Animated Shows, VeeCon, and Why We're Betting on This Brand If you only look at VeeFriends as a collectibles brand, you're missing what Gary Vaynerchuk is actually building. VeeCon is the clearest example. Every year, Gary hosts a multi-day event that feels like nothing else — part business summit, part pop culture festival, part collectibles show. Minneapolis in 2022 (I WAS THERE). Indianapolis in 2023. Los Angeles in 2024, where speakers included Arianna Huffington, Daymond John, Will.i.am, and Howie Mandel. Over 7,000 people attended the inaugural event alone. Gary's stated goal is simple: "the coolest business conference in the world." The animated series is where the long game becomes most visible. VeeFriends partnered with Moonbug Entertainment — the studio behind CoComelon — to produce animated shorts for YouTube Kids. Each episode features the characters on adventures rooted in the values their names represent. This is the "Sesame Street" part of the Pokémon/Sesame Street thesis made real: the goal isn't just to sell cards, it's to build the kind of emotional attachment that lasts a lifetime. A children's book, "Meet Me In The Middle," featuring Patient Pig and Eager Eagle, launched in July 2024 — another brick in that foundation. Gary has been explicit: VeeFriends is a 40-year project. No exit. No flip. Here's why that matters to us at Izzi's Gym: we don't just stock products because they sell. We stock products we believe in. Gary Vee's message — that entrepreneurship is for everyone, that your background doesn't define your ceiling, that you build things that last by caring more than everyone else — is a message the Hamze family has lived. My dad came to this country from Lebanon with nothing, and he built something. That story sounds a lot like Gary's. That's not a coincidence in why we carry his products. We believe in what VeeFriends is becoming. We think the kids buying these cards today are going to be collecting them for the rest of their lives. And we want Izzi's Gym to be the place in Sioux Falls where they got their first pack. Come see us.