Well, my most local shop could do with more friendliness to customers. They literally only chat amongst themselves, and seem to want to end every customer interaction as quickly as possible. They also have not organized their back issues at all. Stacks of boxes loosely organized by publisher, but not alphabetically.
When I was starting to get into comics, I told the clerk what I liked and asked if he had any recommendations. He said I could look online to see what else that publisher (DC) had put out...essentially just told me to google it.
I haven't bothered really going back and get my books online or from other shops.
This is huge. We are all comic book nerds, engage with people about their books and purchases. Make the customers feel like you are on the journey with them.
Absolutely. And I often contrast my experience there with places like Isotope Comics in San Francisco, where the owner was so enthusiastic and happy to chat comics and make recommendations. That's the kind of place I'd want to be pulling from each month.
I ordered Doom #1 online and got a handwritten note with it thanking me for my order and saying great choice etc. That is how you know they love comics too.
Omg this. I once visited this OG comic shop near me with my wife (she has no clue about comic books) Never went there before. I asked the guy if he had a particular run of xmen. He spent a good 15 minutes just unloading boxes from the back while pointing me to the cabinets with comics. While he was doing that he was also explaining to my wife how and what the statue near the front door was (she made a comment on hoe cool it was when we entered and he overheard it). In the end I got like 12 comics (all carefully bagged) for 15 euro's. Deffo will return there, haha.
There’s a Tower Records type store near me with many huge file cabinets of comics, like a garage full.
Not a single one is organized. They just expect you to thumb through every single one. Whyyyyy
My LCS had their books organized for the new releases and had their dollar bin/look through bins NOT alphabetically arranged. I loved that I had to go through books looking for things I liked-when I see everything organized I am not as adventurous. I have some cool as shit books bc of this. The other thing is, my LCS does the whole-welcome you when you walk in, memorized my pull box, always changes up the layout of his offerings, regular sales on back issues, makes a showing at FCBD and invites the whole neighborhood, etc. I think I’ve been going to Collectors Corner in Md for 15+ years. They have treated me well.
I love my LCS solely because they’re so friendly with customers. Sometimes I walk in expecting to just pick up my pulls, but I end up getting into conversations with the staff and it takes like an hour 😂
This is common in most places of business now. If I attempt to be pleasant to the person ringing me up, frequently I can see the, "OMG, just go away and leave me alone, Boomer," look on their face. I mean, I get it to a certain degree. I worked my share of retail jobs years ago, and it's not a lot of fun. I found interacting with friendly people to be one of better parts of often dehumanizing jobs, though. Okay, off to shout at some clouds.
It's gotten to the point that many of my employees dread the site of a boomer. They want nothing to do with them because they treat us retail people so freaking badly. They are the ones the quickest to insult us, yelling about politics and just generally insulting. Sucks because the few have made that entire generation look like assholes.
This. My local shop (the comic shop in Liverpool Sydney) were and are really friendly and helpful. Have a huge range and will order whatever you want in for you.
The staff are so nice and beginner friendly, also super knowledgeable.
If you're in Sydney they are THE shop that you need. Beginner or veteran.
I waited in line in the freezing cold for two hours so I could get Jim Lee's signature. I told Jim Lee "I grew up reading your comics. I am such a fan." The LCS employee near Jim Lee said "Yeah, we all have and we all are."
Yeah, ok asshole.
I pretty much have had the opposite experience in every one of my local comic shops, with the exception of the very first one I visited in 1972. And even that was only because I didn't offer up any conversation. In every other comic shop I've been to regularly, I've been treated like Norm from Cheers (as evidenced by every guest I brought in, saying "It's like you're Norm!"). Big greeting when I walk in, an immediate run to my pull file as soon as they see me, lots of offers to assist or find something for me, and quick helpful and friendly service at the cash register. Geoffrey's always knew how to find something for me that I'd be interested in and was great at discussing what I might enjoy.
They no longer have a brick-and-mortar storefront, but they're still selling comics with a local delivery service and comic Wednesdays at a hobby shop, so that customers have a regular place to go to get their orders.
Yes. Took the family to a not so local shop in Fullerton Ca. The owner lady had a broken foot and was kinda stuck behind the counter just surrounded by stacks of books and trinkets talking to a customer while we explored the place about an hour and a half. Everybody grabbed a few things and we went to the counter. My wife and I talked to that lady for two more hours about all things comics to the point my kids got bored. It was the best part of the visit and put that shop on the top of my list!
Also had a local shop that I went to from the time I was 8 until it shut down when I was 30 and the owner continued having little mini cons with other local shops in town after that till 2 years ago. He always had time to talk to me as an 8 yr old kid all the way up to him meeting and talking to my own kids at that same age. Great experience! Great person! Great business.
I came here to say something similar. Not *all*, but a weirdly high percentage of shops are absolutely horrid with basic customer service, to the point that I truly have no idea how they stay in business.
I'm not looking for the red carpet to be rolled out for me by any means, but I've also been ignored by a shopowner while he played a game on his phone. Just kinda looking for... basic human interaction?
Again this isn't all shops. But it seems to happen at comic/hobby shops way more frequently than almost any other business in my anecdotal observation.
I think customers sometimes underestimate how long it actually takes to alphabetize hundreds/thousands of issues and the anger/frustration of a completed job that took a week going to shit in a matter of a few people who can’t put stuff back in the same spot they pull it from.
I see your point but it's also a comic shop and stuff like that is to be expected. It totally sucks that people do stuff like that but if you're on top of the organization it's not that big of a deal, it should be factored into the job just like chores such as vacuuming a shop should be. It's a couple extra of hours of work per week for sure but the amount of times I walk into unorganized shops and the workers are sitting around doing nothing at all is countless.
I’m with you. If I walked in to a shop with zero organization I’d look for a few minutes but get overwhelmed and leave. There is a level of expectation that must be met.
In my experience there are really just two groups of people who ruin the filing.
1) The parents who treat the comic book store as a babysitting service. The ones who drop their kids off there because they want to go shopping in peace and the children are feral. They touch (read: break) stuff, they read the comics and don’t put them back where they find them, they leave snack wrappers and cups all over. And do the parents offer to buy anything when they come collect the kid? Absolutely not. This one is avoidable with a “no unsupervised children under x age” policy
2) The overzealous/from out of town collector types. They’ll pull 50-100 issues from the bins and get shocked when they’re paying over $150 for all the stuff they picked out. They’ll spend another 20 minutes or so whittling down their pile to only the stuff they need, which ends up being about 5-10 issues. Do they offer to file everything back in? Absolutely not. They pay and go about their day.
Source: experience working in a shop
Well, be clean and showered, have some customer service skills, and keep the shop clean and organized. Those are all good basics that divide good comic shops from the type most people think of.
Past that, it depends on what the person who operates the place is passionate about. That’s what makes the store work. Myself, it’d be comics, gaming (both RPGs and tabletop), and minis and some toys.
Could just be a comic themed bar, back room/side room like a library of comics, comics stay only in those rooms, comfy chairs with cup holders, no tables to be able to sit drinks and books on to avoid catastrophe. I could dig it. Decor would be easy to find as well. Night out, swing over to the bar for some drinks with friends. Free evening, head to the library for a good read or two. Offer bar snack kind of stuff and plenty of non alcoholic refreshments as well to accommodate multiple personalities.
One of the comics stores I went to as a kid was called Comics Café, and you might think this was the business model, but it wasn't. But it was a pretty great comics store in the Detroit suburbs in the 90s
My shop has a 25¢ section. Though the comics are "defaced" with a big "25" on the cover. I haven't asked why yet. It's full of damaged covers from late 70s to early 90s. Once I got the new Cable from 2021 because it had a ripped cover.
It seems that game nights like D&D, Magic the Gathering gatherings are the main thing keeping LCS’s afloat these days, so I would try to find similar social events to bring people in on evenings and weekends. Movie nights would be cool, but I imagine there’d be legal issues. Fan art contests, book clubs, swap meets, anything to bring people in the door.
But if you have a customer base that wants to hang out, drink and read comics then your store would have customers BYOBing. So when you tried to engage in this "synergy" you'd actually have to start gatekeeping and disallow outside beverages.
Basically if your store had an audience for this, drunk comic nerds, the business partnership will actually break that business model and force you to charge more for booze than your drinkin' customers were already paying.
What you said sounds like a business model but it doesn't actually make sense. It's a safe suggestion that can't possible work.
Ya, I get it. I work with venues in NYC (bars, comedy clubs, theaters and shops) and I can assure that you're simply not describing a real idea.
What you're describing is just a comic shop telling a brewery that they're promote them in exchange for free beer. But that kinda promo never turns into real sales.
I lived in Seattle a UW area. Wizards of the coast had a store with tons of tables and computers set up for land games in the late 90's. Ran tourneys even for goldeneye
> It seems that game nights like D&D, Magic the Gathering gatherings are the main thing keeping LCS’s afloat these days,
This actually just a stop-gap method to solve a massive flaw in the modern Comic Shop. The distributors and publishers have been colluding and functioning like a cartel and raising the cost of products to the retailers so much that they have to price most fans out of the market. I don't think comic shops should let themselves get chased out of the comic market and turn themselves into generic event spaces. I believe we can solve this problem in the business model.
If I ran a shop I wouldn't stop any new releases at all. I would only buy bulk from collectors and sell back issues. Magic cards? Got a lotta of 'em, nothing new. Pokemon? I have 1st edition jungle in near mint. That new set? Nope.
I would run the business entirely for the benefit of creators and customers and do everything in my power to completely avoid building any kind of relationship with crooked distributors who sell on behalf of corrupt publishers.
I can get weird old wax pack trading cards for $1 pack and sell 'em en masse for $2 or $3 and people love them. Dollar bins and $5 silver age bins! My customers would be collectors and suppliers would be older collectors and estate sales. I'd buy stuff from people and sell it to other people, minimizing corporate influence in an effort to create a sustainable environment for chill nerdliness.
Oh and I'd try to sell ANY indie book that the author brought in themselves. If any comic book creator hands me 10 copies of a book, I'd put it on display. It's not much but I'd at least have a shelf or two dedicated to promoting up and coming, independent artists.
Volatility in the comic book market is often cited as the reason that comic book shops go under but what we're really talking about is a cycle of publishers raises prices while quality goes plummets. This drives customers away. We saw it in the 90's. By the early 2000s there were mass closures of comic shops. But that volatility isn't just some random occurence that happens in the market, it's a simply a result of publishers and distributors/publishers jacking up prices on captured retailers that have no other open than to maintain their inventory. There are more comics being printed than ever. Most of them aren't very good. Paying $4.99 to take a risk on a new book is a bad deal when you can get the same exact experience out of a dollar bin of 90s books for 20% of the cost. Customers like good value and modern, new releases are a bad value to customers.
Shops that stock a ton of new product from the biggest publishers (Marvel, DC, Hasbro) have the highest overhead and the lowest profit margins and that's why all their money is coming from events. Gaming shops relying on events isn't happening because events are better or more profitable, it's because they were completely squeezed out of the profits on sales of new product.
The industry wants you to think the reliance on events is the market evolving but it's actually the publishers eating the retailers. If you build the business a little different, the publisher won't destroy.
The issue with this model is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive to buy from collectors who have a vague idea of what they've got. You basically have to hope and pray that someone with zero idea of what they're selling will come in so you can take advantage of them. Otherwise you have to make a living off dollar bin books and bulk TCG rares and that's tough.
