Students and fans lined up outside on Guadalupe on Sept. 11 for a chance to meet former Longhorn basketball star and current Utah Jazz player Mo Bamba ahead of the grand opening of his new store, Mo Bamba Cards & Collectibles.
Carrying sports cards and additional memorabilia, including a rare $175,000 Stephen Curry card featuring a piece of Curry’s jersey from the 2022 NBA Finals, the store offers students the ability to buy, sell and trade cards or simply discover trading cards as a new hobby. Alongside sports collectibles, the store also offers a variety of Star Wars, Pokémon and Formula One cards.
Playing for the Texas men’s basketball team during the 2017-2018 season, Bamba was drafted into the NBA in June, directly after his last season as the sixth overall pick. For Bamba, the store represents his personal journey to the league, with autographed jerseys and limited edition cards from different milestones in his career interlaced throughout the store.
According to the store’s website, collectors can also bring in their own cards, get them graded and sell them on consignment while getting advice on their value. Aly Camara, Bamba’s cousin, who works as security at the store, said the grand opening was an emotional experience for Bamba.
“It was definitely a surreal feeling,” Camara said. “Seeing him grow up and … (go) to UT, and now opening up a business here.”
Jason Kokones, business sophomore and an assistant general manager at the store, said that, as a collector himself, working at the store is a dream job.
“A lot of people have some sort of connection to cards, whether they owned a card when they were younger that they really loved, or they used to collect with their dad or their parents,” Kokones said. “Having this here brought back a lot of good memories for them, and our hope is it’s going to be a growing part of this community.”
Sociology sophomore Sufyaan Khan said he stumbled upon the shop during its grand opening event, where Mo Bamba was in attendance.
“It’s nice that UT has a lot of different, … diverse events for a bunch of different people,” Khan said. ”It’s cool that I get to see all these things.”