999ghosts Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 On 17-8-2010 at 3:37 AM, Dale Roberts said: Yeah, we used to buy big wholesale groups from them in the mid 90s too. Now I think they do mostly porn mag stuff. Was that the right business decision? Should I have done that instead of closing my store?.... I wonder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaard Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 3 hours ago, D-Optimist said: I have a story or two about this store... let me know peeps. By all means - I love hearing these kind of stories. When I was a kid, back in the 70's, I lived a couple of blocks from The Book Stop in Wyoming, Mi. It was about 50/50 - paperbacks and comics. I used to love going there and buying my back issues. The owner, John, knew what I collected and kept the books that he knew I'd want behind the counter. He even sourced a DD #1 for my 13th Bday. When they were remodelling one year, they moved all of their comics to the 'dungeon'. It had plaster/concrete walls that were falling apart. Ceilings so low that I, as a kid, had to duck now and then. And it's light source was bulbs hanging from the ceiling. It was great! D-Optimist and The Lions Den 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 7 hours ago, D-Optimist said: I have a story or two about this store... let me know peeps Yes. Do tell! D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pemart1966 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) I always envied guys that were able to go in person. Being in Canada, places such as Passaic were almost mythological. ...and yeah, I can see by the photos why switchblades might have been mandatory... ...and yeah, tell us your stories, after all, that's what the thread is about. Edited March 7, 2018 by pemart1966 D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 12 minutes ago, pemart1966 said: I always envied guys that were able to go in person. Being in Canada, places such as Passaic were almost mythological. ...and yeah, I can see by the photos why switchblades might have been mandatory... Switchblades? Passaic is hardly a part of New Jersey to be intensively feared, and from the picture the Book Center looks like the ground floor of a classic 1930-40 era building in a business district. D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Optimist Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) 11 hours ago, Gaard said: By all means - I love hearing these kind of stories. 8 hours ago, Jayman said: Yes. Do tell! Ok... coincidentally I ran into a friend from elementary school yesterday at my local comic store... Haven't seen this guy since I was a kid! We started talking about the Passaic Book Center and google lead me to these threads as I was getting my nostalgia on. My friend was telling me how the owner told him that they had to close their store because of thefts (I'm sure it was more complicated than that). And its funny cuz we didn't have money for comics as a kid (except my one cousin who had a ton of comics). Unfortunately my other cousin used to rob the Passaic Book Center with his friends and thats how he would pass down some comics to me from time to time. I only had a shoe box full as a kid. But as far as the store they had a cool layout the store was wide and had alot of space stretching out to the other side of the block (its how I remember it). It's now a large supermarket so I imagine that they used the existing layout. There were clotheslines hanging throughout the store and I remember they had books hanging from them. They had cards, books, and comics; I mostly remember the regular books in the front and comics in the back. My brother got this comic when we went there one time and I got marvel vs. DC #3. I forgot what my book my older brother got. The comic store eventually shut down and moved further down the block on Passaic street I believe, it was a much smaller location which I never went to cuz its a shady area. I remember being sad when the store closed. I was a kid and only went like 3 times maybe more because it was unfathomable for my parents to take me to a comic book store unless it was once in the blue and we weren't that adventurous to go to the other side of town when we were that young (we woulda got whooped!). thats all I got pretty much... hazy memory but the store was very impactful! peace! let me know if ya have other questions. Edited March 7, 2018 by D-Optimist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Optimist Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 21 minutes ago, pemart1966 said: I always envied guys that were able to go in person. Being in Canada, places such as Passaic were almost mythological. ...and yeah, I can see by the photos why switchblades might have been mandatory... ...and yeah, tell us your stories, after all, that's hat the thread is about. wow mythological man?! what stories have you heard? 7 minutes ago, namisgr said: Switchblades? Passaic is hardly a part of New Jersey to be intensively feared, and from the picture the Book Center looks like the ground floor of a classic 1930-40 era building in a business district. Depends on what area of Passaic your walking through... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 6 minutes ago, D-Optimist said: 19 minutes ago, namisgr said: Switchblades? Passaic is hardly a part of New Jersey to be intensively feared, and from the picture the Book Center looks like the ground floor of a classic 1930-40 era building in a business district. Depends on what area of Passaic your walking through... Yeah switchblades. It was the cool weapon of choice back in 1978-79. Me and my friend were only about 15 yrs old and school/gang rivalry was still a thing to worry about. Y'know, it could start as quickly as "What are you two doing in our town?" And escalate from there. Fortunately we never ran into any problems and after a few visits, left the weapons home. D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicjack Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) I can see how it was robbed all the time such a bad area and still is to this day.I got a few and sold a few to them,books were so cheap back in the