Why are comics shops closing as superheroes make a mint?8909
 I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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sportshort private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Because of the article In the above post I am forced to give you give you all some terrible news. In my personal experience the above comic book store experience is the exception. I have been collecting off and on for 45 years and exposed my children to comics since they were young. In over 90 percent of the time including currently the comic book store people care little to none about their customer even the polite ones that greet you as you enter then return to reading their comics or playing with their phone. This has always been the case for me I have almost always felt more like an intrusion than a welcomed visitor. You might argue that you’re experience is better because you’ve know your lcs guy for years but that shouldn’t be the case. Most lcs employees don’t know anything about customer service as they are usually the owner or friends or family of the owner. They are a big reason why people have turned to online because they have no personal connection the the Lcs employees. Excuse typos as I wrote this on my phone at a local fair. |
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OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @sportshort Agreed, customer service is always an issue and greatly reflects on the business. | ||
| Post 52 • IP flag post | ||
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comic_book_man private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @sportshort I think what you are describing is actually more of a snowball effect. Comic books alone aren't generating enough cashflow for their stores outside of major cities. This in turn leads to skeleton crew staffing, often over-worked and underpaid so the customer experience becomes questionable at best. It all builds on each other, starting with a drop in steady revenue. To the titles question, I think technology is the attraction lately so cinema, encapsulated books, and online auction houses are basically forcing the hand of brick and mortar establishments. Shopping in a store for a paper book is less appealing to the masses than buying the encapsulated original and reading the story on their iphone at their convenience. Like even right now, I'm choosing to type a message here on the forum instead of chatting up Endgame at my LCS... That's just my opinion based on my experience. |
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X51 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| If comic shops quit existing tomorrow, I'd feel no sense of loss. In my area, they aren't selling items I want to buy. | ||
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 past performance is no guarantee of future actions.
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KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by X51 Nooooo....its not often but my lcs will add a book to my bag that wasn't on my pull list because he knows what i like. The last two series i was turned onto were Skyward and a little something no one has heard of....Immortal Hulk. Thanks to my lcs I was on board from issue 1 all at cover price with 15% store discount. When Damned Batman came out...again not on my list he saw how fast they were flying off the shelf and set aside a few copies for people with pull lists...pays to be a regular!!! Why sell to a one time walk in customer and stiff the people who keep the lighs on?? |
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OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In my opinion, comic book stores need to reinvent themselves to bring in new customers. The store I used to go to when I was a kid (1970/80's) is still thriving. They expanded and sell/trade/buy records, CD's, cassette tapes, all of those players, games, and gaming systems. The location also plays a huge factor. College towns have a built-in target base. | ||
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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sportshort private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KatKomics @katkomics- a few years back, as an adventure my kids and i started going to a different comic shop a week. i put a lot of mile on my car just to make life interesting for my kids (and for me). not one attendant, without exception, showed any interest in us as potential customers. i am of the opinion that you (customer service rep) can make a one time customer into a lifetime customer and help keep the lights on. |
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comic_book_man private msg quote post Address this user | |
@sportshort That makes me sad to hear, but I know it's true.  |
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| Post 58 • IP flag post | ||
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JLA555 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I see what everyone is talking about. I have about 4 shops in my area 2 I visit often. The upcoming issue with them is price of books going up and rent rising every year. From my understanding alot of shop have to order a minimum and they have lots of back stock they cant sell and lose money. I can see why a few shops are on skeleton crews. |
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| Post 59 • IP flag post | ||
 Beaten by boat oars