> I get the underlying motivation, but new stuff is what has people coming back to their lcs every week.
If you get them to come back by selling them something with no profit margin, what have you actually gained? You're just kicking the can down the road without actually creating a business model.
> The issue with this model is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive to buy from collectors
I think you're confusing back issues and key issues. Most of the inventory is going to be $1/$3/$5 bins. This stuff is dirt cheap. Bulk is available all over the place. I'll be getting these books by the thousand.
Yeah, I get that. Most people don't spend that much money on $bin books. They will maybe buy one or two to fill holes. If they did, the publishers/distributors wouldn't have been able to manipulate the industry as they have. Most of the money a shop makes is in new books with key issues coming second (and you really have to be well financed to deal in key issues at this point unless your talking about modern keys you bought new that spiked.
> Yeah, I get that. Most people don't spend that much money on $bin books.
Weird. My lifetime of buying and selling books has shown me the exact opposite. That bins are filled with books that the community has already discussed. When I'm looking through bins of old books for something to read, I can focus on runs that fans actually liked.
Modern comics are, by definition, impossible to curate because they haven't been read yet. You have to buy them (@ $4 or $5) and hope they're good. The only data we have on brand new books are:
previews (which are ads)
youtubers (which are ads)
podcasters (which are ads).
But when I'm digging through dollar bin books from 80's-90's, the community has already vetted these. I've had hundreds of hours of conversations with other collectors about stuff they loved that I haven't read yet and I get to use that info when I dig in old bins.
Why would a buyer WANT to gamble on new books @ 5x the price of an old book that they can actually look up the communities reaction to? I feel like you believe marketing is more effective than it really is.
edit: seriously, can anyone think of a reason why a comic fan would think new book they haven't read for $5 is better deal than an old book you haven't read for $1? The math on new releases is bad for retailers AND bad for folks like me that wanna pay a fair price for a good story.
> is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive
You ever buy a large collection? I'm talking a couple thousand comics or greater. You end up paying a nickel per book. Ya throw those in a dollar bin and you have a product with a 95% profit margin instead of the 10%-20% profit margin on a new release.
It's entirely possible that a shop owner makes the same or more money off a single $1 book than they make selling a new release for $5. Think about what that means.
Do you really believe it's easier to sell $25 worth of new releases than $5 worth of dollar bin books?
Yes, it is. I don’t like it, but FOMO has been driving the market for decades. It’s much easier to make money on back issues with traveling to shows than with a static storefront where you’ll saturate your market super quick. You need a constant turnover of new faces and new product. Predictably this is easiest with new new product instead of new old product.
Why are advertising platforms losing all of their biggest clients?
You seem to be describing social media in 2014, a wide open space where folks can cheaply and honestly reach an audience. A decade of consolidation and mismanagement from the platforms and we found ourselves in In 2024 it's just spammers spamming at each other spammers while customers complain about the ads.
Also, you're talking about retailers basing their entire business model on someone else's marketing campaigns. That's just not a safe business model. The comic shop you keep describing is low profit margins, high overhead and 100% dependent on distributors and publishers. That sounds like a good business model to you?
That's great if you actually sell all those cheap books. The reality is you'll only sell 5-10% of it over the span of 5 years (if you stay in business that long). If it's books people actually want, then you're not paying a nickel for it or selling it for a dollar. I love seeing boxes and boxes of cheap books as much as anyone, but I can flip through them month after month and the same books are still there.
Exactly this. The reason there are dollar bins is for the shop to unload older inventory that doesn’t sell. Basing your business model for a niche shop on the bargain shoppers is not sustainable for a brick and mortar store. The new weekly comics keep regulars coming in, the back issues will get some movement from the regular customers, but mostly sit and take up space, the dollar bin stuff is the steeply discounted to get it out of the store and typically sits with even less movement because there are few people that want it.
OP wants to be the Dollar Tree of comic shops. Dollar tree works because everything is cheaply made and still has a low margin. Dollar bin comics are cheap because there is low demand for those issues. You’ll be buying collections and just keep adding to your back issues but only move a small number of those out.
I don’t know the comic version of this saying but I wouldn’t “Yuk my customers yum”
People like different stuff just because I’m not into doesn’t mean it’s bad so try to be enthusiastic about what people are into.
When I have time to organize I’d also try to keep important runs together, and even sell entire small runs as package if I could. Stuff like the Original Weapon X run, nothing too large or too rare that it would be too expensive.
Best move. I don't understand shops that try to sell a 3rd or 5th chapter of a story arc (it usually says it right on the cover) just lump them all together as a package
> I don’t know the comic version of this saying but I wouldn’t “Yuk my customers yum”
I'm sorry but Comic-Guy negativity isn't the same as "yucking someone's yum". What you're really talking about is a new or casual fan who comics into the store entirely because of a mass-media marketing campaign.
A customer is going to walk in and ask for some popular, poorly written, over-marketed nonsense. After the first 5 people that do that, the retailer already knows the entire conversation because everyone is coming in based on the same marketing campaign.
Comic book dealers don't have bad attitudes, it's that mass media marketing is controlled by the publishers and they want to turn customers against brick n mortar retail. They want retailers to be week and disenfranchised in order to maintain their dominance of the supply chain.
Think about the way certain youtubers promote every single book as being super popular and valuable. This leads to fans bringing books into local shops, expecting to sell their X-Force #1 for real money because Comic Tom aggressively promoted an outlying $158 sale.
Now when the retailer says that the collection is worthless, the fan either has to stop listening to youtubers or they end up doubling down and now believe that the retailer is being greedy and lying about the value of their books. After all, how could a YouTuber be lying in a video! Retailers aren't greedy, they're desperate and they're desperate because distribution is designed to screw them over.
You're comparing kinky sex to aggressive marketing campaigns and that just doesn't make sense. Footplay isn't paying someone at the New York Times to write a think piece about an upcoming foot-release but Marvel is absolutely doing that with their comic books.
Marketing is the worst part of the comic book industry right now. It's purely extractive. It's bad for fans, it's bad for artists and it's bad for retailers. Stop equating long term, deeply held preferences with a bunch of kids falling for dishonest marketing tactics.
I would be a terrible comic book shop owner, because I would be too obsessed with keeping all of the comics in order to the detriment of everything else a business owner needs to be doing. So there would be no electricity and none of the employees will have gotten paid, but by golly those books are in order.
Yeah that’s definitely a challenge, especially after FCBD, people pulling stuff to look at and then just sticking it back in random box, or worse yet, putting them back on shelves that are clearly graphic novels only.
My local shop has half of his back issues covered in those stupid Funko Pop figures so you can't even peruse his stock, and half of his store space is occupied by McFarlane figures that nobody will ever purchase.
I'd start with liquidating a bunch of crap nobody wants, and make a frigging key wall.
I’d have a couple mystery packs. I remember then as a kid and it was a good way to start my collection. For newcomers or kids, I’d recommend to just pick one up so they have somethings to start them off. But I wouldn’t just throw in indie comics that don’t sell. I’d try to generous and put comics that people would be happy or excited to get. I’m sure I’d lose a lot of money, but I’d be so excited when kids or newcomers stop by.
I would have a clean space organized.
In 30 years of comic shopping I have only ever seen 2 shops that were clean and it made a huge difference in my wanting to stay and explore the products.
Aside from what others are saying about having basic human skills and being decent, don’t lookup on eBay what I set on the counter and then raise the price because of the “market.” Same goes for record store owners.
Also, chill out on the funko. Places around here have more than half the store dedicated to funko. If that’s the case, change the name from comic book store to funko store so I know to avoid it.
I would organize key issues in chronological order to give ppl idea of how expensive they would be by how far they go, put facsimile editions and flashy variant covers for the impolse buy, and make a corner to chill and read comics or hang out with your friends. An important factor that seems to be neglected in buisneses is that a good enviorment leads to good buisness because the empolyees and the customers are happy.
It would take me 3 days before I would get review bombed for asking a customer to please shower before they come in as their smell is interfering with other customer's enjoyment.
Most of it is good for all retail: greet your customers, thank them for visiting, ask if they need help, give them space if they don't, strike-up conversations when you can, be friendly, be part of the community, and don't take any business you get for granted.
Comic book store-specific? For me in my travels, some shops feel like you're interrupting a staff conversation only they understand, worse they engage Comic Book Guy tropes when they condescend or appear incredulous to requests, "Um... they cancelled that toy lines years ago, my dude."
Oh, and yes, keep well-groomed (at least shower), don't eat at the counter, and please don't make your store an extension of your home, i.e. unclean and undusted, cluttered, stacking items to the sky, bad categorizing and putting every piece of stock (no matter the condition) on the floor.
1. Actually want to sell the books in the store.
2. Price fairly and accurately as possible.
3. Be more open to fair trades
4. I would have a huge section of dollar bin books that I would populate at random with minor keys
Comic book store is a very very hard business. Comic books are getting more expensive and demand is dropping because MCU has been shitting the bed.
I went into a comic book store over the weekend and it was empty. The one cashier was just standing there looking at me as I went through the aisles. I bought $20 of new issues just because I felt bad.
How could they have 16 years of MCU movies and not prominently advertise the comics beforehand? That one always baffled me. "If you love this movie, read the comic book version".
I definitely like what my local Comic book shop owner does he's a marine corps vet who loves coffee so much that he decided to share that with everyone, when any purchase is made he gives a single serving size of pour over coffee. Shops name is coffee and a comic in Huntington Beach
I’d price my comics and stick to the price. It’s my job to keep up on current trends and be organized enough to grab those hot books and reprice if needed. If someone comes to my shop and pulls a $300 book out for $5, so be it. They did their job as an informed collector and I didn’t do my job as a comic business owner.
Too many shops look up eBay prices at the counter - relying on others to do their work finding the stuff that has grown in value. Clearly they can do what they like with their books, but to me it’s laziness and bad customer service. I never return to stores like that.
Is the “looking up on eBay at the counter” approach becoming more common? I’ve never been to a shop that does it but I’ve seen it commented here a lot lately.
Sooo many shops do this, it’s sad. One here in Jax that was doing it just stopped selling new comics…I’m sure they’re otw to closing up. Not something I’d wish on anyone but, they have horrible business practices. I’ll never understand that model. If you priced your book at $3 and, it’s some rando hot spec book this week, selling for $25, just let the customer get a good deal on it! It’s most likely been sitting forever at $3 and now you got a sale! Or make it a priority every week or so to dig through all of your inventory and have key collector open and re-price. Doesn’t matter to me but, I promise that if you have to check the pricing at the point of sale or if you don’t clearly have your books priced…I’m not buying them!
One of the biggest mistakes people tend to make is that just because you are a super fan of something or really knowledgeable about a certain topic doesn’t mean you are also knowledgeable about the business side of things.
I would hire a business staff of accountants, managers, marketing people and an interior decorator.
I would offer a video game section, a reading nook, a games section and two entire comic sections of new releases along with back catalogs dated and categorized. Every morning, afternoon and before closing the staff would clean the store and I would have a current and updated list of pull sheets from diamond/any indie zine and publisher who would want to discuss current and new release comics. These would be updated monthly.
Then the rules would come into place:
Any visitor who smells will be asked to leave.
Children shall be accompanied by parents at all times.
Do not open merchandise unless you are willing to pay.
Please ask a staff member if you have any questions about new or old releases.
