Best & Worst years to own a store? 1 1

[cmixer]

I was debating;

When was the heyday, & when was the recession? 

Is now (with all the comic book movies) another win for comic stores? Are they living large? 

Thanks! 

[Ken Aldred]

Highest sales figures in the 90s speculator years, say, 1991 or 1992.

Followed by a contraction / recession in the mid-to-late 90s.

Nothing approaching millions in sales presently.

[Comic Closet]

We only get a few comics each month that hit 100,000+. But then again there seem to be more and more titles. 

[Ken Aldred]

11 minutes ago, Comic Closet said:

We only get a few comics each month that hit 100,000+. But then again there seem to be more and more titles. 

I've never used dcindexes's Newsstand feature to compare number of titles published now vs the early 90s speculator boom period.

That would be interesting.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Ken Aldred

[1Cool]

44 minutes ago, cmixer said:

I was debating;

When was the heyday, & when was the recession? 

Is now (with all the comic book movies) another win for comic stores? Are they living large? 

Thanks! 

Based on the shear explosion in the number of comic shops I'd have to say 1988 - 1995 would have to be the pinical of being a comic store owner in terms of money coming in.  Soon after that there was the crash and the number of stores was greatly reduced so that would be the worst of days for store owners.  I'd say owning a store now must be harder work then ever but if you diversify and use constant social media alerts you can do very well.

Edited January 8, 2018 by 1Cool

[seanfingh]

I was not in the brick and mortar industry at the time, but 1989 is the year that I would pick.  The summer of Batman was insane.

[lizards2]

I don't know how people even find shops anymore.  It used to be the phone book. 

I agree that 1989 was probably the pinnacle - there must have been 5 to 10 times the number of shops then - they seemed to be everywhere.

[Get Marwood & I]

31 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I don't know how people even find shops anymore.  It used to be the phone book. 

I agree that 1989 was probably the pinnacle - there must have been 5 to 10 times the number of shops then - they seemed to be everywhere.

I agree - 1986 to 1990, there were comic shops everywhere in Englandville. Wish that were still the case...

[lizards2]

18 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

52 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I don't know how people even find shops anymore.  It used to be the phone book. 

I agree that 1989 was probably the pinnacle - there must have been 5 to 10 times the number of shops then - they seemed to be everywhere.

I agree - 1986 to 1990, there were comic shops everywhere in Englandville. Wish that were still the case...

What I remember about many of them is how unprofessional a lot of them were.  You'd get yourself all the way out to one, and it would be closed during business hours.  Or if they were open, how inaccessible a lot of the stock was.  But yes - it was neat having a lot of store to choose from, and to shop at.

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, lizards2 said:

What I remember about many of them is how unprofessional a lot of them were.  You'd get yourself all the way out to one, and it would be closed during business hours.  Or if they were open, how inaccessible a lot of the stock was.  But yes - it was neat having a lot of store to choose from, and to shop at.

Blimey, yes, that takes me back liz. Pilgrimages to far out shops that were shut on arrival 

[paul747]

3 hours ago, lizards2 said:

I don't know how people even find shops anymore.  It used to be the phone book. 

I agree that 1989 was probably the pinnacle - there must have been 5 to 10 times the number of shops then - they seemed to be everywhere.

Comic shop Locator

[shadroch]

Opened my shop in 84. By 1985, comic distributors were bending over backwards for new accounts. Free delivery to my door , a day earlier than I used to be able to pickup my books , saving a three hour roundtrip. New comics were cheap enough that one could afford some mistakes, and back issues  sold at a premium.

Next few years were great. Summer of Batman and the Black and White Explosion.

I made out like a bandit when Comics Unlimited, Seagate, Crown and Glenwood went under, as I owed them thousands of dollars and I also was able to pick their carcasses at liquidation sales.

Marvel was paying half of my advertising, as well as giving me racks, a store sign and a cash register, as well as footing my travel expenses to San Diego.

By 1991, everything had changed.

[aardvark88]

4 hours ago, seanfingh said:

I was not in the brick and mortar industry at the time, but 1989 is the year that I would pick.  The summer of Batman was insane.

Plus the monthly CVM Comic Value Monthly hype before Wizard mag Valiant and Image #1s, shiny cover  hype started in 1990(?). Sportscards case and speculative sales were also strong those years for maximum pump and dump at variety of local cons that sprang up.

[aardvark88]

7 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

I agree - 1986 to 1990, there were comic shops everywhere in Englandville.

Yes, those were the glory days of our misspent summers, as comic/sportscard shops popped up all over with comics and sportscards warehouses that were located even across  Canada:

Then the hobby stores closed in 1993-94 enmasse.

[shadroch]

It was when Comic Value Monthly started outselling X-Men that the warning lights went off!

[Artboy99]

7 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Blimey, yes, that takes me back liz. Pilgrimages to far out shops that were shut on arrival 

Happens to me in 2018 at LCS

[Ken Aldred]

14 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Blimey, yes, that takes me back liz. Pilgrimages to far out shops that were shut on arrival 

Back then this was quite common with comic shops in small, English towns.

The shop employees would know everyone in town, and knew you weren't local, and so they would pretend to be closed.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Ken Aldred

[rat chew]

It seems like in the mid 80's there were stores everywhere.

[ComicConnoisseur]

21 hours ago, cmixer said:

I was debating;

When was the heyday, & when was the recession? 

Is now (with all the comic book movies) another win for comic stores? Are they living large? 

Thanks! 

Late 80s to early 90s it was like printing money. You could buy ASMs and UNCANNY X-MEN for discount than double your money a month later. 

An example back than was LCS buys Uncanny X-Men at discount from distributer than puts it in long box at double the price a month later.

Also baseball cards were good with buying a pack and opening it up and have that rookie card worth more than the pack.

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by ComicConnoisseur

[OrangeCrush]

20 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Based on the shear explosion in the number of comic shops I'd have to say 1988 - 1995 would have to be the pinical of being a comic store owner in terms of money coming in.  Soon after that there was the crash and the number of stores was greatly reduced so that would be the worst of days for store owners.  I'd say owning a store now must be harder work then ever but if you diversify and use constant social media alerts you can do very well.

Actually, most of those comic stores wound up going out of business. The reason there was such a large boom in the number of comic shops during that time period was because of distributors severely lowering the limits required to make a purchase. Mile High Comics actually wrote a long article about the crash of the comic market in the 90's and what caused it and this was one of the major reasons. The number of comic shops went from like 800 in 1979 to over 10,000 by 1990. And this caused a massive increase in the production of comics as all of those stores were buying comics, but most of them wound up sitting on shelves and not selling. So the idea that these stores had a lot of money coming in during that period...well, that just wasn't the case at all. Some stores did very well during this time period, but most of them struggled just to sell enough to keep them in business and wound up going out of business. A large percentage of the comics produced in the 90's wound up staying in dealers inventories.

I would bet the quality comic shops that are still open today are seeing some of the best sales they have seen to date right now as the number of comic shops has been drastically lowered over the years and were in the midst of the highest popularity super hero content has ever had. That coupled with the money stores are making off of variants and games like Magic the Gathering and again, I am betting some stores are seeing higher profit margins right now than they ever have before. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by OrangeCrush