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Are comic shops closing their doors in your area?
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88 posts in this topic

I know of 1 local comic shop that closed it's door this year and based on what i'm hearing from the owner another may be on it's way out.  We have a lot of comic shops in the Cleveland / Akron area (got to be over 10 nice shops)) so a couple closing wouldn't be much of a shock.  But I also heard that two shops in Columbus closed this year and they don't seem to have as many shops as we have. 

There are some good threads about new comic shop owners but has anyone heard of stores closing in your area this year?

 

 

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No, actually, two new shops opened up in the last year or two. That puts us up to about 5 or 6 shops in the metro area, not bad for a mid-sized city.

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34 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

I know of 1 local comic shop that closed it's door this year and based on what i'm hearing from the owner another may be on it's way out.  We have a lot of comic shops in the Cleveland / Akron area (got to be over 10 nice shops)) so a couple closing wouldn't be much of a shock.  But I also heard that two shops in Columbus closed this year and they don't seem to have as many shops as we have. 

There are some good threads about new comic shop owners but has anyone heard of stores closing in your area this year?

 

 

Restaurants close all the time too. But then new ones open. It's a matter of supply and demand mixed with quality and management. Some of these shops I wonder how they stay in business. They keep their back issues in the back where they are not accessible and the owners are inappropriate, weird and/or rude.

So, when are these closing sales...:popcorn:

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I've had a store since 1992 and my competition just got heavy into gaming. I do sell statues and figures but comic books will always be the main thing I do here. If it ever comes to having to be much more than a comic shop, I will close down and find a cheap 300 SF hole in the wall and deal only in old comics, which is what I love anyway.

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20 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

Restaurants close all the time too. But then new ones open. It's a matter of supply and demand mixed with quality and management. Some of these shops I wonder how they stay in business. They keep their back issues in the back where they are not accessible and the owners are inappropriate, weird and/or rude.

So, when are these closing sales...:popcorn:

The shop over on York went under this summer and I didn't even hear about it after it was dead and gone.  Terrible store with a huge amount of room with almost no merch.  I do agree some local stores are living in the past and are just a huge pile of long boxes crammed in every space. 

i didn't hear which stores closed in Columbus but the shop owner at the Columbus Convention center seemed kind of shocked that two would close so close to each other.

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12 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

The shop over on York went under this summer and I didn't even hear about it after it was dead and gone.  Terrible store with a huge amount of room with almost no merch.  I do agree some local stores are living in the past and are just a huge pile of long boxes crammed in every space. 

i didn't hear which stores closed in Columbus but the shop owner at the Columbus Convention center seemed kind of shocked that two would close so close to each other.

York's Comics? That closed years ago. You must have missed it. He brought out all his back stock. (Why was it not out in the first place?) Pulled about 3/4 of a longbox of stuff for $1 each.

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1 hour ago, 1Cool said:

I know of 1 local comic shop that closed it's door this year and based on what i'm hearing from the owner another may be on it's way out.  We have a lot of comic shops in the Cleveland / Akron area (got to be over 10 nice shops)) so a couple closing wouldn't be much of a shock.  But I also heard that two shops in Columbus closed this year and they don't seem to have as many shops as we have. 

There are some good threads about new comic shop owners but has anyone heard of stores closing in your area this year?

 

 

I am in the area and we have more than I remember back when I was first active in collecting. Laughing Ogre, ComicTown, Capital City, Worlds Greatest, Flying Monkey, Secret Identity..Im actually pretty happy with the local market as it where. All are good shops depending on what you are looking for. My original stomping grounds where a shop on Bethel Rd and the New Market Mall. Both long closed.

Edited by SearchForSpidey
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1 hour ago, SearchForSpidey said:

I am in the area and we have more than I remember back when I was first active in collecting. Laughing Ogre, ComicTown, Capital City, Worlds Greatest, Flying Monkey, Secret Identity..Im actually pretty happy with the local market as it where. All are good shops depending on what you are looking for. My original stomping grounds where a shop on Bethel Rd and the New Market Mall. Both long closed.

Columbus is definetely a college town with OSU so I can see why there are so many stores but is it just over saturated?

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Nothing new opened here since 2004.

The two are still in business but, as said, lots of diversification into action figures and gaming, and no back issue stock any more, apart from discounted, recent titles being cleared out.

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59 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Columbus is definetely a college town with OSU so I can see why there are so many stores but is it just over saturated?

I dont think so. They are fairly spread out and two are more focused on gaming as well. Capital City is the only one that really carries Silver/Bronze in terms of a wide variety. Oh and I forgot Packrat they have two stores and are opening a third. The only real challenge is I try to support all of them as much as I can. :-) 

Edit to add none are on Campus. OSU has run everyone out if they are not high rent or trendy. (Former OSU student from a time gone by)

Edited by SearchForSpidey
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53 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Columbus is definetely a college town with OSU so I can see why there are so many stores but is it just over saturated?

Hey 1Cool - you remember that LCS that was in the Old Arcade building downtown (on the second floor I think) ? Been closed for years, was trying to think of the name.

Many of the books in that first box you got came from there.

Who closed on York Road?

-bc

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Shops in my area (NYC) close due to the absurd rents in the area. My guess is that the ones that closed in the last few years had sufficient revenue to survive in a less costly area. When a few hundred square feet in a middle class area deep in an outer borough is $4-5,000 a month (forget about Manhattan) it is hard to make enough money selling funny books. A couple of stores that had a few outposts have closed one or two them here in Brooklyn. Galaxy comics had 2 locations in Park Slope and one in Bay Ridge, now down to one in Park Slope and Bay Ridge, Bulletproof comics may be down to the one location next to Brooklyn college. There are very few shops left in Brooklyn, population 2.6 million, which is nuts given how many hipsters we have. In Manhattan there are like 6 or 7 shops?

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I've been looking to open a shop that would include comics, but not be a comic shop. I found what I thought was a good location but the real estate guy told me a comic shop had signed a lease to open in the complex. 

Was driving by and saw a store that looked perfect. Drove around the neighborhood and sure enough there was a comic/toy store two blocks from my location. 

If anything, Vegas has too many new comic shops.

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