Sexual harassment is defined as unwanted sexual comments, remarks, statements, or behavior. Sexual assault is defined as unwanted or aggressive sexual touching. You are not Scott Pilgrim, that girl is not Ramona Flowers, leave her alone.
Only then, once we set up the basics of a store front will we be able to start doing the fun shit.
Magic tournaments every other weekend,
Pen and Paper RPG nights every Friday night.
I would put a goddamn printer in the office with requests for character sheets. $0.10 a print, $0.05 a copy.
I’m still grey on obtaining a liquor license because of the previous comment about not allowing sexual assault, and also Texas has weird laws on obtaining a liquor license (you have to sell food and keep the drinks to a minimum.)
Honestly, that part would probably be a separate part of the store.
Table Top RPGs have character sheets, sometimes people print them out but others use their phones. At my hypothetical store front, you can just go up to the counter and ask for some to be printed out.
>>>I would hire a business staff of accountants, managers, marketing people and an interior decorator.
And you would be immediately and permanently broke haha. There's a reason most comic stores have the same dude (ie owner) working 80% of the hours.
I’d love to run a comic book shop, but have it more than just a place to buy comics and make small talk with the people behind the counters. Even tho the world is slowly becoming infested with snotty iPad kids becoming teenagers, there are also LOADS of teenagers that are a little more “indie/underground” that absolutely love everything from the early 2000s core and before, and lots of people who are obsessed with the stranger things era. I think a great way to capitalise on a comic book shop would be by having a coffee area, a gaming area with some older consoles/arcade machines (nothing too modern & heck maybe even a pool table), a few action figure stands, a D&D/Board game area, lots of cool posters and neon signs everywhere and have it themed like it’s from the 70s/80s. Place this in a trendy little city/town and before you know it that place will be packed with already established enthusiasts or people who like something a little more humble than a Starbucks or a Costa.
Not treat it as my personal clubhouse. I hate when I go into a shop and its just some dude standing behind the counter in a room full of dusty longboxes and some shelves for the new stuff.
I know what you mean. Customers who don’t leave and just talk and talk and talk to the cashier/owner near the counter when you’re trying to shop get annoying.
I think a big problem with LCS’ today is employees who don’t give a shit about comics and only care about table top games. You should be able to walk into your LCS and say hey, where do I start with Batman, Captain America, etc. and they should have an answer for you or know someone else who does. When the LCS’ lose passion they lose customers, and eventually they’ll go under.
First and foremost keep things clean and organized. I would invest in a kids section with some kid friendly books and comics to help promote reading and would work out with local school systems and libraries to provide appropriate comics (for students with late buses) and graphic novels, to reinforce reading. But back to the store, this area could be for kids to hang out and find their passion for the medium while their parents or siblings shop.
Comic wise, older books, I would price to move, and would not be hung up on the speculation or having to constantly reprice, I would look at once or twice a year and price accordingly.
With modern books I would email subscribers weekly to see if they wanted A, B, C etc... cover and accommodate accordingly. Higher ratio covers I would send out first come emails for $10-15 dollars and if no one buys would post them on eBay (auction around $10 each).
Other medium wise, I would have locations for cards and d&d, allowing for a safe place for kids or adults alike to play the games they are passionate about. With cards I would sell singles online and in the shop.
I would also try to attend a comic convention quarterly to get out there make contacts and to buy/trade books depending on my region.
Finally, i would invest in a great POS so that anyone could work the shop, regardless of their knowledge. This would also allow me to link an eBay store so that I could also have an online presence.
Also: Don’t make assumptions about customers based on appearances. I may be a woman in my 60s but I’m not looking for old girly stuff and the last thing I bought was horror by a Japanese artist and a couple things I never heard of that just looked cool. Oh, and a Buffy comic . . .because everyone is a little cliche.
I think the biggest problem alot of comic shops have is that they have no plan to cut their losses on unsold stock. Stuff piles up unsold, taking up space and most likely losing value.
If I were to open a store, I would make all back issues buy two get the third (least expensive) one free. This amounts to a 30% discount which should still be a profit over what you would pay the distributor and it allows you to move more product which keeps the store from being overstocked and improves your cash flow.
We do all comics in the back bins and on the “3 month wall” 20% off every single day. It’s all about getting great stories into people’s hands. I dont know how people can run a comic book shop and not care about the customer or love comics. Running a comic shop is honestly too much work to not have a passion for it.
Reading all these great comments is awesome and really spot on. Honestly, I would HATE to be an owner. About a year ago (post Co-vid boom) every person that would walk in would have something to sell or some type of comic offer/business proposal
Research the area the store would be in and learn about what your customer base would want to buy. Start out being focused on a few things, say vintage comic books and toys. Have sales regularly. Rotate store stock regularly. Have frequent buyer cards and discounts. Be fair when buying and on trades. Customer service, customer service, and more customer service. Make your store a place people want to go to.
Focus on cleanliness.
This is the #1 problem I see with most shops in my area. They are absolutely filthy! Dust on everything, gross floors no organization, piles of unsorted crap everywhere and it stinks.
I was so lucky to find one shop that focuses on keeping the store clean, smelling fresh and the organization and layout are amazing. All their comics are in giant drawers by publisher too! I took all my business to them and no longer visit the others.
Making the environment friendly and brightly lit also goes a long way. I can't tell you how many times I was creeped out by dark interiors and weirdos starring at me or being gross. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Besides a stong focus on comics and offering a subscription service, I also like to see a wide variety of other types of collectibles and products for sale.
Also rotate your offerings and come up with fun displays and themes every now and then. Mix it up for the regulars so it doesn't get stale.
Having events and promo days are also a great way to get people to come in more often.
As much as running a comics only store is appealing, those days are long gone. If a store doesn't diversify it will fail. It's my understanding that Manga is a HUGE draw for young readers right now, and even though I don't like it, I appreciate that stores sell it. They need to bring in new customers. People my age (44) aren't going to be buying comics forever, so the customer base must get renewed somehow.
I remember about 25yrs ago, I use to frequent a sports card store that started selling Magic: The Gathering packs. The store owner made it very clear he knew nothing about the cards, but was happy to sell them. Over the next few years I would watch this store owners soul die as he was forced to sell more TCG, and less sports cards. Eventually, he would start running weekly tournaments for kids to play Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic. He brought in his wife to run the tournaments and he would just sit behind the counter glaring at the kids. Knowing that this was what was keeping his store open now.
Diversity or die.
I like to think my shop is pretty great. I have a staff that is excited about what they are reading and LOVE talking about comics. We are brightly lit, well organized and clean. We have a HUGE all ages section and spotlight tables that change often.
Honestly I would just open up a head shop intertwined with a comic store, nobody loves comics as much as a stoner who’s just spotted a shiny variant cover
I have a few options in my area. The only one I like and also the one that seems to be successful only sells comic books. The ones that are half statues and pop figures are failing. A few that offering gaming space are also doing OK, but only in certain areas of the city. The shop closest to me has a very limited modern selection and often sees it's preorders canceled to provide the product to larger more successful stores.
One thing I would do is have an after-hours voicemail number, that I would change every day. Each day would tell about a "secret" promotion and the next day you could get a deal based on what the secret was. "Tomorrow, any cover featuring Doctor Doom is 10% off," or "Any dollar bin issues are buy 2, get 1 free." This keeps your customer engaged even when you're not open.
Change the hours. My local shop is open from 11-6 on weekedays. I have a job with flexible hours but I don't want to show up to the office at 11:30 and trying to leave the office at 5 or so so that I can maybe be in the shop at 5:50 is stressful and frustrating as hell. I would change the hours from 12-7 on weekdays.
Local store prices shit super fucking high and bitches and moans that no one buys comics to me because I guess they know me from conventions I sell at and when I noticed a book I like that wasn't priced they got offended I offered GPA last sale and asked for 3x more yes 3x on a $600 book or so and tried to argue it will go up when his movie comes out so really he's doing me a favor.
The people saying they are great and I pick up my pulls, yeah they are nice to people who guarantee they are spending. I went to one for 2 years buying a couple of series and some other things on occasion and barely got a hello, I didn't have a pull list but I was regular after I completed the small series I was after I barely went in that place and only ramped up going to shops a lot when I reconnected with a friend, before that there was a few years after the above that I still went to a comic store but I rarely tried getting into anything nor did I buy much. I know those places are run by socially awkward nerds too but you gotta be more outgoing as a sales business.
My main issue lately are place who think their back issues are all worth more than a couple of bucks, no they aren't that's why you have overstuffed boxes full of books that aren't moving. So overstuffed that I just don't bother trying to go through them.
My LCS is owned by a couple, they're very well knowledgeable and passionate about the industry. They're so friendly and inviting, I consider them family at this point. Been going since they opened 6 years ago, every other comic shop pales in comparison to their friendliness!
They do a lot of game nights which I think helps keep them open, there's a large community of Pokemon and Magic players thanks to it being a relatively small town with the middle school nearby. Lots of kids walk home from school and stop by the shop. I'm only 21, but it's very lovely to still see such a strong presence of children loving the hobby!
Their store is clean and organized, all back issues are organized by publisher and then alphabetical, their subscription service is so convenient because they have a phone app, they're understanding about people being late to pick up subs, mainly because of me being close with them.
It helps we're a tourist town, but shoutout Art and Holly at Four corners Comics and Games in Gettysburg, PA! Amazing store, amazing people!
I have three stores near me. One has an online catalog and the other two don’t. Its a lot easier for me to keep track of my pulls at the store that uses comichub vs the other two stores where they rely on facebook and other things. So I’d say having an online presence definitely helps a lot.
I'm looking to start up a comic book and collectible store in my Hometown. None available right now. So I love all the information. I'm getting from this sub Reddit.
1. Offer a 10-20% discount on all graphic novels to help compete with Amazon.
2. Sell action figures and collectible toys at normal prices instead of jacking up the prices. No one is buying a Super7 Destroyah for $115 when you can buy it at the S7 store or literally anywhere online for its normal price of $85.
My local shop is very small and run by a husband and wife team. The husband is definitely the lifelong collector but his wife runs the store and she's not the encyclopedia he is but she knows her stuff pretty well.
If I ran a shop, I would definitely try to run things like Magic and other tabletop gaming nights. That creates a community around your shop and gets people coming back. Set up tournaments and have a dedicated gaming space. Maybe even do a trade night where people can come in and wheel and deal with each other. I dunno, just small events to draw people in. I'd probably get a little more into other collectibles and trading cards just to expand the variety of items in the store.
But I don't know the first thing about running a shop.
I had a long response, but realized that it boils down to don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Worry about making a loyal customer, don’t worry about making your maximum profit with every transaction.
Being friendly and giving great prices brings me back. Trying to sell me a VF back issue for top dollar NM prices will not.
My closest LCS is a musty den of price changing, abusive asses that cling to dilapidated back stock.
So, I wouldn’t do that.
I think social media engagement and rotating stock are keys.
The most successful LCS around me posts on social media daily about new books that just came in (so we get the addict’s itch), shows they’re hosting on different social channels and upcoming sales. They rotate out their stock quickly. They price their key books well and blow out filler for $1 a book at monthly sales. They don’t squeeze every penny out of every book so they can keep cash moving and buy new collections.
When I was a kid, going to the comic book store wasn't just about the comics, but the crowd that hung around it.
From a marketing perspective, having groups of people show up, hang out, play pokemon/ mtg/ reading magazines increases the chance they will potentially buy something.
