Shades To Come
I don't want to be a Flying Dutchman.
While out on my travels the Saturday before Christmas, looking (mostly in vain) for a few specific items to round out the gift list, and not yet realizing that I was as sick as I was, I found myself stopping in various stores in the area I'd never been in.
Among the places was one I'd only first noticed perhaps a month earlier. It's a Comics & Collectibles spot... and for this entry I'm not going to name it because I will have less than glowing things to say about its prospects. I'll note that it takes its name from a '60s tv series that I enjoyed enough as a child for it to retain a nostalgic boost.
As best I can tell he doesn't have a website for the store - the two links I found were a comment left on some obnoxiously goth myspace page seemingly by a well-meaning friend back in August, and a less than informative link concerning it being the site for a Magic: The Gathering event which either already happened or hasn't had a date set yet. No real footprint to speak of.
As I came in he was giving a run-down of things for his niece - a woman probably not terribly younger than I am - who as it turns out had offered to take over for a day so that the poor guy could have a break. He'd been putting in 15- to 17-hour days every day pretty much since opening. I'm sure he wasn't thrilled to hear that despite my living in the area for years that I'd only noticed his place within the past month; his niece mentioned to me later that he'd opened it "at the beginning of the summer." I live within a two minute drive of the place, but it's down Ridge Pike, which I generally avoid driving on unless I'm pointedly going someplace on that route.
Anyway, the owner seemed nice enough, and was certainly looking a bit worn and in need of a break.
The store has new comics and many long and short boxes of older comics, along with multiple showcases of comics, Disney, etc.-related busts and statues. So far, it seems, it's the sale of the collectible items -- the statues -- that have been the main income for the place. My impression is that it's not going well. His niece mentioned that he'd had covered himself for the first year, which is certainly better than what I've seen some try but which I fear won't be enough unless he seriously kicks out the stops and rethinks both his operation and promotions.
One of the things he mentioned to me before he left was that he has older comics than those in the store, but he doesn't keep them there -- presumably for fear of theft or fire. What he does have in the store, aside from the newest comics (which are nicely displayed on wall shelves) are boxes of comics that are a snapshot of the early to mid-nineties comics investment boom and bust. Honestly, most of it was the same crap that dragged untold numbers of retailers-cum-investors to their fiscal doom as the paradigm shifted and items that had previously gone from cover price to $5 or more each two weeks later stood revealed as things that almost no one would ever buy. The sort of things one finds in fifty cent, quarter or even ten for a dollar boxes in some other stores and at comics conventions. There were some that extended into the current decade, but what I saw didn't strike me as continuing into the past several years.
The matter was sufficiently sad that when he mentioned that each of the boxed titles were $2 as a special for the holidays, after which they would returned to their marked prices, I managed to suppress a smile. The reality's just too pathetic to laugh at. I can only guess that either the guy invested this heavily in them personally back in the day and is simply in denial, or he bought it as a bulk inventory (hopefully for no more than three or four cents on the dollar) from some other sunken sucker.
When I see this combination -- being perhaps too overly cautious with what he considers to be his best inventory (not seeing any comics in there pre-1990s I'm almost afraid to see what he's specifically keeping in reserve) and just expecting the new comics to sell on their own at full price (plus state tax) with no sign of any sort of discount incentive for customers to become regular customers -- I don't see how there can be a serious expectation for success.
As almost anyone who's been buying and reading comics for years has done from time to time, and I'm no exception.
The normal cover price for a new, mainstream comic these days is an almost unbelievable $2.99. Certainly, the degree of disbelief will be a matter of perspective; in my case comics were just moving from 12 cents to 15 when I started reading them, and I still recall how depressing the comics scene became during the '70s as it shot to and through 20 cents, 25, 30, 35, 50, 60, 75, etc. While $2.99 isn't what it used to be, it's still not quite the same disposable income that 15 cents was in 1968. Add to this the fact that the entry-level demographic for comics - school-age kids - is generally used to more interactive fare with more bang for the buck, and it's a battle to bring in and keep new readers/collectors.
Consider, too, that comics buyers have considerable options these days when it comes to how to buy the latest. If one's willing to pay in advance, ordering the comics roughly two months out, and waiting a week or two or so after they come out to see them, then buying them online can make for appreciable savings. An outfit like Mail Order Comics (my current supplier) offers some comics at a discount of up to 75%, with the standard discount being 38%. Certainly, the less time one wants to wait to see them -- shipping frequency and method -- the more this discount will be eroded, but even if one wants them shipped twice monthly via UPS the effective discount still ends up being over 20%.
