Any thoughts on St. Marks Comics in NYC? Will be visiting NYC shortly. 0

[the blob]

You could walk Manhattan from shop to shop and see Manhattan in the process. Good for a trip April through October. Not so much now, it's freezing.

[NoMan]

Gee, I asked that question? Well, I did go. twice actually. First time owner saw a sucker  and ripped me off bad.. Year late went back, had some serious cash in my pocked and d-bag says," You wanna see something off the wall?" "No," I reply. Owner seemed confused. Confuse yourself out of a shop for all I care. Last I saw he was begging for cash on Go fund Me 

That place and the guy own owns in can suck the s h i t out of my A s s .

Edited February 2, 2019 by NoMan

[grebal]

2 minutes ago, NoMan said:

Gee, I asked that question? Well, I did go. twice actually. First time owner saw a sucker  and ripped me off bad.. Year late went back, had some serious cash in my pocked and d-bag says," You wanna see something off the wall?" "No," I reply. Owner seemed confused. Confuse yourself out of a shop for all I care. Last I saw he was begging for cash on Go fund Me 

That place and the guy own owns in can suck the s h i t out of my A s s .

Hey man I told you once I told you a thousand times, you gotta stop wearing that hat with "Sucker" written on it.

[NoMan]

4 minutes ago, grebal said:

Hey man I told you once I told you a thousand times, you gotta stop wearing that hat with "Sucker" written on it.

it's a problem when I get excited about something. FIgure everyone keeps their words and treats people fairly. I do so I figure others do.  But if you wanna convince a newbie an x men 100 3.5 i s actually an 8.0, enjoy and please sleep well at night.. Do your homework, fool. It's your fault! Some would say of me.  Problem is I just jump right in, crash into to a bunch of walls leaving a series silhouettes. It's how I learn. 

Not really concerned about money or comics today. Is the D-bag from St. Mark's Comics?

[NoMan]

and look what I just found. Made my day! You sure the only reason you're going out of biz is because of rent increase? Maybe you ripped off too many newbies with deep pockets that never returned and spent their money instead with Dale Roberts or Bob Storms or sellers on these boards like Grebal and Pickycollector?

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/st-marks-comics-shutter

 

EDIT: Favorite part of story:

In 2017, the shop owner launched a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of raising $75,000 to fix the store's wear and tear, and to pay outstanding debt. By the end, the shop was only able to raise $1,201.

 

I honestly hope this guy sleeps on the sidewalk now. Thinks about the x men100. Maybe the guy would have come in 3 times a year only interested in wall books, which I would have.

Edited February 2, 2019 by NoMan

[grebal]

Just now, NoMan said:

it's a problem when I get excited about something. FIgure everyone keeps their words and treats people fairly. I do so I figure others do.  But if you wanna convince a newbie an x men 100 3.5 i s actually an 8.0, enjoy and please sleep well at night.. Do your homework, fool. It's your fault! Some would say of me.  Problem is I just jump right in, crash into to a bunch of walls leaving a series silhouettes. It's how I learn. 

Not really concerned about money or comics today. Is the D-bag from St. Mark's Comics?

You're good bud - I still have 'bad buys' burned into memory from over a decade ago.  The more successful dealers are those that build relationships over time, they get both repeat customers and good word of mouth.  OTOH the scumbags console themselves with thoughts of CAVEAT EMPTOR and might (hopefully) pay for it in the long run.   Though I fully agree with caveat emptor in principle.

[Aweandlorder]

46 minutes ago, the blob said:

You could walk Manhattan from shop to shop and see Manhattan in the process. Good for a trip April through October. Not so much now, it's freezing.

Ha everyone's different. I absolutely LOVE NYC during the holidays. Very romantic and brings back memories of childhood. Kinda like comic books do. I'm an old soul, so I love Sinatra, Elvis, Paul and Barbara. Walking to the stores, seeing the lights, having dinner with family and friends, and the best of course is family dinner on NYE. I can't tell you how much I love those. I'm looking all year for that one magical night, and it HAS to be in NY. We used to do it at Capsouto Freres in TriBeCa. Now we go to Vivo's in Bayside. Those are priceless moments in life you keep with you forever

[grebal]

4 minutes ago, NoMan said:

and look what I just found. Made my day! You sure the only reason you're going out of biz is because of rent increase? Maybe you ripped off too many newbies with deep pockets that never returned and spent their money instead with Dale Roberts or Bob Storms or sellers on these boards like Grebal and Pickycollector?

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/st-marks-comics-shutter

 

EDIT: Favorite part of story:

In 2017, the shop owner launched a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of raising $75,000 to fix the store's wear and tear, and to pay outstanding debt. By the end, the shop was only able to raise $1,201.

 

After 45 years of life in NY I moved from NY to Texas - part was the culture of taxation and regulation (and a lot of a-holes but after all consider my profession).  No doubt some comic shops can still find ways to stay profitable - but damn they gotta be tight - well run, constantly updating to keep with trends of changing marketplace, millennial friendly with multiple income streams etc.  Because they got a lot of forces working against them, like youthful politicians with captive audience that think higher taxes and more regs is a solution to everything.

