‘I just sold an $80 poster’: St. Albert business finds success with huge poster purchase

An Edmonton business owner is sitting on a pile of posters he said are poised to fly off the shelves – once they’re on the shelves.

Paul O’Mara owns Oceans 2 Prairies Wholesale Liquidation Ltd. in St. Albert, which has been packed with thousands of rolled-up cinema, sport and celebrity posters, many of which he has yet to discover.

“I’ve gone through some I have some downstairs, but tons of these just have a number on them,” O’Mara said. “No idea in the world what it is.”

O’Mara said he bought 10,000 of the tubes from a friend who had purchased the posters at an auction more than a decade ago.

While O’Mara hasn’t had time to go through the whole stash, he said there are plenty of genres – and eras – for prospective buyers to choose from.

“The most recent one is 2006 and the earliest one I’ve seen so far is 1970,” he said. “But the majority are all 80s and 90s.”

The boxes and shelves of glossy paper have yet to prove popular with teens, but they’ve been sought after by older adults.

“My generation is coming in and buying the same posters they had on their wall when they were kids,” said the 57-year-old O’Mara.

“I had one lady come in, had to be in her 80s, and she kind of whispered, ‘Hey, I want a Bon Jovi poster.'”

A vintage Bruce Lee poster can be seen at Oceans 2 Prairies Wholesale Liquidation Ltd. (David Ewasuk/CTV News Edmonton) It was a big investment for O’Mara to buy the lot without knowing what exactly he was getting, but he’s sure there’s money to be made with the posters, which originally retailed between $6.99 and $27.95.

“I sell some of the ones that are $27.95 for $10. I sell some of the ones $6.99 for $60, whatever I deem the value to be with a bit of research,” he added. “I just sold an $80 poster.”

He still needs to sort through all the merchandise, but O’Mara already knows there are a few pieces he won’t be parting with.

“These Bruce Lee ones are from 1972, and they come flat like a sketch,” O’Mara said. “Bruce Lee is timeless for sure, he’s got the moves.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk