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I'm opening up a brick and mortar this year and want some advice!!
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725 posts in this topic

Just now, shadroch said:

Assuming your math  works, why not  go big?  Order 25,000 copies.

If you have the market to do it,  go for it. You'd have to have the ability to sell all five of your 1:5000s, but go ahead.

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1 hour ago, FlyingDonut said:
1 hour ago, shadroch said:

Assuming your math  works, why not  go big?  Order 25,000 copies.

If you have the market to do it,  go for it. You'd have to have the ability to sell all five of your 1:5000s, but go ahead.

Yah light'em!

but it should be noted that one should also factor taxes into their margins, of course that applies to all business and business decisions.

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6 hours ago, revat said:

Yah light'em!

but it should be noted that one should also factor taxes into their margins, of course that applies to all business and business decisions.

yes, of course. I'm all about EBITA. (thumbsu but of course taxes needs to be factored in.

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8 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

yes, of course. I'm all about EBITA. (thumbsu but of course taxes needs to be factored in.

Really,

I hope you factor in shipping and storage on extra copies.  Actually really do the math on your pull lists minus the discount, bag and board, your discount tier and shipping. not much left. 

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1 hour ago, KPR Comics said:

How long would it take him to sell 550 copies of the 1:10 or 220 of the 1:25?  Got to eat the mashed potatoes before enjoying the gravy.

Exactly. On paper it looks great. The practicality of having to dispose so much is not. Time and money tied up may not be good to your cash flow. 

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1 hour ago, jaeldubyoo said:

Exactly. On paper it looks great. The practicality of having to dispose so much is not. Time and money tied up may not be good to your cash flow. 

Right, we don't even know what the total addressable market is for variants.  They could also change on a dime due to shifting consumer spending habits...you need to be very quick to adapt; there needs to be a monitor of average days of sales outstanding on some of these products.

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I think you can plan it out using the internet and blast things out. You've got to be able to move the big books, but I don't think it is a problem.

Note also that I am familiar with a couple of stores who do exactly what I've laid out, and they don't have any issues.

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CMTuBARUcAEJW6_.jpg

25K copies? Yes--- try to corner the variant market just like the Dukes! I mean, what could possibly go wrong.

My advice-- keep it simple and within your own risk level that seems to work currently. Putting so much into one book just to snatch up a buttload of variants seems massively risky and ties up way too much capital. Now if you got several stores to invest in the idea-- maybe-- but still-- are you really ready for this type of aggressive retailing? You think you have no time now-- woo boy, this would be insane by comparison.

Who is wagering the dollar on this endeavor, by the way?

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Edited by 01TheDude
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On 2/28/2018 at 10:59 PM, FlyingDonut said:

I think you can plan it out using the internet and blast things out. You've got to be able to move the big books, but I don't think it is a problem.

Note also that I am familiar with a couple of stores who do exactly what I've laid out, and they don't have any issues.

I don't know if a new store like Genesis Comics is able to throw $17K into one book. And he seems to have little time and want more space, so buying 5000 copies and mailing all those variants (packed bulletproof to insure no returns) doesn't seem an ideal plan at this point in time.

A local LCS had that Deadpool $10 comic filling the spaces under their back issues (they were on top of cabinets and the Deadpool were inside). That shop closed and he sold the back issues all at once the last weekend, never discounting those Deadpool issues.

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On 3/4/2018 at 5:35 AM, Bird said:

I don't know if a new store like Genesis Comics is able to throw $17K into one book. And he seems to have little time and want more space, so buying 5000 copies and mailing all those variants (packed bulletproof to insure no returns) doesn't seem an ideal plan at this point in time.

A local LCS had that Deadpool $10 comic filling the spaces under their back issues (they were on top of cabinets and the Deadpool were inside). That shop closed and he sold the back issues all at once the last weekend, never discounting those Deadpool issues.

Plus, back on page 1, he said he doesn't like packing boxes

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On 2/27/2018 at 3:19 PM, shadroch said:

Assuming your math works, why not go big? Order 25,000 copies.

Cause it still adds up to be like $17,000 per individual comic you want to buy like this. Sure, it sounds great as the numbers are very compelling, but Just 3 comics like that and your already up over $50,000. As someone that understands the costs associated with starting up their own business...well, I certainly would never have been able to throw cash around like that in the first couple yeas after starting up. If he is able to spend that kind of money without hurting other parts of his business or risking his business altogether, then I would agree that it makes sense to buy big.

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On 3/4/2018 at 6:35 AM, Bird said:

I don't know if a new store like Genesis Comics is able to throw $17K into one book. And he seems to have little time and want more space, so buying 5000 copies and mailing all those variants (packed bulletproof to insure no returns) doesn't seem an ideal plan at this point in time.