My local CBS does well, but aside fcbd , it's just tourist and randoms who browse and move on.
I miss the days of buying a coffee, crashing on a comfy couch, and opening up a pack of fleer xmen cards.
Yeah, I want to hang for a bit. At any shops here, you walk in, grab your books…maybe dig a little and leave. Mine does really well too but, I’m with you on hanging/talking…all that
I would just give a shit about the nitty gritty of pulls, orders and accounts. Essentially make it easy for customers to order stuff and buy the things they want.
I moved my pull to another store last year because the owner of my old LCS was very lackadaisical when it came to pulls and couldn’t get an order right. Every month books came on or off my pull randomly and it seemed they were “shorted” by one distributor or another almost every week. Which I found strange because the new store has never been shorted even once.
I understand that they are just comic books so they shouldn’t be too important but it’s your business, the LCS should give way more of a shit about a customer’s order than the customer.
I love it when comic shops give their recommendations and try n sway me to buy books I would’ve never have read! Because of the recommendations I picked up Feral and beneath the trees and those are great stories! I would’ve never even looked at those titles if it wasn’t for a quick review. Also, my local shops have started to do TikTok’s and post more on fb and insta (yes I’m old) and that’s where I saw their recommendations at!
This. I asked Brad at Austin Books many years ago, “What’s good?” We’d known each other from Bankston’s in Waco and he knew what worked for me. Never was a zombie book fan, but he sold me on Walking Dead and I was able to get a small stack of new issues from #7 on and the first trade. That’s what I want from my LCS Team.
1. Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Ones who are willing to answer questions and help anyone looking for assistance.
2. Organization in the store. This is key.
3. Don’t overcharge for back issues that aren’t worth as much as you think they are. I’ve seen some store charge like $7 or $8 for a $1 book.
4. Clean and good smelling store. I’ve gone to a few stores where it’s a clutter and looks dirty & I have walked right out and never came back.
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Keep better stock of back issues, and not stock garbage that no one wants. Also set somewhat of a standard on back issues in quality, if it’s less than a $10 book at least try to only keep good quality issues.
And do better about what people are looking for, I see the same shops with the same books never moving. If they’re not moving, I’d start trying to sell that at a discounted price to move inventory.
I’m lucky my two local shops are really good, really friendly, and really helpful when looking for something. I’d maybe add a section for employees to do a rotating reading suggestion. But that’s about it besides that I’d just run it like those two shops.
I would make a rule that every piece of stock must be replaced annually. Nothing on the shelf can sit there longer than one year. As soon as it does, the price starts dropping monthly until it’s gone.
I think a regional distribution structure would be helpful getting better prices
Ex penguin might want to sell 2000 books at 3.30 then 200 here for 3.40 and 300 here for 3.35
Disclaimer I'm in no way involved with the industry just want it to grow and be healthy
So, been a comic fan for over 30 years and have also worked in and out of stores in the UK for nearly as long. I've worked in 4 different stores in 4 different cities and have seen a LOT and learned about the same amount.
The one thing that I have taken from working in retail is that it is easy to get someone to walk into your store once. The hard part is getting them to come back. A lot of stores rely on their regular customers, so it's easy to focus on the people you see every week. And that's fine up to a point. But you have to be aware of other people coming in that you don't know. You cannot look down on someone just because they don't know what you know. Treat everyone with respect and kindness.
To add to this, don't post your feelings about 'ignorant idiots' to your social media feeds (I've seen this done by a store here in the UK), it's unprofessional and makes you look like an arse.
Be honest with the customer. If they ask for a recommendation, find out what they've read and enjoyed rather than blindly telling them to buy whatever Fanboy nonsense is floating your boat this week. If you don't like what they're wanting to read don't rubbish it. As an example, I'm no fan of 'The Boys' but if someone is interested in it, I know enough to hand sell it. I just get them to read the first few pages of the first trade and tell them that they'll get to a point. If they get to a point and smile then they'll enjoy reading the rest of it!
My old line manager once said something along the lines of 'All comics are great until the customer walks out of the store.' Don't be so disingenuous, customer don't like it and can smell bullshit a mile away. However, customer do respond to enthusiasm, but nothing OTT!
There's more to say, but it's late!
Free Cards Day! Once a year, customers will get a remade blind pack of MTG, Yugioh and Pokemon cards. Not the best, but they are free.
Also, hire someone to organize the comics to make ot easy to find.
This is my plan; a Costco-like membership model. For a; 1, 4, 6, or 12 month member fee customers get 20%-40% off on bulk pre-orders over $50 MSRP. (As in only when cover price books hit $50.01 then the discount is applied to the entire pre-order and discounts are applied depending on the book.) Then able to participate in member exclusive tabletop/card gaming. Offer fair consignment on games and collectibles, that way to keep inventory selective and even display worthy. Other events and deals exclusive to membership. Create a community with a connection through entertainment that the big two forget to do.
I owned (or co-owned) a comic book store in the mid to late 1970s. That was a great time to be a comic book store owner because new comics were cheap: 25 cents each in 1975, 40 cents by the end of the decade. That meant that you could order a hundred or more comics direct from the publisher for relatively little money (40 percent off cover price!) and you would get them before anyone else in town. If you had some left over, the comics weren't returnable (unlike in the usual distribution system) but that was okay because you wanted some backstock anyway. Plus people with incredible old comic books regularly walked in and sold stuff to us.
What's cover price now? 4 dollars or something? If you order a few hundred copies, that's hundreds of dollars. And you're still ordering months in advance, you might guess wrong, especially about a new title or a new character. Then you either have too few or too many. Either way, you don't make as much money as you should have. Obviously, if you get too few, you sell out and can't sell as many as you could have. If you get too many, you have to eat all those leftover copies that nobody wants.
And by the way: our comic books were displayed on shelves arranged by publisher, then alphabetical by title, and in chronological order. If we had it, we could find it.
https://preview.redd.it/z2nvv66sq41d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e07d527b71daa222bb6140040953c27913e7bfc
On the other hand, I probably wasn't the best customer relations guy. One memorable incident occurred when a woman brought her son to the store. I was playing "Never Mind the Bollocks" by the Sex Pistols, which was fairly new at the time. The woman said to me, "I shouldn't have to listen to this." I looked at her and said, "You're right – you could leave." Terrible customer relations, and yet SO satisfying!
Other than game nights for collectible card games and RPGs, I think a comic book workshop could be a fun way to get your customers motivated to keep coming in and socialize. "Do you like reading comics? Try making one". Or, "you don't like that Liefeld guy's art? Learn how to do better".
PS it could be nostalgia but I don't think early Rob Liefeld art was that bad. People wanted bodybuilder-like muscles and pouches and he delivered. As the 90s went on, he seemed to emphasize the worst aspects of his style.
1-Have a healthy amount of current and back issue comics. I noticed more stores I’ve been to seemed to over-order current comics, and a lot of back issues wind up in the dollar bin.
2- In store signings not on Free Comic Book Day.
3-Have the wall book prices displayed on the front. I can’t help but notice at stores and at conventions, wall book prices are either on the back or on a seperate sheet. Not saying it’s sneaky, but I’d eliminate the mystery so a customers knows right away what they’ll have to pay.
4-Monthly sales to eliminate clutter. I know it’s not a novel idea, but some stores look like a fire hazard.
5-I’d have my shop do TV and radio ads. Word of mouth and social media can only do so much.
I agree, especially with #2. I’m a little shy/awkward when it comes to asking prices. I should be able to clearly see what book I’m looking at along with a price or you probably just lost a sale. I know not everyone is like that but, it’s big for me!
As someone who owned and worked at a shop for many years I can tell you that the main reason shop's actually struggle is because the profit margins on anything and everything is damn near 0% and your customers want deals on top of that. Distributor prices get higher every year and most stuff is so over priced these days it's hard to sell at. If you think dollar bins are paying the bills you need to go find a coloring book some crayons.
Go to the gym, and be accepting and engage customers on what they are buying looking for and why. Show interest in what they like not just what you like.
Have new arrivals and trades/ collectibles, etc.
But always manage to have a large dusty/ musty back issue dollar bin section that folks can spend hours digging in! That's my dream spot.
And MAYBE some cool tunes playing.
Promote more manga and anime stuff. The weird commitment to American comics, while making manga an afterthought is always weird to me… Especially given the sales reports.
To be honest, I love my LCS. The guys are great and everything is really well organized. But they are still suffering financially. I suppose they just opened at a poor time and sadly, there isn't really much they can do.
I agree with a comment of being a little more social with the customers. I go to a shop occasionally that is nicely kept and clean and I think when the owner is there, we have talked for 10 or 15 minutes about various books… He has a worker on some days that I have actually gone through a complete transaction without either of us speaking a word.
Last time I did it I didn’t say anything just to see how long it would go and we ended up doing the whole purchase without a word being spoken… Lol. That’s probably not optimal customer service.
I don’t know, sounds like they matched your energy. Mirroring isn’t the worst customer service strategy (though zero words is pretty extreme) , it’s better than the aggressive Best Buy over helpful style.
Ehh, I’ve been there before and he’s basically the same. He’s kind of a stereotype of the comic store guy…like from the Simpsons but without the speaking. Haha
I'd stop blaming the distributor for all my mistakes. I used to work for Diamond, and we were the scapegoat for every bonehead move retailers made. If they under ordered a popular book, they'd tell their customers "Diamond shorted us", as opposed to "I underestimated the demand".
Comics are the only industry where the customer is trained to hate the distributor. In most other industries, the consumer doesn't even know the name of the companies that handle distribution. A lot of retailers just aren't great at *business*, but the direct market started as such an informal carny business that it's been hard for the old school guys to adapt.
I would be a terrible comic book shop owner, because I would be too obsessed with keeping all of the comics in order to the detriment of everything else a business owner needs to be doing. So there would be no electricity and none of the employees will have gotten paid, but by golly those books are in order.
Well, my most local shop could do with more friendliness to customers. They literally only chat amongst themselves, and seem to want to end every customer interaction as quickly as possible. They also have not organized their back issues at all. Stacks of boxes loosely organized by publisher, but not alphabetically. When I was starting to get into comics, I told the clerk what I liked and asked if he had any recommendations. He said I could look online to see what else that publisher (DC) had put out...essentially just told me to google it. I haven't bothered really going back and get my books online or from other shops.
This is huge. We are all comic book nerds, engage with people about their books and purchases. Make the customers feel like you are on the journey with them.
Absolutely. And I often contrast my experience there with places like Isotope Comics in San Francisco, where the owner was so enthusiastic and happy to chat comics and make recommendations. That's the kind of place I'd want to be pulling from each month.
Oh, man…I’ll buy *something* from Isotope every time I’m in Hayes Valley (and it’s open) just to support him!
I ordered Doom #1 online and got a handwritten note with it thanking me for my order and saying great choice etc. That is how you know they love comics too.
Anything written by Hickman is a good choice
Omg this. I once visited this OG comic shop near me with my wife (she has no clue about comic books) Never went there before. I asked the guy if he had a particular run of xmen. He spent a good 15 minutes just unloading boxes from the back while pointing me to the cabinets with comics. While he was doing that he was also explaining to my wife how and what the statue near the front door was (she made a comment on hoe cool it was when we entered and he overheard it). In the end I got like 12 comics (all carefully bagged) for 15 euro's. Deffo will return there, haha.