While wanting to invest in the local economy, and having both the convenience of getting them the day they hit the street and having whatever social connection a local shop offers, my view is that if a shop isn't at least willing to offer a 15% (pre-tax) discount for pulled comics (ones a person tells the shop he'll want in advance -- say, someone who collects Amazing Spider-Man -- which the shop pulls and sets aside for the customer) then they're not seriously looking at their long-term business prospects. They're counting on the ignorance, indolence and perhaps the intellectually questionable loyalty of their existing customer base more than they should.
In some areas there's a sort of secret collusion among competing comics shop owners to treat discounts of any kind (outside of special sale events) as something not economically viable, but it's just a matter of time before one of their competitors -- including the possibility of a new operator -- sees the wisdom of such a move. In the broader, Internet market that's already existing. It's simply a matter of whether or not the local customers find out, and whether or not once they do if they overcome their ignorance and/or resistance to change. A pleasant environment and service, combined with doing what one can to emphasize the "need" to stay on top of each week's new items can help one to retain those customers, too, as any online service will see delays of a week or much more, with frequency of shipping being something that will cut into the discount.
It's in this last set of factors that's the real hope of the local retailer.
To be fair, I haven't seen how he handles new potential regulars aside from the introduction he gave to me. Maybe it'll be enough if there are enough existing and potential comics fans in the area. At the moment, without more obvious overtures towards securing steady, weekly customers, I'm not betting on it being there come next Christmas unless it's because he's gotten himself deeper in debt with a new stake or is staying open just a little longer in an attempt to sell-through his inventory at fire sale prices.
I find that I don't want to go back into the shop. There's nothing in there I need, especially at those prices, and I'm not sure I can count on any natural charm to allow me to convey what I'd hope would be helpful tips but which would most likely be taken as a very negative message. It isn't as if I'm coming at him with the assurance that if he offered a 30-35% discount for pre-order/pull list items that I'd give him my business, though I suppose that's a possibility. Certainly, there are pluses to being able to pick up the new comics each week; I'd just have to come to terms with what would be an acceptable set of financial terms for that convenience.
In the meantime I've considered mailing him much of the above anonymously as info from an interested, local, fellow comics fan. As, frankly, I have more pressing personal and professional concerns I'm already expending more effort on this than is reasonable. Dealing with someone else's problems -- which almost always look so much more soluble -- is generally more attractive than facing one's own. Or, at least, that's been the case for me.
I don't want to be a Flying Dutchman.
While out on my travels the Saturday before Christmas, looking (mostly in vain) for a few specific items to round out the gift list, and not yet realizing that I was as sick as I was, I found myself stopping in various stores in the area I'd never been in.
Among the places was one I'd only first noticed perhaps a month earlier. It's a Comics & Collectibles spot... and for this entry I'm not going to name it because I will have less than glowing things to say about its prospects. I'll note that it takes its name from a '60s tv series that I enjoyed enough as a child for it to retain a nostalgic boost.
As best I can tell he doesn't have a website for the store - the two links I found were a comment left on some obnoxiously goth myspace page seemingly by a well-meaning friend back in August, and a less than informative link concerning it being the site for a Magic: The Gathering event which either already happened or hasn't had a date set yet. No real footprint to speak of.
As I came in he was giving a run-down of things for his niece - a woman probably not terribly younger than I am - who as it turns out had offered to take over for a day so that the poor guy could have a break. He'd been putting in 15- to 17-hour days every day pretty much since opening. I'm sure he wasn't thrilled to hear that despite my living in the area for years that I'd only noticed his place within the past month; his niece mentioned to me later that he'd opened it "at the beginning of the summer." I live within a two minute drive of the place, but it's down Ridge Pike, which I generally avoid driving on unless I'm pointedly going someplace on that route.
Anyway, the owner seemed nice enough, and was certainly looking a bit worn and in need of a break.
The store has new comics and many long and short boxes of older comics, along with multiple showcases of comics, Disney, etc.-related busts and statues. So far, it seems, it's the sale of the collectible items -- the statues -- that have been the main income for the place. My impression is that it's not going well. His niece mentioned that he'd had covered himself for the first year, which is certainly better than what I've seen some try but which I fear won't be enough unless he seriously kicks out the stops and rethinks both his operation and promotions.
One of the things he mentioned to me before he left was that he has older comics than those in the store, but he doesn't keep them there -- presumably for fear of theft or fire. What he does have in the store, aside from the newest comics (which are nicely displayed on wall shelves) are boxes of comics that are a snapshot of the early to mid-nineties comics investment boom and bust. Honestly, most of it was the same crap that dragged untold numbers of retailers-cum-investors to their fiscal doom as the paradigm shifted and items that had previously gone from cover price to $5 or more each two weeks later stood revealed as things that almost no one would ever buy. The sort of things one finds in fifty cent, quarter or even ten for a dollar boxes in some other stores and at comics conventions. There were some that extended into the current decade, but what I saw didn't strike me as continuing into the past several years.
