Business booming at Veteran-owned collectible shop in Franklin
FRANKLIN – Rod Crochiere collected comic books until he went into the Navy in 1993. When he got out, he decided to collect something different.
"I came across coins and I started collecting coins and it kind of snowballed what I was buying," Rod Crochiere, owner of I Have Coins and Collectibles in Franklin said.
Crochiere said the coin business was performing OK, but during the pandemic, the collectible business saw a boom
"People were home and they were bored," Crochiere said. "They started cleaning out the basements. They started finding all those childhood collections. Whether it was comic books or sports cards or stamps or even Beanie Babies."
Crochiere said there's always unexpected surprises coming through the door. He's recently seen an a sword from 1790 in Japan and a medal from the Titanic.
"This is a Titanic Carpathian Medal. It was awarded to a senior officer or direct lifesaver to the crew of the Carpathia for rescuing survivors of the Titanic out of the water," Crochiere said.
The veteran now shares his collecting passion with his children. They collect Pokémon cards.
"I really enjoy a lot of the customers that come in and talk about their childhood of collecting baseball cards because it's something that a lot of people have in common," Crochiere saod. "So you don't have to know someone to have something in common."