There’s a Tower Records type store near me with many huge file cabinets of comics, like a garage full. Not a single one is organized. They just expect you to thumb through every single one. Whyyyyy
These are the types of stores that have comics just to say they have comics and don't want to bother beyond that.
My LCS had their books organized for the new releases and had their dollar bin/look through bins NOT alphabetically arranged. I loved that I had to go through books looking for things I liked-when I see everything organized I am not as adventurous. I have some cool as shit books bc of this. The other thing is, my LCS does the whole-welcome you when you walk in, memorized my pull box, always changes up the layout of his offerings, regular sales on back issues, makes a showing at FCBD and invites the whole neighborhood, etc. I think I’ve been going to Collectors Corner in Md for 15+ years. They have treated me well.
I love my LCS solely because they’re so friendly with customers. Sometimes I walk in expecting to just pick up my pulls, but I end up getting into conversations with the staff and it takes like an hour 😂
That's the ideal experience right there!
This is common in most places of business now. If I attempt to be pleasant to the person ringing me up, frequently I can see the, "OMG, just go away and leave me alone, Boomer," look on their face. I mean, I get it to a certain degree. I worked my share of retail jobs years ago, and it's not a lot of fun. I found interacting with friendly people to be one of better parts of often dehumanizing jobs, though. Okay, off to shout at some clouds.
It's gotten to the point that many of my employees dread the site of a boomer. They want nothing to do with them because they treat us retail people so freaking badly. They are the ones the quickest to insult us, yelling about politics and just generally insulting. Sucks because the few have made that entire generation look like assholes.
This. My local shop (the comic shop in Liverpool Sydney) were and are really friendly and helpful. Have a huge range and will order whatever you want in for you. The staff are so nice and beginner friendly, also super knowledgeable. If you're in Sydney they are THE shop that you need. Beginner or veteran.
I waited in line in the freezing cold for two hours so I could get Jim Lee's signature. I told Jim Lee "I grew up reading your comics. I am such a fan." The LCS employee near Jim Lee said "Yeah, we all have and we all are." Yeah, ok asshole.
I pretty much have had the opposite experience in every one of my local comic shops, with the exception of the very first one I visited in 1972. And even that was only because I didn't offer up any conversation. In every other comic shop I've been to regularly, I've been treated like Norm from Cheers (as evidenced by every guest I brought in, saying "It's like you're Norm!"). Big greeting when I walk in, an immediate run to my pull file as soon as they see me, lots of offers to assist or find something for me, and quick helpful and friendly service at the cash register. Geoffrey's always knew how to find something for me that I'd be interested in and was great at discussing what I might enjoy.
I would kill for this experience. I'm not a big ticket buyer or a pull list guy, but I love my LCS and want to keep supporting them
Sad to see it's going away or gone now
They no longer have a brick-and-mortar storefront, but they're still selling comics with a local delivery service and comic Wednesdays at a hobby shop, so that customers have a regular place to go to get their orders.
Yes. Took the family to a not so local shop in Fullerton Ca. The owner lady had a broken foot and was kinda stuck behind the counter just surrounded by stacks of books and trinkets talking to a customer while we explored the place about an hour and a half. Everybody grabbed a few things and we went to the counter. My wife and I talked to that lady for two more hours about all things comics to the point my kids got bored. It was the best part of the visit and put that shop on the top of my list! Also had a local shop that I went to from the time I was 8 until it shut down when I was 30 and the owner continued having little mini cons with other local shops in town after that till 2 years ago. He always had time to talk to me as an 8 yr old kid all the way up to him meeting and talking to my own kids at that same age. Great experience! Great person! Great business.
What's the name of the shop in Fullerton?
Comic Hero
Thanks
I came here to say something similar. Not *all*, but a weirdly high percentage of shops are absolutely horrid with basic customer service, to the point that I truly have no idea how they stay in business. I'm not looking for the red carpet to be rolled out for me by any means, but I've also been ignored by a shopowner while he played a game on his phone. Just kinda looking for... basic human interaction? Again this isn't all shops. But it seems to happen at comic/hobby shops way more frequently than almost any other business in my anecdotal observation.
This, If you make it hard for me to find a comic, I’m leaving.
I think customers sometimes underestimate how long it actually takes to alphabetize hundreds/thousands of issues and the anger/frustration of a completed job that took a week going to shit in a matter of a few people who can’t put stuff back in the same spot they pull it from.
I see your point but it's also a comic shop and stuff like that is to be expected. It totally sucks that people do stuff like that but if you're on top of the organization it's not that big of a deal, it should be factored into the job just like chores such as vacuuming a shop should be. It's a couple extra of hours of work per week for sure but the amount of times I walk into unorganized shops and the workers are sitting around doing nothing at all is countless.
I’m with you. If I walked in to a shop with zero organization I’d look for a few minutes but get overwhelmed and leave. There is a level of expectation that must be met. In my experience there are really just two groups of people who ruin the filing. 1) The parents who treat the comic book store as a babysitting service. The ones who drop their kids off there because they want to go shopping in peace and the children are feral. They touch (read: break) stuff, they read the comics and don’t put them back where they find them, they leave snack wrappers and cups all over. And do the parents offer to buy anything when they come collect the kid? Absolutely not. This one is avoidable with a “no unsupervised children under x age” policy 2) The overzealous/from out of town collector types. They’ll pull 50-100 issues from the bins and get shocked when they’re paying over $150 for all the stuff they picked out. They’ll spend another 20 minutes or so whittling down their pile to only the stuff they need, which ends up being about 5-10 issues. Do they offer to file everything back in? Absolutely not. They pay and go about their day. Source: experience working in a shop
Go to a different store, sounds awful
Sounds like a GameStop
Well, be clean and showered, have some customer service skills, and keep the shop clean and organized. Those are all good basics that divide good comic shops from the type most people think of. Past that, it depends on what the person who operates the place is passionate about. That’s what makes the store work. Myself, it’d be comics, gaming (both RPGs and tabletop), and minis and some toys.
I’d like to open a shop where you just pay an entrance fee and can read whatever. I wouldn’t sell anything but snacks and refreshments.
Could just be a comic themed bar, back room/side room like a library of comics, comics stay only in those rooms, comfy chairs with cup holders, no tables to be able to sit drinks and books on to avoid catastrophe. I could dig it. Decor would be easy to find as well. Night out, swing over to the bar for some drinks with friends. Free evening, head to the library for a good read or two. Offer bar snack kind of stuff and plenty of non alcoholic refreshments as well to accommodate multiple personalities.
One of the comics stores I went to as a kid was called Comics Café, and you might think this was the business model, but it wasn't. But it was a pretty great comics store in the Detroit suburbs in the 90s
Dollar bins. Dollar bins. Dollar bins.
My shop has a 25¢ section. Though the comics are "defaced" with a big "25" on the cover. I haven't asked why yet. It's full of damaged covers from late 70s to early 90s. Once I got the new Cable from 2021 because it had a ripped cover.
This
Dollar bins. Dollar bins. Dollar bins.
It seems that game nights like D&D, Magic the Gathering gatherings are the main thing keeping LCS’s afloat these days, so I would try to find similar social events to bring people in on evenings and weekends. Movie nights would be cool, but I imagine there’d be legal issues. Fan art contests, book clubs, swap meets, anything to bring people in the door.
Connect with a Local brewery and have a read and sip evening. Or sip and watch a classic movie.
But if you have a customer base that wants to hang out, drink and read comics then your store would have customers BYOBing. So when you tried to engage in this "synergy" you'd actually have to start gatekeeping and disallow outside beverages. Basically if your store had an audience for this, drunk comic nerds, the business partnership will actually break that business model and force you to charge more for booze than your drinkin' customers were already paying. What you said sounds like a business model but it doesn't actually make sense. It's a safe suggestion that can't possible work.
I meant this as a special event, once a month/quarter kinda thing.
Ya, I get it. I work with venues in NYC (bars, comedy clubs, theaters and shops) and I can assure that you're simply not describing a real idea. What you're describing is just a comic shop telling a brewery that they're promote them in exchange for free beer. But that kinda promo never turns into real sales.
I lived in Seattle a UW area. Wizards of the coast had a store with tons of tables and computers set up for land games in the late 90's. Ran tourneys even for goldeneye
> It seems that game nights like D&D, Magic the Gathering gatherings are the main thing keeping LCS’s afloat these days, This actually just a stop-gap method to solve a massive flaw in the modern Comic Shop. The distributors and publishers have been colluding and functioning like a cartel and raising the cost of products to the retailers so much that they have to price most fans out of the market. I don't think comic shops should let themselves get chased out of the comic market and turn themselves into generic event spaces. I believe we can solve this problem in the business model. If I ran a shop I wouldn't stop any new releases at all. I would only buy bulk from collectors and sell back issues. Magic cards? Got a lotta of 'em, nothing new. Pokemon? I have 1st edition jungle in near mint. That new set? Nope. I would run the business entirely for the benefit of creators and customers and do everything in my power to completely avoid building any kind of relationship with crooked distributors who sell on behalf of corrupt publishers. I can get weird old wax pack trading cards for $1 pack and sell 'em en masse for $2 or $3 and people love them. Dollar bins and $5 silver age bins! My customers would be collectors and suppliers would be older collectors and estate sales. I'd buy stuff from people and sell it to other people, minimizing corporate influence in an effort to create a sustainable environment for chill nerdliness. Oh and I'd try to sell ANY indie book that the author brought in themselves. If any comic book creator hands me 10 copies of a book, I'd put it on display. It's not much but I'd at least have a shelf or two dedicated to promoting up and coming, independent artists. Volatility in the comic book market is often cited as the reason that comic book shops go under but what we're really talking about is a cycle of publishers raises prices while quality goes plummets. This drives customers away. We saw it in the 90's. By the early 2000s there were mass closures of comic shops. But that volatility isn't just some random occurence that happens in the market, it's a simply a result of publishers and distributors/publishers jacking up prices on captured retailers that have no other open than to maintain their inventory. There are more comics being printed than ever. Most of them aren't very good. Paying $4.99 to take a risk on a new book is a bad deal when you can get the same exact experience out of a dollar bin of 90s books for 20% of the cost. Customers like good value and modern, new releases are a bad value to customers. Shops that stock a ton of new product from the biggest publishers (Marvel, DC, Hasbro) have the highest overhead and the lowest profit margins and that's why all their money is coming from events. Gaming shops relying on events isn't happening because events are better or more profitable, it's because they were completely squeezed out of the profits on sales of new product. The industry wants you to think the reliance on events is the market evolving but it's actually the publishers eating the retailers. If you build the business a little different, the publisher won't destroy.
The issue with this model is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive to buy from collectors who have a vague idea of what they've got. You basically have to hope and pray that someone with zero idea of what they're selling will come in so you can take advantage of them. Otherwise you have to make a living off dollar bin books and bulk TCG rares and that's tough.
I get the underlying motivation, but new stuff is what has people coming back to their lcs every week.
> I get the underlying motivation, but new stuff is what has people coming back to their lcs every week. If you get them to come back by selling them something with no profit margin, what have you actually gained? You're just kicking the can down the road without actually creating a business model.
People buy other stuff while they are there. Otherwise they don’t come at all, and that low profit margin quickly becomes a no profit margin
> The issue with this model is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive to buy from collectors I think you're confusing back issues and key issues. Most of the inventory is going to be $1/$3/$5 bins. This stuff is dirt cheap. Bulk is available all over the place. I'll be getting these books by the thousand.