[NoMan]

Used to be a bookstore here and if you spent enough cash you got to go to the upstairs "secret room." I was looking for a rare Phillip K bio so I was up there looking. The place was a mess. I organized it and found 3 copies of the PKD book! Owner grabbed all three and put expensive prices on them underneath glass. Then he went out of biz and everyone was sad, "Another bookstore gone." Some people deserve to go out of biz.

[NoMan]

14 minutes ago, grebal said:

You're good bud - I still have 'bad buys' burned into memory from over a decade ago.  The more successful dealers are those that build relationships over time, they get both repeat customers and good word of mouth.  OTOH the scumbags console themselves with thoughts of CAVEAT EMPTOR and might (hopefully) pay for it in the long run.   Though I fully agree with caveat emptor in principle.

Whatever St. Marks becomes, I can't wait to spend money there.

[the blob]

9 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

Ha everyone's different. I absolutely LOVE NYC during the holidays. Very romantic and brings back memories of childhood. Kinda like comic books do. I'm an old soul, so I love Sinatra, Elvis, Paul and Barbara. Walking to the stores, seeing the lights, having dinner with family and friends, and the best of course is family dinner on NYE. I can't tell you how much I love those. I'm looking all year for that one magical night, and it HAS to be in NY. We used to do it at Capsouto Freres in TriBeCa. Now we go to Vivo's in Bayside. Those are priceless moments in life you keep with you forever

It is pretty cold right now, 8-10 hours and 7-10 miles of walking might be a brute. I walked home from wall street to the 70s for fun once, but the weather was nice.

[the blob]

9 hours ago, NoMan said:

Whatever St. Marks becomes, I can't wait to spend money there.

All restaurants there. I went on once, rummaged around, saw nothing of interest. Probably just ignored the overpriced wall books. Never came back. Is Jim Henley next? Last time I was there the owner or manager was talking pretty loud about probably having to close the midtown location due to rent. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by the blob

[the blob]

9 hours ago, NoMan said:

it's a problem when I get excited about something. FIgure everyone keeps their words and treats people fairly. I do so I figure others do.  But if you wanna convince a newbie an x men 100 3.5 i s actually an 8.0, enjoy and please sleep well at night.. Do your homework, fool. It's your fault! Some would say of me.  Problem is I just jump right in, crash into to a bunch of walls leaving a series silhouettes. It's how I learn. 

Not really concerned about money or comics today. Is the D-bag from St. Mark's Comics?

You have a lot of anger.

[Buzzetta]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

All restaurants there. I went on once, rummaged around, saw nothing of interest. Probably just ignored the overpriced wall books. Never came back. Is Jim Henley next? Last time I was there the owner or manager was talking pretty loud about probably having to close the midtown location due to rent. 

Almost every store in that area has either disappeared or reshuffled its location.  Disney jumped across the street, Toy R Us closed before closing was a thing for Toys R Us, Quicksilver is gone, Hard Rock to Bubba Gump to WWE Restaurant to whatever it is now... that location is usually not stable yet Midtown Comics sticks it out... impressive but nothing last forever. 

[the blob]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

Almost every store in that area has either disappeared or reshuffled its location.  Disney jumped across the street, Toy R Us closed before closing was a thing for Toys R Us, Quicksilver is gone, Hard Rock to Bubba Gump to WWE Restaurant to whatever it is now... that location is usually not stable yet Midtown Comics sticks it out... impressive but nothing last forever. 

Midtown focuses on second floor locations. Less $.

[Buzzetta]

6 hours ago, the blob said:

Midtown focuses on second floor locations. Less $.

Didn't consider that... but still at the end of the day it is a comic store.  There are stores that have much cheaper rents out on Long Island of all places and they struggle to make it. I know that MIdtown definitely gets a deeper discount due to sheer volume but I would suspect that the increase in city rents eventually overtake that profit margin. 

This reminds me that I really should go get some golden age bags and boards as it is cheaper to get them there than to order them and pay the shipping. 

[NoMan]

On 2/2/2019 at 8:02 PM, the blob said:

You have a lot of anger.

No, not so much. However, I got some cash for comics. Sometimes a lot. And I could have spent it at St. Marks over and over and over and over again if only...

[jason4]

Any Long Island New Yorkers go to this last year? I’m really excited as it’s close to home and maybe I have a chance to snag some silver age books there. Plus easier to bring my kids to than NYCC...that would have been crazy..

 

[Buzzetta]

On 2/4/2019 at 2:33 PM, jason4 said:

Any Long Island New Yorkers go to this last year? I’m really excited as it’s close to home and maybe I have a chance to snag some silver age books there. Plus easier to bring my kids to than NYCC...that would have been crazy..

 

If this is the same show that was at that hotel on Rte 110 then I would avoid.  I spent admission to THAT show only to shake my head and pull the trigger on several things on eBay that were cheaper. 

[jason4]

9 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

If this is the same show that was at that hotel on Rte 110 then I would avoid.  I spent admission to THAT show only to shake my head and pull the trigger on several things on eBay that were cheaper. 

No it’s in the stony brook university student center. It’s off of Nichols rd. 

I have a feeling eBay will be cheaper too but I just want to be around comics lol. Also bringing the kids first time