The matter was sufficiently sad that when he mentioned that each of the boxed titles were $2 as a special for the holidays, after which they would returned to their marked prices, I managed to suppress a smile. The reality's just too pathetic to laugh at. I can only guess that either the guy invested this heavily in them personally back in the day and is simply in denial, or he bought it as a bulk inventory (hopefully for no more than three or four cents on the dollar) from some other sunken sucker.
When I see this combination -- being perhaps too overly cautious with what he considers to be his best inventory (not seeing any comics in there pre-1990s I'm almost afraid to see what he's specifically keeping in reserve) and just expecting the new comics to sell on their own at full price (plus state tax) with no sign of any sort of discount incentive for customers to become regular customers -- I don't see how there can be a serious expectation for success.
As almost anyone who's been buying and reading comics for years has done from time to time, and I'm no exception.
The normal cover price for a new, mainstream comic these days is an almost unbelievable $2.99. Certainly, the degree of disbelief will be a matter of perspective; in my case comics were just moving from 12 cents to 15 when I started reading them, and I still recall how depressing the comics scene became during the '70s as it shot to and through 20 cents, 25, 30, 35, 50, 60, 75, etc. While $2.99 isn't what it used to be, it's still not quite the same disposable income that 15 cents was in 1968. Add to this the fact that the entry-level demographic for comics - school-age kids - is generally used to more interactive fare with more bang for the buck, and it's a battle to bring in and keep new readers/collectors.
Consider, too, that comics buyers have considerable options these days when it comes to how to buy the latest. If one's willing to pay in advance, ordering the comics roughly two months out, and waiting a week or two or so after they come out to see them, then buying them online can make for appreciable savings. An outfit like Mail Order Comics (my current supplier) offers some comics at a discount of up to 75%, with the standard discount being 38%. Certainly, the less time one wants to wait to see them -- shipping frequency and method -- the more this discount will be eroded, but even if one wants them shipped twice monthly via UPS the effective discount still ends up being over 20%.
While wanting to invest in the local economy, and having both the convenience of getting them the day they hit the street and having whatever social connection a local shop offers, my view is that if a shop isn't at least willing to offer a 15% (pre-tax) discount for pulled comics (ones a person tells the shop he'll want in advance -- say, someone who collects Amazing Spider-Man -- which the shop pulls and sets aside for the customer) then they're not seriously looking at their long-term business prospects. They're counting on the ignorance, indolence and perhaps the intellectually questionable loyalty of their existing customer base more than they should.
In some areas there's a sort of secret collusion among competing comics shop owners to treat discounts of any kind (outside of special sale events) as something not economically viable, but it's just a matter of time before one of their competitors -- including the possibility of a new operator -- sees the wisdom of such a move. In the broader, Internet market that's already existing. It's simply a matter of whether or not the local customers find out, and whether or not once they do if they overcome their ignorance and/or resistance to change. A pleasant environment and service, combined with doing what one can to emphasize the "need" to stay on top of each week's new items can help one to retain those customers, too, as any online service will see delays of a week or much more, with frequency of shipping being something that will cut into the discount.
It's in this last set of factors that's the real hope of the local retailer.
To be fair, I haven't seen how he handles new potential regulars aside from the introduction he gave to me. Maybe it'll be enough if there are enough existing and potential comics fans in the area. At the moment, without more obvious overtures towards securing steady, weekly customers, I'm not betting on it being there come next Christmas unless it's because he's gotten himself deeper in debt with a new stake or is staying open just a little longer in an attempt to sell-through his inventory at fire sale prices.
I find that I don't want to go back into the shop. There's nothing in there I need, especially at those prices, and I'm not sure I can count on any natural charm to allow me to convey what I'd hope would be helpful tips but which would most likely be taken as a very negative message. It isn't as if I'm coming at him with the assurance that if he offered a 30-35% discount for pre-order/pull list items that I'd give him my business, though I suppose that's a possibility. Certainly, there are pluses to being able to pick up the new comics each week; I'd just have to come to terms with what would be an acceptable set of financial terms for that convenience.
In the meantime I've considered mailing him much of the above anonymously as info from an interested, local, fellow comics fan. As, frankly, I have more pressing personal and professional concerns I'm already expending more effort on this than is reasonable. Dealing with someone else's problems -- which almost always look so much more soluble -- is generally more attractive than facing one's own. Or, at least, that's been the case for me.
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