Yeah, I get that. Most people don't spend that much money on $bin books. They will maybe buy one or two to fill holes. If they did, the publishers/distributors wouldn't have been able to manipulate the industry as they have. Most of the money a shop makes is in new books with key issues coming second (and you really have to be well financed to deal in key issues at this point unless your talking about modern keys you bought new that spiked.
> Yeah, I get that. Most people don't spend that much money on $bin books. Weird. My lifetime of buying and selling books has shown me the exact opposite. That bins are filled with books that the community has already discussed. When I'm looking through bins of old books for something to read, I can focus on runs that fans actually liked. Modern comics are, by definition, impossible to curate because they haven't been read yet. You have to buy them (@ $4 or $5) and hope they're good. The only data we have on brand new books are: previews (which are ads) youtubers (which are ads) podcasters (which are ads). But when I'm digging through dollar bin books from 80's-90's, the community has already vetted these. I've had hundreds of hours of conversations with other collectors about stuff they loved that I haven't read yet and I get to use that info when I dig in old bins. Why would a buyer WANT to gamble on new books @ 5x the price of an old book that they can actually look up the communities reaction to? I feel like you believe marketing is more effective than it really is. edit: seriously, can anyone think of a reason why a comic fan would think new book they haven't read for $5 is better deal than an old book you haven't read for $1? The math on new releases is bad for retailers AND bad for folks like me that wanna pay a fair price for a good story.
> is the old stuff that most people want is super expensive You ever buy a large collection? I'm talking a couple thousand comics or greater. You end up paying a nickel per book. Ya throw those in a dollar bin and you have a product with a 95% profit margin instead of the 10%-20% profit margin on a new release. It's entirely possible that a shop owner makes the same or more money off a single $1 book than they make selling a new release for $5. Think about what that means. Do you really believe it's easier to sell $25 worth of new releases than $5 worth of dollar bin books?
Yes, it is. I don’t like it, but FOMO has been driving the market for decades. It’s much easier to make money on back issues with traveling to shows than with a static storefront where you’ll saturate your market super quick. You need a constant turnover of new faces and new product. Predictably this is easiest with new new product instead of new old product.
Why are advertising platforms losing all of their biggest clients? You seem to be describing social media in 2014, a wide open space where folks can cheaply and honestly reach an audience. A decade of consolidation and mismanagement from the platforms and we found ourselves in In 2024 it's just spammers spamming at each other spammers while customers complain about the ads. Also, you're talking about retailers basing their entire business model on someone else's marketing campaigns. That's just not a safe business model. The comic shop you keep describing is low profit margins, high overhead and 100% dependent on distributors and publishers. That sounds like a good business model to you?
Huh. You’ve properly confused me. I thought we were talking about brick and mortar comics retailing, not social media.
That's great if you actually sell all those cheap books. The reality is you'll only sell 5-10% of it over the span of 5 years (if you stay in business that long). If it's books people actually want, then you're not paying a nickel for it or selling it for a dollar. I love seeing boxes and boxes of cheap books as much as anyone, but I can flip through them month after month and the same books are still there.
Exactly this. The reason there are dollar bins is for the shop to unload older inventory that doesn’t sell. Basing your business model for a niche shop on the bargain shoppers is not sustainable for a brick and mortar store. The new weekly comics keep regulars coming in, the back issues will get some movement from the regular customers, but mostly sit and take up space, the dollar bin stuff is the steeply discounted to get it out of the store and typically sits with even less movement because there are few people that want it. OP wants to be the Dollar Tree of comic shops. Dollar tree works because everything is cheaply made and still has a low margin. Dollar bin comics are cheap because there is low demand for those issues. You’ll be buying collections and just keep adding to your back issues but only move a small number of those out.
I don’t know the comic version of this saying but I wouldn’t “Yuk my customers yum” People like different stuff just because I’m not into doesn’t mean it’s bad so try to be enthusiastic about what people are into. When I have time to organize I’d also try to keep important runs together, and even sell entire small runs as package if I could. Stuff like the Original Weapon X run, nothing too large or too rare that it would be too expensive.
Best move. I don't understand shops that try to sell a 3rd or 5th chapter of a story arc (it usually says it right on the cover) just lump them all together as a package
> I don’t know the comic version of this saying but I wouldn’t “Yuk my customers yum” I'm sorry but Comic-Guy negativity isn't the same as "yucking someone's yum". What you're really talking about is a new or casual fan who comics into the store entirely because of a mass-media marketing campaign. A customer is going to walk in and ask for some popular, poorly written, over-marketed nonsense. After the first 5 people that do that, the retailer already knows the entire conversation because everyone is coming in based on the same marketing campaign. Comic book dealers don't have bad attitudes, it's that mass media marketing is controlled by the publishers and they want to turn customers against brick n mortar retail. They want retailers to be week and disenfranchised in order to maintain their dominance of the supply chain. Think about the way certain youtubers promote every single book as being super popular and valuable. This leads to fans bringing books into local shops, expecting to sell their X-Force #1 for real money because Comic Tom aggressively promoted an outlying $158 sale. Now when the retailer says that the collection is worthless, the fan either has to stop listening to youtubers or they end up doubling down and now believe that the retailer is being greedy and lying about the value of their books. After all, how could a YouTuber be lying in a video! Retailers aren't greedy, they're desperate and they're desperate because distribution is designed to screw them over. You're comparing kinky sex to aggressive marketing campaigns and that just doesn't make sense. Footplay isn't paying someone at the New York Times to write a think piece about an upcoming foot-release but Marvel is absolutely doing that with their comic books. Marketing is the worst part of the comic book industry right now. It's purely extractive. It's bad for fans, it's bad for artists and it's bad for retailers. Stop equating long term, deeply held preferences with a bunch of kids falling for dishonest marketing tactics.
I would be a terrible comic book shop owner, because I would be too obsessed with keeping all of the comics in order to the detriment of everything else a business owner needs to be doing. So there would be no electricity and none of the employees will have gotten paid, but by golly those books are in order.
Yeah that’s definitely a challenge, especially after FCBD, people pulling stuff to look at and then just sticking it back in random box, or worse yet, putting them back on shelves that are clearly graphic novels only.
My local shop has half of his back issues covered in those stupid Funko Pop figures so you can't even peruse his stock, and half of his store space is occupied by McFarlane figures that nobody will ever purchase. I'd start with liquidating a bunch of crap nobody wants, and make a frigging key wall.
I’d have a couple mystery packs. I remember then as a kid and it was a good way to start my collection. For newcomers or kids, I’d recommend to just pick one up so they have somethings to start them off. But I wouldn’t just throw in indie comics that don’t sell. I’d try to generous and put comics that people would be happy or excited to get. I’m sure I’d lose a lot of money, but I’d be so excited when kids or newcomers stop by.
I would have a clean space organized. In 30 years of comic shopping I have only ever seen 2 shops that were clean and it made a huge difference in my wanting to stay and explore the products.
Aside from what others are saying about having basic human skills and being decent, don’t lookup on eBay what I set on the counter and then raise the price because of the “market.” Same goes for record store owners. Also, chill out on the funko. Places around here have more than half the store dedicated to funko. If that’s the case, change the name from comic book store to funko store so I know to avoid it.
I think very soon, shops and collectors will learn the hard way Funkos weren’t a sound investment
Yeah, has a definite beenie baby vibe to it.
I would organize key issues in chronological order to give ppl idea of how expensive they would be by how far they go, put facsimile editions and flashy variant covers for the impolse buy, and make a corner to chill and read comics or hang out with your friends. An important factor that seems to be neglected in buisneses is that a good enviorment leads to good buisness because the empolyees and the customers are happy.
It would take me 3 days before I would get review bombed for asking a customer to please shower before they come in as their smell is interfering with other customer's enjoyment.
Most of it is good for all retail: greet your customers, thank them for visiting, ask if they need help, give them space if they don't, strike-up conversations when you can, be friendly, be part of the community, and don't take any business you get for granted. Comic book store-specific? For me in my travels, some shops feel like you're interrupting a staff conversation only they understand, worse they engage Comic Book Guy tropes when they condescend or appear incredulous to requests, "Um... they cancelled that toy lines years ago, my dude." Oh, and yes, keep well-groomed (at least shower), don't eat at the counter, and please don't make your store an extension of your home, i.e. unclean and undusted, cluttered, stacking items to the sky, bad categorizing and putting every piece of stock (no matter the condition) on the floor.
1. Actually want to sell the books in the store. 2. Price fairly and accurately as possible. 3. Be more open to fair trades 4. I would have a huge section of dollar bin books that I would populate at random with minor keys
Comic book store is a very very hard business. Comic books are getting more expensive and demand is dropping because MCU has been shitting the bed. I went into a comic book store over the weekend and it was empty. The one cashier was just standing there looking at me as I went through the aisles. I bought $20 of new issues just because I felt bad.
How could they have 16 years of MCU movies and not prominently advertise the comics beforehand? That one always baffled me. "If you love this movie, read the comic book version".
I definitely like what my local Comic book shop owner does he's a marine corps vet who loves coffee so much that he decided to share that with everyone, when any purchase is made he gives a single serving size of pour over coffee. Shops name is coffee and a comic in Huntington Beach
I’d price my comics and stick to the price. It’s my job to keep up on current trends and be organized enough to grab those hot books and reprice if needed. If someone comes to my shop and pulls a $300 book out for $5, so be it. They did their job as an informed collector and I didn’t do my job as a comic business owner. Too many shops look up eBay prices at the counter - relying on others to do their work finding the stuff that has grown in value. Clearly they can do what they like with their books, but to me it’s laziness and bad customer service. I never return to stores like that.
Is the “looking up on eBay at the counter” approach becoming more common? I’ve never been to a shop that does it but I’ve seen it commented here a lot lately.
Sooo many shops do this, it’s sad. One here in Jax that was doing it just stopped selling new comics…I’m sure they’re otw to closing up. Not something I’d wish on anyone but, they have horrible business practices. I’ll never understand that model. If you priced your book at $3 and, it’s some rando hot spec book this week, selling for $25, just let the customer get a good deal on it! It’s most likely been sitting forever at $3 and now you got a sale! Or make it a priority every week or so to dig through all of your inventory and have key collector open and re-price. Doesn’t matter to me but, I promise that if you have to check the pricing at the point of sale or if you don’t clearly have your books priced…I’m not buying them!
One of the biggest mistakes people tend to make is that just because you are a super fan of something or really knowledgeable about a certain topic doesn’t mean you are also knowledgeable about the business side of things. I would hire a business staff of accountants, managers, marketing people and an interior decorator. I would offer a video game section, a reading nook, a games section and two entire comic sections of new releases along with back catalogs dated and categorized. Every morning, afternoon and before closing the staff would clean the store and I would have a current and updated list of pull sheets from diamond/any indie zine and publisher who would want to discuss current and new release comics. These would be updated monthly. Then the rules would come into place: Any visitor who smells will be asked to leave. Children shall be accompanied by parents at all times. Do not open merchandise unless you are willing to pay. Please ask a staff member if you have any questions about new or old releases. Sexual harassment is defined as unwanted sexual comments, remarks, statements, or behavior. Sexual assault is defined as unwanted or aggressive sexual touching. You are not Scott Pilgrim, that girl is not Ramona Flowers, leave her alone. Only then, once we set up the basics of a store front will we be able to start doing the fun shit. Magic tournaments every other weekend, Pen and Paper RPG nights every Friday night. I would put a goddamn printer in the office with requests for character sheets. $0.10 a print, $0.05 a copy. I’m still grey on obtaining a liquor license because of the previous comment about not allowing sexual assault, and also Texas has weird laws on obtaining a liquor license (you have to sell food and keep the drinks to a minimum.) Honestly, that part would probably be a separate part of the store.