days. Edited March 7, 2018 by comicjack D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pemart1966 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 34 minutes ago, D-Optimist said: wow mythological man?! what stories have you heard? Depends on what area of Passaic your walking through... Mythological in the sense that you saw the giant ads in comics etc - you could just imagine that the place had tons of old books Golden Age and Silver age but you could never get there. You wanted SO badly to go and look (and buy) at what you KNEW would be more comics than you ever saw at one time and in one place. D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine48 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 1 hour ago, namisgr said: Switchblades? Passaic is hardly a part of New Jersey to be intensively feared, and from the picture the Book Center looks like the ground floor of a classic 1930-40 era building in a business district. Looks just like my block,but a bit nicer and newer The Lions Den and D-Optimist 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 38 minutes ago, pemart1966 said: Mythological in the sense that you saw the giant ads in comics etc - you could just imagine that the place had tons of old books Golden Age and Silver age but you could never get there. You wanted SO badly to go and look (and buy) at what you KNEW would be more comics than you ever saw at one time and in one place. Actually, that was my impression of it as a kid walking in there for the first time! Comic Nirvana! D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Optimist Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Jayman said: Yeah switchblades. It was the cool weapon of choice back in 1978-79. Me and my friend were only about 15 yrs old and school/gang rivalry was still a thing to worry about. Y'know, it could start as quickly as "What are you two doing in our town?" And escalate from there. Fortunately we never ran into any problems and after a few visits, left the weapons home. peace man I see your from Jersey #Respect its rough out here just have to move accordingly and you'll be fine... 2 hours ago, pemart1966 said: Mythological in the sense that you saw the giant ads in comics etc - you could just imagine that the place had tons of old books Golden Age and Silver age but you could never get there. You wanted SO badly to go and look (and buy) at what you KNEW would be more comics than you ever saw at one time and in one place. Somethings just get lost in the ether... but theres more to the town than just the now closed book center... but those are stories for another time! Jayman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Another PBC story I have is that on one visit back in the '80s, I saw they had a nice looking copy of Vampirella #3, the Warren mag. It was one of the clothes pinned books strung up across the room and I asked if I could look at it. Forget who got it down for me (not the owner though), and I asked him to take it out of the bag. He did and said he would be right back. I opened the cover and immediately saw that the first 3 pages were ripped out of the mag! Jagged edges and all. When the guy came back, I showed him the damage to the book since they were asking $80 for it in VF+ condition. He said he never even opened it up to look and was fairly grateful. He then gave me an extra discount on the books I did buy. thirdgreenham and D-Optimist 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Wish it was still around, i live off the main ave exit, just the other way in nutley. This place sounds cool but before my time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 I got my first real leg up in this business from Eddie at Passaic a few years before it closed. He invited me over to pick through the boxes in the storeroom. I ended up shipping about 75 long boxes worth of stuff over to the UK for $1.25 a book 20 years ago. That place was fun, he offered me a job, but didn't want to live there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaHuman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 It's too bad it's closed. I was also fascinated by this place in the 90's due to their ads and got their mail order catalogue. They seemed to have everything. I placed one order with them and got all the books I asked for. I remember the grading was pretty good. The most significant book I got was Hulk #102 which I still have. I figure it's about a VF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senormac Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) On 3/6/2018 at 10:29 PM, D-Optimist said: I have a story or two about this store... let me know peeps. This pic is phenomenal !! When I first got into the hobby, I only heard news and rumors of "east coast " comic book dealers. But we heard of Passaic out here. I was in the Los Angeles area. My world was small....... Edited March 12, 2018 by Senormac D-Optimist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottobord Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) picked this up last summer at a garage sale in north jersey, Its a wwbn 32, notice stamps, My dad was a Pastor of a church in Passaic for 35 years, I always wanted to go to this shop but he never let me, I think they also sold "adult" material, main st Passaic was the place to shop in North Jersey back in the day, before shopping malls, up the road was the best Chinese restaurant Ding Ho Palace Edited March 12, 2018 by Ottobord Senormac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senormac Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 6 minutes ago, Ottobord said: picked this up last summer at a garage sale in north jersey, Its a wwbn 32, notice stamps, My dad was a Pastor of a church in Passaic for 35 years, I always wanted to go to this shop but he never let me, I think they also sold "adult" material, main st Passaic was the place to shop in North Jersey back in the day, before shopping malls, up the road was the best Chinese restaurant Ding Ho Palace No matter where you are in the world ..... or what you are involved in....... God is calling you, drawing you, pulling you. Ottobord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