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Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have three shops that I frequent regularly in my area (from Dayton, Ohio down to Cincinnati and into Florence, KY), and two other stores in Cincinnati that I pop into about once every couple of months. I can honestly say that the owners and employees I've talked to have noticed that kids, in general, are not reading comics. The owners still go out of their way on FCBD to have big setups, but they all say the same thing which is once FCBD is over, they won't see the vast majority of people again until the next FCBD. That said, they also acknowledge that digital sales could be a thing for the younger audience to be reading comics, but they aren't sure because they didn't have sales figures for that end. Now, I can say that I usually have good experiences at the stores. Customer service has always been a plus, and they will throw in freebies some times of things they think I might like. I don't have a pull list with any LCS, so it's all back issues & keys for me at my local shops. I don't care to buy online because I do find it impersonal, but it is convenient also especially when trying to find pence copies or some obscure book that I know the LCS won't have. I also know that the store owners I know bust hump to find collections in the area, and will travel around if they need to. Now, they're not going to travel from Kentucky to Vancouver, but they will go to TN, MI, IN, WV - usually a one day trip kind of thing. These guys tell me that while it's fun to sell a FF 1 or get in a huge, high-grade SA Batman run, it's the sales of new comics, and supplies that keep the lights on. I can see why these stores have small crews. One store has two people at a location. It's closed on Tuesdays, but the two guys both work Tuesdays to set up for new comic day on Wednesday. As far as pricing, I hear the stories about stores slapping sticker prices that are double or triple what someone can get something on ebay for, but I don't see it. At least anymore. I'm sure in the 90s, that may have been the case, or maybe I thought everything was expensive because I was a dishwasher and made next to nothing. New books are expensive. I can't argue against that. If I'm 16, I can't afford to go in and buy 5 or 6 books at $4+ a pop. Whenever these shop owners in my area retire, I have no idea what will happen to the stores (some are family operated, some aren't so I don't know if there is a succession plan). As far as the themes that some folks think hinder the stories (politics, religion, socio-economic, etc), that stuff has been in comics as far as I can tell. From the stuff I read in the 60s to now. Maybe subtlety is lacked now, but it's been there for a while and I can see it staying. It's a good topic on stores closing though. Mile High and MCS seem to be heading towards where it's all going to end up - online & mail-order. Maybe some stores will stay open as a vintage collectible place. Some stores have had to diversify their inventory since the 90's crash. Bringing in Pops, Legos, movies, toys, and even hosting Magic/D&D/Heroclix/etc tournaments has helped some of them. |
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| Post 60 • IP flag post | ||
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Wraith private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I love my lcs. Would be a real downer if they were to close .. | ||
| Post 61 • IP flag post | ||
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Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Having owned a comic shop in the early nineties (right before the crash) I can blame three things as to why my comic shop closed. First off, in the early nineties when Marvel went public they were under pressure to drive the stock price up and thus your average comic went from .75 cents overnight to $1.25 at the same time the major comic distributors changed the cost ratio to shop owners from 50% of cover price to 60%. This made ordering much trickier, not wanting to get stuck with 100 copies of a dog. Secondly, a number of my steady customers thought opening a shop would be easy and opened within the same demographic area! Lastly, comic artists leaving Marvel to start their own comic companies (Image, Malibu etc.) not only meant having to buy more comics but less people buying the crap Marvel was putting out during that time period. Bottom line, even if you keep your store fresh with great wall books, have great customer service and are in a prime location, it is very difficult to order 2 months in advance with every new comic coming out having variant covers, foil covers, glow in the dark covers and speculating so you can make a profit. Nuff said.. sorry for the rant. | ||
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shrewbeer private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My LCS claims they would not be able to stay in business if not for the weekend magic tournaments. The writing is on the wall for comic shops. Quote: Originally Posted by kaptainmyke Yeah nah. They also used to share rent with a Vinyl shop- who went out of business very quickly. As for the discounts mentioned- mostly correct so far. Distribution to places like B&N is 55% off cover price (and returnable), which is similar to the old newsstand market. Diamond distribution has turned that model on it’s head with the direct market, and comic shops are stuck with anything that doesn't sell. Unless someone manages to start competing with Diamond with a more classic distribution model, these shops are at a serious disadvantage. It’s probably too late at this point anyways. |
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| Post 63 • IP flag post | ||
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Lonestar private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Most people have a limited budget they can spend on their entertainment. Comic books are up against a myriad of other items that fall into that category. Most of those items will get you far more for your money. I fear that unless the comic industry as a whole can re-vamp itself into a model that works better financially for the LCS, it will die a slow death of it's own making. | ||
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by sportshortThis is how I felt about a store that I had a pull list at for almost 3 years. Everytime I went in there, the store manager acted like he never saw me before and would always say" Can I help you find anything" But he would ask me like 2 or 3 times while I was there like I was going to rip him off. He just made me feel like a new customer that was never in there before. Many times I would have to tell him that I had a pull list. If he was any good, he would have my books pulled out when he saw me and would say something like "hey dude how you been." Let me know if there is anything you want me to add to your list" or something like that. They went out of business. The guy was an ass. He was not personable at all. |
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past performance is no guarantee of future actions.