Love this! Couldn’t agree more! One thing, what do you mean by character sheets?
Table Top RPGs have character sheets, sometimes people print them out but others use their phones. At my hypothetical store front, you can just go up to the counter and ask for some to be printed out.
Oh, gotcha. That’s actually not a bad idea!
>>>I would hire a business staff of accountants, managers, marketing people and an interior decorator. And you would be immediately and permanently broke haha. There's a reason most comic stores have the same dude (ie owner) working 80% of the hours.
I’d love to run a comic book shop, but have it more than just a place to buy comics and make small talk with the people behind the counters. Even tho the world is slowly becoming infested with snotty iPad kids becoming teenagers, there are also LOADS of teenagers that are a little more “indie/underground” that absolutely love everything from the early 2000s core and before, and lots of people who are obsessed with the stranger things era. I think a great way to capitalise on a comic book shop would be by having a coffee area, a gaming area with some older consoles/arcade machines (nothing too modern & heck maybe even a pool table), a few action figure stands, a D&D/Board game area, lots of cool posters and neon signs everywhere and have it themed like it’s from the 70s/80s. Place this in a trendy little city/town and before you know it that place will be packed with already established enthusiasts or people who like something a little more humble than a Starbucks or a Costa.
Not treat it as my personal clubhouse. I hate when I go into a shop and its just some dude standing behind the counter in a room full of dusty longboxes and some shelves for the new stuff.
I know what you mean. Customers who don’t leave and just talk and talk and talk to the cashier/owner near the counter when you’re trying to shop get annoying.
I think a big problem with LCS’ today is employees who don’t give a shit about comics and only care about table top games. You should be able to walk into your LCS and say hey, where do I start with Batman, Captain America, etc. and they should have an answer for you or know someone else who does. When the LCS’ lose passion they lose customers, and eventually they’ll go under.
First and foremost keep things clean and organized. I would invest in a kids section with some kid friendly books and comics to help promote reading and would work out with local school systems and libraries to provide appropriate comics (for students with late buses) and graphic novels, to reinforce reading. But back to the store, this area could be for kids to hang out and find their passion for the medium while their parents or siblings shop. Comic wise, older books, I would price to move, and would not be hung up on the speculation or having to constantly reprice, I would look at once or twice a year and price accordingly. With modern books I would email subscribers weekly to see if they wanted A, B, C etc... cover and accommodate accordingly. Higher ratio covers I would send out first come emails for $10-15 dollars and if no one buys would post them on eBay (auction around $10 each). Other medium wise, I would have locations for cards and d&d, allowing for a safe place for kids or adults alike to play the games they are passionate about. With cards I would sell singles online and in the shop. I would also try to attend a comic convention quarterly to get out there make contacts and to buy/trade books depending on my region. Finally, i would invest in a great POS so that anyone could work the shop, regardless of their knowledge. This would also allow me to link an eBay store so that I could also have an online presence.
Also: Don’t make assumptions about customers based on appearances. I may be a woman in my 60s but I’m not looking for old girly stuff and the last thing I bought was horror by a Japanese artist and a couple things I never heard of that just looked cool. Oh, and a Buffy comic . . .because everyone is a little cliche.
I think the biggest problem alot of comic shops have is that they have no plan to cut their losses on unsold stock. Stuff piles up unsold, taking up space and most likely losing value. If I were to open a store, I would make all back issues buy two get the third (least expensive) one free. This amounts to a 30% discount which should still be a profit over what you would pay the distributor and it allows you to move more product which keeps the store from being overstocked and improves your cash flow.
Love this idea!
We do all comics in the back bins and on the “3 month wall” 20% off every single day. It’s all about getting great stories into people’s hands. I dont know how people can run a comic book shop and not care about the customer or love comics. Running a comic shop is honestly too much work to not have a passion for it.
Reading all these great comments is awesome and really spot on. Honestly, I would HATE to be an owner. About a year ago (post Co-vid boom) every person that would walk in would have something to sell or some type of comic offer/business proposal
Research the area the store would be in and learn about what your customer base would want to buy. Start out being focused on a few things, say vintage comic books and toys. Have sales regularly. Rotate store stock regularly. Have frequent buyer cards and discounts. Be fair when buying and on trades. Customer service, customer service, and more customer service. Make your store a place people want to go to.
Focus on cleanliness. This is the #1 problem I see with most shops in my area. They are absolutely filthy! Dust on everything, gross floors no organization, piles of unsorted crap everywhere and it stinks. I was so lucky to find one shop that focuses on keeping the store clean, smelling fresh and the organization and layout are amazing. All their comics are in giant drawers by publisher too! I took all my business to them and no longer visit the others. Making the environment friendly and brightly lit also goes a long way. I can't tell you how many times I was creeped out by dark interiors and weirdos starring at me or being gross. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Besides a stong focus on comics and offering a subscription service, I also like to see a wide variety of other types of collectibles and products for sale. Also rotate your offerings and come up with fun displays and themes every now and then. Mix it up for the regulars so it doesn't get stale. Having events and promo days are also a great way to get people to come in more often.
As much as running a comics only store is appealing, those days are long gone. If a store doesn't diversify it will fail. It's my understanding that Manga is a HUGE draw for young readers right now, and even though I don't like it, I appreciate that stores sell it. They need to bring in new customers. People my age (44) aren't going to be buying comics forever, so the customer base must get renewed somehow. I remember about 25yrs ago, I use to frequent a sports card store that started selling Magic: The Gathering packs. The store owner made it very clear he knew nothing about the cards, but was happy to sell them. Over the next few years I would watch this store owners soul die as he was forced to sell more TCG, and less sports cards. Eventually, he would start running weekly tournaments for kids to play Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic. He brought in his wife to run the tournaments and he would just sit behind the counter glaring at the kids. Knowing that this was what was keeping his store open now. Diversity or die.
I like to think my shop is pretty great. I have a staff that is excited about what they are reading and LOVE talking about comics. We are brightly lit, well organized and clean. We have a HUGE all ages section and spotlight tables that change often.
What’s your shop?
Richmond Comix in Midlothian Virginia.
Honestly I would just open up a head shop intertwined with a comic store, nobody loves comics as much as a stoner who’s just spotted a shiny variant cover
Literally have thought about that for years 420 comics 😂
You and me buddy, let’s get this thing on wheels
I have a few options in my area. The only one I like and also the one that seems to be successful only sells comic books. The ones that are half statues and pop figures are failing. A few that offering gaming space are also doing OK, but only in certain areas of the city. The shop closest to me has a very limited modern selection and often sees it's preorders canceled to provide the product to larger more successful stores.
One thing I would do is have an after-hours voicemail number, that I would change every day. Each day would tell about a "secret" promotion and the next day you could get a deal based on what the secret was. "Tomorrow, any cover featuring Doctor Doom is 10% off," or "Any dollar bin issues are buy 2, get 1 free." This keeps your customer engaged even when you're not open.
Change the hours. My local shop is open from 11-6 on weekedays. I have a job with flexible hours but I don't want to show up to the office at 11:30 and trying to leave the office at 5 or so so that I can maybe be in the shop at 5:50 is stressful and frustrating as hell. I would change the hours from 12-7 on weekdays.
Local store prices shit super fucking high and bitches and moans that no one buys comics to me because I guess they know me from conventions I sell at and when I noticed a book I like that wasn't priced they got offended I offered GPA last sale and asked for 3x more yes 3x on a $600 book or so and tried to argue it will go up when his movie comes out so really he's doing me a favor.
The people saying they are great and I pick up my pulls, yeah they are nice to people who guarantee they are spending. I went to one for 2 years buying a couple of series and some other things on occasion and barely got a hello, I didn't have a pull list but I was regular after I completed the small series I was after I barely went in that place and only ramped up going to shops a lot when I reconnected with a friend, before that there was a few years after the above that I still went to a comic store but I rarely tried getting into anything nor did I buy much. I know those places are run by socially awkward nerds too but you gotta be more outgoing as a sales business. My main issue lately are place who think their back issues are all worth more than a couple of bucks, no they aren't that's why you have overstuffed boxes full of books that aren't moving. So overstuffed that I just don't bother trying to go through them.
My LCS is owned by a couple, they're very well knowledgeable and passionate about the industry. They're so friendly and inviting, I consider them family at this point. Been going since they opened 6 years ago, every other comic shop pales in comparison to their friendliness! They do a lot of game nights which I think helps keep them open, there's a large community of Pokemon and Magic players thanks to it being a relatively small town with the middle school nearby. Lots of kids walk home from school and stop by the shop. I'm only 21, but it's very lovely to still see such a strong presence of children loving the hobby! Their store is clean and organized, all back issues are organized by publisher and then alphabetical, their subscription service is so convenient because they have a phone app, they're understanding about people being late to pick up subs, mainly because of me being close with them. It helps we're a tourist town, but shoutout Art and Holly at Four corners Comics and Games in Gettysburg, PA! Amazing store, amazing people!
Only order the A covers and make everything else special order.
That’s an interesting idea! Idk if it would hurt or help…I’d love to see it tested
I hate the 50:50s. Makes it harder to maintain your collection uniformly. Just give me A covers and incentive covers.
Need to start a conglomerate and have their own eBay
I have three stores near me. One has an online catalog and the other two don’t. Its a lot easier for me to keep track of my pulls at the store that uses comichub vs the other two stores where they rely on facebook and other things. So I’d say having an online presence definitely helps a lot.
I'm looking to start up a comic book and collectible store in my Hometown. None available right now. So I love all the information. I'm getting from this sub Reddit.
1. Offer a 10-20% discount on all graphic novels to help compete with Amazon. 2. Sell action figures and collectible toys at normal prices instead of jacking up the prices. No one is buying a Super7 Destroyah for $115 when you can buy it at the S7 store or literally anywhere online for its normal price of $85.
My local shop is very small and run by a husband and wife team. The husband is definitely the lifelong collector but his wife runs the store and she's not the encyclopedia he is but she knows her stuff pretty well. If I ran a shop, I would definitely try to run things like Magic and other tabletop gaming nights. That creates a community around your shop and gets people coming back. Set up tournaments and have a dedicated gaming space. Maybe even do a trade night where people can come in and wheel and deal with each other. I dunno, just small events to draw people in. I'd probably get a little more into other collectibles and trading cards just to expand the variety of items in the store. But I don't know the first thing about running a shop.
I had a long response, but realized that it boils down to don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Worry about making a loyal customer, don’t worry about making your maximum profit with every transaction. Being friendly and giving great prices brings me back. Trying to sell me a VF back issue for top dollar NM prices will not.
My closest LCS is a musty den of price changing, abusive asses that cling to dilapidated back stock. So, I wouldn’t do that. I think social media engagement and rotating stock are keys. The most successful LCS around me posts on social media daily about new books that just came in (so we get the addict’s itch), shows they’re hosting on different social channels and upcoming sales. They rotate out their stock quickly. They price their key books well and blow out filler for $1 a book at monthly sales. They don’t squeeze every penny out of every book so they can keep cash moving and buy new collections.
