki Doki and more. However, the business does not carry sports trading cards.

What else

On Friday, PCA hosts card nights where people play Pokémon and MTG. PCA is a partner store with UniVersus, which is a tabletop and trading card game. On Sundays, they run a UniVersus league and hold officially sanctioned tournaments.

Quote of note


Piper said he has wanted to own this type of business since he was 8 years old living in Lacey, Washington.

“You know, most kids set up a lemonade stand, I would set up a card table on my driveway and sell trading cards and comics to people walking by,” Piper said. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”