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KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My LCS is on it's 3rd owner (I've been going since my Mom took me when I was 10??) and much like the hair club for men the last two owners were also clients!! Might be why they are still around? Norm knows my name as did Kim (guy) and Beverly (Kims sister in law who helped run the shop) and Len and his wife (original owners) before him and they all have my pull list ready when I walk through the door, usually a suggestion on another book I may like or at least some small chit chat. They are pretty good at taking time with new customers but it would be interesting to see the book$$..the store has only ever been a 1 or 2 person operation (occasionally 3) and I can guess that it couldn't support more staff than that. I'll give Norm another 10-15 years and then he'll want to sell/retire - can't imagine who would take over after that, I'll be looking to retire in 15 (knock on wood) and don't feel like being tied 6 days a week, 49 or 50 weeks a year to a store. |
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| Post 66 • IP flag post | ||
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VaComicsGuy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| we used to go to a LCS once a week for our pull lists. The owner was a nice enough guy but was ALWAYS complaining about something and it was usually about his customers. He would complain about customers wanting books without flaws or how much he hated customers who were into slabbing books (even though he had a ton of slabs for sale). Stuff like that. Instead of it being a trip to the comic shop to poke around through back issue bins and checking out new titles, we would usually go in get our pull list and leave. We switched to an online shop. A few months later, my older son (not into comics at all) started playing D&D at a shop about 45 mins away. the owners are really nice, so we switched our lists to them. the interesting thing about them is they have 3 shops and comics looks to be a very small portion of their income. 5 or 6 nights a week, they have a different groups in. 1 night is Warhammer, 1 night is D&D, 1 night is Magic. . . The publishers aren't helping either. My son has several titles that are in limbo and have been for months. Peanuts, SpongeBob, Action Lab dog of wonder (and another that I can't recall) are all on hold or suddenly stopped with no notification beforehand. He's getting tired of having to change his pull lists and having his collecting messed up. He won't be into comics for much longer if it keeps happening. |
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X51 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| New comics are depressing. Very few interest me due to the modern storytelling methods and I'm not going to pay $5-$6 for a new comic hoping it will be good. It's a matter of principle. I'd rather save that money and buy a $100-$500 back issue that I've wanted all of my life. The money I save by not buying new comics adds up quickly. Since the industry intentionally sabotages the collectability of normal back issues by releasing TPB's and variant covers.... I can do without any of them. Until the publishers go back to printing one cover on a comic and re-compress the stories with great art and great writing, they've lost me as a customer permanently. Since collectors are rarely walking into the store to sell them great collection anymore, it's unlikely they will ever replensish any backstock that I want. The combination of those two scenarios is why I don't care if any LCS' stay open anymore. |
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| Post 68 • IP flag post | ||
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Oxbladder private msg quote post Address this user | |
| There are a host of reasons why it is hard for B&M stores some are here some many are not. For those who wish the demise of B&M careful what you wish for because they go then there is even less reason for publishers to stay in the business which means a very slow demise of the industry and hobby. It will become a business for a bunch of dinosaurs with money and a limited life span. | ||
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by OxbladderThat is why I try to support them vs buying my books on line.I still buy my half boxes from my LCS too. But I must admit that I buy my bags and boards on line. They are much cheaper on line than in most LCS locations around me. I which I was in one now so I could escape work for awhile. Having a stressed out day with my co workers. |
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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sportshort private msg quote post Address this user | |
| i agree, support your local comic book shop. I'm just saying, if they tried harder to chat-up the customer and show some interest in them personally then i guarantee that less will close. because,I don't want my "friend's" shop to close I would advertise it at every opportunity. | ||
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MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I think the main reason I avoid shops anymore is because I don't like to not knowing what they have before I go because if they don't have something I truly want, I fear I'll spend on stuff I kinda want just because I'm their. | ||
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Wraith private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by X51I basically ignore the variant hype - but do buy if i love cover art - and don't chase value. There's lots of fun reads out there.. Being able to chat to store owner or random customers about recommendations / thoughts is something hard to replicate online and part of the fun in reading comics for me |
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etapi65 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I know it's a typo, but too good to pass up. You really shouldn't ransom customers...just going to cause problems at the shop later. | ||
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Wraith private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by etapi65well caught .. I thought I edited before anyone noticed  |