A local LCS had that Deadpool $10 comic filling the spaces under their back issues (they were on top of cabinets and the Deadpool were inside). That shop closed and he sold the back issues all at once the last weekend, never discounting those Deadpool issues.

While I do understand the math, and if all goes well, there is enormous profit to be made, the risk of taking 17K into 1 book is huge...one mistake and I am under...however, I may start small, ie order 25 of an issue (that's right, I don't order more than 15 of any issue currently), and give it a "go" on a small scale...like they say, you need money to make money...

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12 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:

Plus, back on page 1, he said he doesn't like packing boxes

I probably wasn't very clear earlier so I'll clarify again.  I believe (I have not read back recently) that the comment I don't like packing boxes was in response to someone saying "don't open a store, just sell from home".  The whole idea of opening a store was just that, so I could own my own store and do what I love, talk comics, talk gaming, all while selling stuff and making a modest living.  I would rather do that than pack boxes hours and hours a day.  I am not against, packing out and mailing out items, but if I had a choice I would sell everything in the store!

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Just a quick update, as I did not do one on Wed as planned.  With my guy being out with the flu (he came back on Friday) I had a super long week and a half.  Met with the accountant, got bad news (mostly on the personal taxes, I used my 401K to open the shop and while I thought I had withheld enough, there was a 10% penalty, which upon review, was not taken out.  This caused me to owe $$ this year even while taking a loss for the business (when combined with my personal taxes), I would have received a small refund on the business.  This is personal and business combined and the result was not what we were expecting.

I had a close friend pass away unexpectedly this weekend...he was 44, supposed to meet us out for dinner Saturday night...never showed...passed away on his couch, got the call during dinner...we think it's heart related as his father died at 42, but we don't know yet, he has 12 year old twins, boy and a girl...they are the one's who found him...devastating...so my focus hasn't been here at all this weekend.

Came in early today to work on some stuff, put up a door for the back room, built some more bookshelf/cubes for a larger comic area...hard to keep focused...wake and funeral this weekend...not ready for this...going to try to put my focus in pricing up books in the mean time...have a few guys helping me out here now...tough week...just kind of feeling lost...

I'm almost where I want to be as far as how the store is set up so I'll be uploading new pictures to the website soon and updating it with relevant information.

Hug your family, hug your friends, call someone you haven't talked to in a while...

Sorry this is so jumbled...just need to get through all this...

Thanks again for all the advice, encouragement, and information!  I appreciate it!

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5 minutes ago, Genesis Comics said:

Just a quick update, as I did not do one on Wed as planned.  With my guy being out with the flu (he came back on Friday) I had a super long week and a half.  Met with the accountant, got bad news (mostly on the personal taxes, I used my 401K to open the shop and while I thought I had withheld enough, there was a 10% penalty, which upon review, was not taken out.  This caused me to owe $$ this year even while taking a loss for the business (when combined with my personal taxes), I would have received a small refund on the business.  This is personal and business combined and the result was not what we were expecting.

I had a close friend pass away unexpectedly this weekend...he was 44, supposed to meet us out for dinner Saturday night...never showed...passed away on his couch, got the call during dinner...we think it's heart related as his father died at 42, but we don't know yet, he has 12 year old twins, boy and a girl...they are the one's who found him...devastating...so my focus hasn't been here at all this weekend.

Came in early today to work on some stuff, put up a door for the back room, built some more bookshelf/cubes for a larger comic area...hard to keep focused...wake and funeral this weekend...not ready for this...going to try to put my focus in pricing up books in the mean time...have a few guys helping me out here now...tough week...just kind of feeling lost...

I'm almost where I want to be as far as how the store is set up so I'll be uploading new pictures to the website soon and updating it with relevant information.

Hug your family, hug your friends, call someone you haven't talked to in a while...

Sorry this is so jumbled...just need to get through all this...

Thanks again for all the advice, encouragement, and information!  I appreciate it!

Really sorry to hear about the loss of one of your close friends---a very challenging and trying time to say the least.  I'm sure I am not alone when I say that I am thinking good thoughts for you, your friends and for his family.  

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34 minutes ago, Genesis Comics said:

I probably wasn't very clear earlier so I'll clarify again.  I believe (I have not read back recently) that the comment I don't like packing boxes was in response to someone saying "don't open a store, just sell from home".  The whole idea of opening a store was just that, so I could own my own store and do what I love, talk comics, talk gaming, all while selling stuff and making a modest living.  I would rather do that than pack boxes hours and hours a day.  I am not against, packing out and mailing out items, but if I had a choice I would sell everything in the store!

I mean, there's nothing wrong with hating packing boxes.  I don't particularly like doing it either.  If you start your own thing, you get to decide what you want it to be, what you get out of it.

Edited by SteppinRazor
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