HRC-Pin Collecting

GO Collection.

Here are some of my HRC Grand Opening Pins that are very much in the special collection status and harder to find now days.

John with Hard Rock Cafe collectors at Atlanta HRC 2003

Many years ago, I was on business in San Francisco. While working in the Business District a couple of weeks, I explored the city during evenings and on the week-ends. On one such exploration, I came across a really neat restaurant that specialized in American food with a special feature. They included as part of the decor, one of the best collections of hard rock memorabilia I had ever seen under one roof. Additionally, this specialty restaurant included the sale of top grade pins with their name as logo. Of course, I am referring to the world famous Hard Rock Cafe chain. I brought my first guitar pin and let's just say that started my desire to collect pins.

What's unique about Hard Rock Cafe pins is the manner in which the chain markets it's gift store. Each HRC is city specific. So, when one travels to any large city or resort where such a store is located, all the pins in the gift store will have the name of that city.

Several years later, in late 2002, I learned that there had been a club formed with sole interest to support the collecting of HRC pins only. I joined. As one of the perts--if you want to call it that--is to get credit from each restaurant by way of scanning the club membership card. This gives a discount to the member on purchases but also monitors/documents the restaurants the member has visited. I have amassed 49 such visits to date and am always looking forward to that next visit of a HRC I have not previously visited.

In addition to the collecting and trading of pins, the real benefit to me and others is the "extended family" one acquires. Members from near and far become friends and enjoy camaraderie for years to come. I have friends now from all over the world. We stay in touch and meet up at trading events as time and resources allow.

While I stopped trading in general terms a couple years back, I have narrowed my search for harder to get pins. These are usually the "Grand Opening" pins distributed as each new HRC is opened. Also, I collect pins that are given only to staff--these usually will have "STAFF" somewhere on the pin. Both GO and Staff pins as you might guess demand a higher price since they are in limited production and most people who are lucky enough to own hang on to these--they are seldom traded.