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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sportshort private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Nice | ||
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X51 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Wraith Variants are bad for long term collectability. I care about the value of what I buy in the secondary market. I have no desire to own the "common" version of anything. There are enough obscure and rare back issues for me to buy where I can get entertaining reads and have a comic that will be worth more than I paid. At one point I was barely able to afford food and had no money. My collection increasing in value allowed me to trade 70's and 80's duplicates for Silver age comics I wanted more and had dreamed of owning. I traded duplicate Valiant comics for an Amazing Fantasy #15. I'm not going to spend $4 on some common cover that is going to be worthless in 3 months. I'm not going to spend $100 on some variant cover that is over-hyped just to have it be forgotten and unsalable in a year. To much crap is produced these days. My tastes have refined in 50 years. I like some things for nostalgia. I like some things for obscurity. None of that includes decompressed stories. None of that includes art not suitable for the style of story it is trying to tell. I tried to pick up Dark Horse's reboot of the Gold Key heroes in 2010 or so. Someone thought it was a good idea to use a noir style art to depict holograms of a nuclear power plant. Seriously? I want serious art for serious stories. Cartoon art can be used for cartoon characters. The art of making comics good and compelling is lost. People are working hard and cutting corners to produce lousy comics. Great art is wasted on horrible stories. 90% of the loyal die-hard fans I knew in the 90's have left the hobby, sold their collections, and said they got tired of it. The shop owners and employees that I chatted with a decade ago (and are still around) are usually happy to see me. What is there to talk about? Me: There's nothing in your store I want Them: "Blah Blah Blah is popular. Me (thinking): "Is that the best they have to offer? That's horrid." Me (saying): "I've looked at it, it doesn't interest me." I linger around to look at as much as I can tolerate to look at. I tell them I interact with people online who like one series or another. I get an update on what consumers are buying or who walked into the store after a 10 year lapse. After the small talk has run it's course, I find an opportunity to get out of there as soon as possible. I can like the people but see that they are stuck in their quicksand of life choices. I have no desire to jump into the quicksand with them. That's how I view the modern industry. Creators, publishers, distributors, and retailers are flailing around trying to find something to make their lives relevant. There's very little to feel excited and energized about. For the all of them, it's work. It's a daily routine of going through the motions to earn a living. There is no fire of excitement. They try to second guess the consumers with some formula they think works, but none of them grasps the big picture. They all have tunnel vision. That tunnel vision is focused on how to get a sale. Publishers try to trick people into buying comics and they are no longer trying to invigorate and inspire people to buy comics. Publishers only need to trick the retailers to buy comics since the consumer isn't the one who is directly paying them. The retailer is pinched between the publisher's offerings and consumers being able to afford what is offered. Retailers didn't make the recipe and they aren't necessarily the one who is eating it. To say "I try to always support my LCS to keep them around" sounds like "I go there because it's the only Italian restaurant in town." Doesn't matter if it's great food or what you even want. It's the closest to what fans want so they settle for what they can. I don't like seeing the comatose patient just laying there. It's disappointing, but eventually the plug needs to be pulled. I'm ready to accept it and move on. I know others are still hoping for the industry to come back to life and be restored to days of old. It's a fine line between learning from the past and living in it. I try to associate with people who are looking forward. Our eyes are in the front of our heads for a reason. "He who takes the plow and looks back...." Fill in the rest of that if so motivated. |
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etapi65 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by MR_SigS This is why i didn't collect comics from 2010-2015. Limited shop choices (closest was 30 minutes away) with it being a crap shoot whether they have stuff. Combined with the comics i had a pull list for always being mangled. I don't go crazy about the random, average book having a minor flaw, but we're talking multiple spine creases "dents" that looked like someone jabbed it with a leather punch and complete corner bends going through the whole book. It's like...why would you even put this in my box? |
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chirock private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have 3 comic shops that are pretty easy for me to go to, but I still order from Westfield comics. I'm not terribly interested in most new Marvel/DC. I like being able to make my selection from the range of everything that's available during the month at a computer in advance. One store has a limited set of titles available for pulls. You'd think Previews/Diamond would get their act together and make do something like westfield for LCSs, but they're stuck in the 90's with printed books. | ||
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OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by chirock Me too, love Westfield! Things may not be as grim as we think. Here is a good article on an upswing in sales... Comics and Graphic Novel Sales Hit New High in 2018 According to New Estimate by ICv2 and Comichron clickable text  |
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