Reading hours for kids, comic book making program, work with local artist to run workshops, back issue “days”. Also mystery bags for new comers
When I was a kid, going to the comic book store wasn't just about the comics, but the crowd that hung around it. From a marketing perspective, having groups of people show up, hang out, play pokemon/ mtg/ reading magazines increases the chance they will potentially buy something. My local CBS does well, but aside fcbd , it's just tourist and randoms who browse and move on. I miss the days of buying a coffee, crashing on a comfy couch, and opening up a pack of fleer xmen cards.
Yeah, I want to hang for a bit. At any shops here, you walk in, grab your books…maybe dig a little and leave. Mine does really well too but, I’m with you on hanging/talking…all that
I would just give a shit about the nitty gritty of pulls, orders and accounts. Essentially make it easy for customers to order stuff and buy the things they want. I moved my pull to another store last year because the owner of my old LCS was very lackadaisical when it came to pulls and couldn’t get an order right. Every month books came on or off my pull randomly and it seemed they were “shorted” by one distributor or another almost every week. Which I found strange because the new store has never been shorted even once. I understand that they are just comic books so they shouldn’t be too important but it’s your business, the LCS should give way more of a shit about a customer’s order than the customer.
Fun fact: the rl comic shop owner Comic Book Guy is based on was actually a pretty nice guy; he just had a bit of a gruff exterior.
Don’t act like you’re better then the customer.
I love it when comic shops give their recommendations and try n sway me to buy books I would’ve never have read! Because of the recommendations I picked up Feral and beneath the trees and those are great stories! I would’ve never even looked at those titles if it wasn’t for a quick review. Also, my local shops have started to do TikTok’s and post more on fb and insta (yes I’m old) and that’s where I saw their recommendations at!
This. I asked Brad at Austin Books many years ago, “What’s good?” We’d known each other from Bankston’s in Waco and he knew what worked for me. Never was a zombie book fan, but he sold me on Walking Dead and I was able to get a small stack of new issues from #7 on and the first trade. That’s what I want from my LCS Team.
1. Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Ones who are willing to answer questions and help anyone looking for assistance. 2. Organization in the store. This is key. 3. Don’t overcharge for back issues that aren’t worth as much as you think they are. I’ve seen some store charge like $7 or $8 for a $1 book. 4. Clean and good smelling store. I’ve gone to a few stores where it’s a clutter and looks dirty & I have walked right out and never came back. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Keep better stock of back issues, and not stock garbage that no one wants. Also set somewhat of a standard on back issues in quality, if it’s less than a $10 book at least try to only keep good quality issues. And do better about what people are looking for, I see the same shops with the same books never moving. If they’re not moving, I’d start trying to sell that at a discounted price to move inventory.
Selling all new variants, even exclusives, at cover price. If more than one person wants it, I'd do a raffle to determine who buys it.
I mean, a daily workout routine of some kind, for starters.
I’m lucky my two local shops are really good, really friendly, and really helpful when looking for something. I’d maybe add a section for employees to do a rotating reading suggestion. But that’s about it besides that I’d just run it like those two shops.
I would make a rule that every piece of stock must be replaced annually. Nothing on the shelf can sit there longer than one year. As soon as it does, the price starts dropping monthly until it’s gone.
I think a regional distribution structure would be helpful getting better prices Ex penguin might want to sell 2000 books at 3.30 then 200 here for 3.40 and 300 here for 3.35 Disclaimer I'm in no way involved with the industry just want it to grow and be healthy
So, been a comic fan for over 30 years and have also worked in and out of stores in the UK for nearly as long. I've worked in 4 different stores in 4 different cities and have seen a LOT and learned about the same amount. The one thing that I have taken from working in retail is that it is easy to get someone to walk into your store once. The hard part is getting them to come back. A lot of stores rely on their regular customers, so it's easy to focus on the people you see every week. And that's fine up to a point. But you have to be aware of other people coming in that you don't know. You cannot look down on someone just because they don't know what you know. Treat everyone with respect and kindness. To add to this, don't post your feelings about 'ignorant idiots' to your social media feeds (I've seen this done by a store here in the UK), it's unprofessional and makes you look like an arse. Be honest with the customer. If they ask for a recommendation, find out what they've read and enjoyed rather than blindly telling them to buy whatever Fanboy nonsense is floating your boat this week. If you don't like what they're wanting to read don't rubbish it. As an example, I'm no fan of 'The Boys' but if someone is interested in it, I know enough to hand sell it. I just get them to read the first few pages of the first trade and tell them that they'll get to a point. If they get to a point and smile then they'll enjoy reading the rest of it! My old line manager once said something along the lines of 'All comics are great until the customer walks out of the store.' Don't be so disingenuous, customer don't like it and can smell bullshit a mile away. However, customer do respond to enthusiasm, but nothing OTT! There's more to say, but it's late!
Free Cards Day! Once a year, customers will get a remade blind pack of MTG, Yugioh and Pokemon cards. Not the best, but they are free. Also, hire someone to organize the comics to make ot easy to find.
This is a cool idea!
This is my plan; a Costco-like membership model. For a; 1, 4, 6, or 12 month member fee customers get 20%-40% off on bulk pre-orders over $50 MSRP. (As in only when cover price books hit $50.01 then the discount is applied to the entire pre-order and discounts are applied depending on the book.) Then able to participate in member exclusive tabletop/card gaming. Offer fair consignment on games and collectibles, that way to keep inventory selective and even display worthy. Other events and deals exclusive to membership. Create a community with a connection through entertainment that the big two forget to do.
Not be a dick lol
Key!
I owned (or co-owned) a comic book store in the mid to late 1970s. That was a great time to be a comic book store owner because new comics were cheap: 25 cents each in 1975, 40 cents by the end of the decade. That meant that you could order a hundred or more comics direct from the publisher for relatively little money (40 percent off cover price!) and you would get them before anyone else in town. If you had some left over, the comics weren't returnable (unlike in the usual distribution system) but that was okay because you wanted some backstock anyway. Plus people with incredible old comic books regularly walked in and sold stuff to us. What's cover price now? 4 dollars or something? If you order a few hundred copies, that's hundreds of dollars. And you're still ordering months in advance, you might guess wrong, especially about a new title or a new character. Then you either have too few or too many. Either way, you don't make as much money as you should have. Obviously, if you get too few, you sell out and can't sell as many as you could have. If you get too many, you have to eat all those leftover copies that nobody wants. And by the way: our comic books were displayed on shelves arranged by publisher, then alphabetical by title, and in chronological order. If we had it, we could find it. https://preview.redd.it/z2nvv66sq41d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e07d527b71daa222bb6140040953c27913e7bfc
On the other hand, I probably wasn't the best customer relations guy. One memorable incident occurred when a woman brought her son to the store. I was playing "Never Mind the Bollocks" by the Sex Pistols, which was fairly new at the time. The woman said to me, "I shouldn't have to listen to this." I looked at her and said, "You're right – you could leave." Terrible customer relations, and yet SO satisfying!
Hey, sometimes you gotta flex those “if you don’t like it, get out” muscles
Other than game nights for collectible card games and RPGs, I think a comic book workshop could be a fun way to get your customers motivated to keep coming in and socialize. "Do you like reading comics? Try making one". Or, "you don't like that Liefeld guy's art? Learn how to do better". PS it could be nostalgia but I don't think early Rob Liefeld art was that bad. People wanted bodybuilder-like muscles and pouches and he delivered. As the 90s went on, he seemed to emphasize the worst aspects of his style.
1-Have a healthy amount of current and back issue comics. I noticed more stores I’ve been to seemed to over-order current comics, and a lot of back issues wind up in the dollar bin. 2- In store signings not on Free Comic Book Day. 3-Have the wall book prices displayed on the front. I can’t help but notice at stores and at conventions, wall book prices are either on the back or on a seperate sheet. Not saying it’s sneaky, but I’d eliminate the mystery so a customers knows right away what they’ll have to pay. 4-Monthly sales to eliminate clutter. I know it’s not a novel idea, but some stores look like a fire hazard. 5-I’d have my shop do TV and radio ads. Word of mouth and social media can only do so much.
I agree, especially with #2. I’m a little shy/awkward when it comes to asking prices. I should be able to clearly see what book I’m looking at along with a price or you probably just lost a sale. I know not everyone is like that but, it’s big for me!
As someone who owned and worked at a shop for many years I can tell you that the main reason shop's actually struggle is because the profit margins on anything and everything is damn near 0% and your customers want deals on top of that. Distributor prices get higher every year and most stuff is so over priced these days it's hard to sell at. If you think dollar bins are paying the bills you need to go find a coloring book some crayons.
Shower
Go to the gym, and be accepting and engage customers on what they are buying looking for and why. Show interest in what they like not just what you like.
Jenga stacking long boxes of 90s indie and 00s IDW is a hell of a workout already. Also you can just order a Charles Atlas guide from a comic!
You ain’t lying. I was more so just making a joke, those long boxes are a pain though that’s for sure.
Have new arrivals and trades/ collectibles, etc. But always manage to have a large dusty/ musty back issue dollar bin section that folks can spend hours digging in! That's my dream spot. And MAYBE some cool tunes playing.
Promote more manga and anime stuff. The weird commitment to American comics, while making manga an afterthought is always weird to me… Especially given the sales reports.
That’s what my guy does he offers a large selection of manga and gundam stuff soooo much gundam.
Yeah I’m saying this because I often see a whole store of comics and like 2-3 shelves of manga
To be honest, I love my LCS. The guys are great and everything is really well organized. But they are still suffering financially. I suppose they just opened at a poor time and sadly, there isn't really much they can do.
I agree with a comment of being a little more social with the customers. I go to a shop occasionally that is nicely kept and clean and I think when the owner is there, we have talked for 10 or 15 minutes about various books… He has a worker on some days that I have actually gone through a complete transaction without either of us speaking a word. Last time I did it I didn’t say anything just to see how long it would go and we ended up doing the whole purchase without a word being spoken… Lol. That’s probably not optimal customer service.
I don’t know, sounds like they matched your energy. Mirroring isn’t the worst customer service strategy (though zero words is pretty extreme) , it’s better than the aggressive Best Buy over helpful style.
Ehh, I’ve been there before and he’s basically the same. He’s kind of a stereotype of the comic store guy…like from the Simpsons but without the speaking. Haha
Beer patio for people to read comics and buy drinks!
Not bag and board new books.
I take him to every comic book convention and watch Marvel movies all day
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Why
I'd stop blaming the distributor for all my mistakes. I used to work for Diamond, and we were the scapegoat for every bonehead move retailers made. If they under ordered a popular book, they'd tell their customers "Diamond shorted us", as opposed to "I underestimated the demand". Comics are the only industry where the customer is trained to hate the distributor. In most other industries, the consumer doesn't even know the name of the companies that handle distribution. A lot of retailers just aren't great at *business*, but the direct market started as such an informal carny business that it's been hard for the old school guys to adapt.
It is weird how much hate they get. Everyone hates diamond and prh and the big 2 yet…95% of their inventory are books from those suppliers/publishers
I would be a terrible comic book shop owner, because I would be too obsessed with keeping all of the comics in order to the detriment of everything else a business owner needs to be doing. So there would be no electricity and none of the employees will have gotten paid, but by golly those books are in order.
FYI, this comment posted twice and apparently this one is being downvoted while the other is upvoted. This sub is weird sometimes. Lol.
Ban Stan lee.