PriceSpot
No children in the queue: adult Pokémon collectors travelled from Murcia to Picanya for cheaper 30th anniversary cards
On release day for Pokémon's 30th anniversary collection, the queue outside Passarella Pop reached the end of the street. The shop is in Picanya, a town of about 12,000 people in Valencia's Horta Sud, and some of those waiting had come from Murcia, more than 200 km away, because the cards cost less there than in their own area. According to GIRONANOTICIES.COM, there wasn't a single child in the line. Some people were buying for their kids, who weren't children either.
From Murcia to Picanya for cheaper cards
That last detail made us laugh. Anyone who has spent a release morning on a pavement surrounded by people with mortgages will recognise the scene.
The trip interests us more. The story doesn't say how much cheaper the cards were, which is annoying, because that's the number we'd most like to see. All we know is that the saving made the journey worthwhile for those buyers. Not many ten-year-olds plan their booster packs that way.
Let's not get carried away, though. The report calls the peak in demand exceptional and ties it to this one launch, so nobody should imagine people driving 200 km for cards every weekend.
Kidults and the 30% of Spanish toy sales
Still, a queue of adults is no fluke in Spain. The toy manufacturers' association AEFJ, using Circana data, says so-called kidults account for close to 30% of the sector's sales. That segment grew by around 20% in the past year. The children's market stayed flat as birth rates fall.
Consultancy We Are Family Iberia values the Spanish kidult market at about €1,200 million a year, some €550 million of it in toys and collectibles, with active buyers spending between €250 and €400 annually. Its KidultOS report also found that 72% of respondents discovered their latest purchase through other fans' content on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. We'd have guessed as much without a survey.
Cards draw the crowd, Funko pays through the year
Pokémon collectors may not enjoy this part. Cards brought the queue, but the year-round product is figures: this shop has more than 2,000 Funko Pop references in stock out of over 6,000 listings. Anime and manga figures are its widest category, with more than 300 One Piece Funko Pops alone. One Piece was also Funko's top property worldwide in the second quarter of 2026, and Demon Slayer came ninth.
We recognise the habit behind those numbers. Around 69% of Funko's sales come from evergreen licences, meaning characters people buy years after their debut. Passarella Pop's average buyer is about 35, and the average order contains more than three units, a long way from a one-off present for a child. Anyone who has spent a year chasing a master set knows how that goes.
Umbreon, Gyarados and Alakazam in week 45
Cards can also move sharply long after release day. Based on the prices we track at PriceSpot, these were the biggest climbers on Cardmarket in our week 45 price report:
- Umbreon VMAX (Alternate Art Secret), Evolving Skies: from €1,514.74 to €1,995.01
- Gyarados, Legendary Collection: from €372.43 to €775.72
- Alakazam (2), Skyridge: from €125.78 to €468.82
Nothing in our data links these jumps to anniversary excitement in Spain. We'd be especially careful with the Alakazam, because a card that more than triples can look very different a few weeks later. Check recent listings and condition before you decide your copy is suddenly worth that much.
And that Umbreon? Its rise of €480.27 is more than the €400 We Are Family Iberia gives as the top end of an active Spanish buyer's spending for a whole year.
Before you drive to Picanya
Do the sums first. Know what your card is actually worth before you buy or sell, and if a deal involves single cards from a stranger at a busy event, learn how to spot a fake.
We also have a soft spot for this particular shop. Passarella Pop has been open since 2010, and the DANA floods of October 2024 forced it to rebuild much of its premises and stock. After all that, a queue to the end of the street, with people in it from another region, can't have been a bad sight.
So what are yours worth?
Stories like this always send us back to the binder. If you want to know what you've got, PriceSpot lets you scan your cards for free, one after another, and see what they sell for on Cardmarket in each card's language. Every Monday we also publish the cards rising and falling most, if you like keeping an eye on the market.
News source: GIRONANOTICIES.COM
