/co/ -Tales of the comic shop.

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File: 1ee667174c92825⋯.jpeg (323.57 KB,920x595,184:119,comic-books.jpeg)

Tales of the comic shop. Anonymous 03/07/20 (Sat) 16:03:15 No.1072843

So I went to my local comic shop to get a nice graphic novel, so I could sit down and read it with some pastries and a nice cup of tea. However when I went to the store, I had to be buzzed in and low and behold, it's fucking ghost town. I was the only person there with no one else to be seen other than an old lady by the TV watching Fox News.

Now I had a nice chat with said old lady, and it turns out she was the owner of the store who was open for over 40 years and were considering closing. But she can't because there are so many damn comics lying around in big brown boxes, with the big two constantly shipping them new comics.

In fact they even admitted that they don't even specialize in comics anymore. Their main business is sell their backlog to mexicans who then sell said issues on eBay for hundreds of dollars. I was wondering if most comic book stores are like this, or was this just the minority.

____________________________

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Post last edited at 03/07/20 (Sat) 18:06:22

Anonymous 03/07/20 (Sat) 16:19:32 No.1072847

The biggest comic shop in my city specializes more in old toys than comics themselves. They even have a bunch of statues & stuff. Most of which has sat there for years. Then two other comic shops here mostly seem to survive off of people using them for tabletop sessions.

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Anonymous 03/07/20 (Sat) 17:23:15 No.1072849

>>1072847

Yeah, comic shops seem to try and be a jack of all trades nowadays

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Anonymous 03/07/20 (Sat) 22:38:21 No.1072866

>>1072843

In my city there is a couple that are pure American comic book stores selling mainly big two capeshit, but they are semi-famous and get visited by celebs and comic book industry people once in a while.

About decade ago most comic book stores in my area:

>added tabletop, board, and card games to their inventory

>added videogames and gaming related things to their inventory

>added manga, anime, and jp stuff to their inventory

>added various other nerd collectibles, shirts, toys, legos, etc. to their inventory

>all of the above

>none of the above and died by mid 2010s

There is a one exception. It's open between 5 and 7 pm on Wedneseday to Friday, and 8 to 8 on Saturdays. It is owned by two boomer brothers, and it looks more like a small warehouse full of comics rather than a comic book store. Running it is basically their hobby and big chunk of the space is used to hold their Batman collection and doctor who tapes. They still get new stuff, and what does not sell in few weeks gets listed on ebay.

Most successful comic book store in my area uses half of their place as a tabletop, war-gaming, and card game space. They run various tournaments once in a while.

There is one comic book store that started selling manga, anime DVDs, and imported Japanese snacks back in 2000s. Over time, Japanese stuff completely took over comics, and now it's basically weeb central with occasional Japanese expats hunting for snacks they can't find in Japanese or Asian stores in the area.

Interesting cases are bookstores. Over the years they grew more robust TPBs sections. Independent and niche bookstores in my area have a tendency to stock mainly creator-owned or small publisher stuff. No Marvel books from what I have seen, but some DC stuff like Watchmen, Sandman, American Vampire and other vertigo related stuff.

>Their main business is sell their backlog to mexicans who then sell said issues on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Why not help the old folks up a bit and teach them how to sell stuff online?

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Anonymous 03/08/20 (Sun) 12:47:21 No.1072888

>>1072866

>Why not help the old folks up a bit and teach them how to sell stuff online?

I'm actually considering it, maybe I'll volunteer at first and then ask to get a cut of each comic as payment.

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Anonymous 03/10/20 (Tue) 06:47:08 No.1072955

>>1072849

Comic shops need to be a jack of all trades nowadays, otherwise they won't make it far in terms of business.

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Anonymous 03/11/20 (Wed) 01:53:36 No.1072970

> Their main business is sell their backlog to mexicans who then sell said issues on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Has she not, er, considered doing this herself?

It's not like there's not price guides out there.

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Anonymous 03/12/20 (Thu) 00:11:05 No.1072987

>>1072970

I think there's some law or contract obligation that doesn't allow people to automatically sell comics like that.

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Anonymous 03/13/20 (Fri) 05:01:56 No.1073032

>>1072970

That's not a legal way to run a business.

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Anonymous 03/13/20 (Fri) 14:14:51 No.1073038

>>1072987

Why would it be illegal? I remember watching some comic books store documentary on youtube. Salty guy running the store would spend a lot of times putting comics that did not sell on ebay or monitoring ebay for prices on old issues and basing his in-store prices on that. He would also rant about Marvel's, DC's, and Diamond's practices.

It was similar to the comic book place, but the owner was a skinny guy with long hair.

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Anonymous 03/17/20 (Tue) 07:02:48 No.1073172

>>1072866

One of the biggest comic shops where I live is now a huge magic shop. They sell 40k and other tabletop stuff there, and other card games as well, but that shop is full of magic players during events.

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Anonymous 03/19/20 (Thu) 02:10:19 No.1073221

>>1072987

Probably for new issues, yeah. I meant old back issues. I bet shops sell those to each other all the time

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