My Comic buying trip Once or Twice a year 1 1

[Galen130]

Pretty awesome!!  Nice to see and hear about other independents in other parts of the country. 

[unmovedmover]

Looks like I need to make a trip out to the western part of the state

[fastballspecial]

1 hour ago, manetteska said:

Initially I saw Illinois and your description and said, "Yeah, maybe I'll give that one a go." Then I looked it up on the map and, damn, IL is a very long state.

Hope you found good stuff.

Yes very long I made the mistake of driving that way to Chicago once. There is nothing for mile and miles till once you past mid state.
But great scenery. I actually enjoy visiting the small towns I make sure to eat in small town restaurants as well to help their local
economy.

I did you can view some of it in my sales thread in a day or two. 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by fastballspecial

[electricprune]

Great thread and a great idea for a comic collector! I travel all over three states for work and only recently started even looking for one store to visit.

[lighthouse]

Can you give a rough idea of quantity of back issues on display at the shops? A rough count of 50 long boxes, or 60 short boxes, or six 8-foot tables, or some such?

Part of why I ask is my shop has the equivalent of 330 short boxes (or 165 longs or 15 8-foot tables full) out on display and I get a lot of customers who’ve driven 100+ miles to visit who tell me they are stunned we have so many books out to look through. But it’s been over a decade since I personally was doing trips like you’re doing where I could see what’s “typical” any more.

I’m mulling the possibility of opening a second location, as leasing agents are rather motivated at the moment. And 2020 might turn out to be the best year in history to sign a new 7-10 year lease. 

[fastballspecial]

27 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

Can you give a rough idea of quantity of back issues on display at the shops? A rough count of 50 long boxes, or 60 short boxes, or six 8-foot tables, or some such?

Part of why I ask is my shop has the equivalent of 330 short boxes (or 165 longs or 15 8-foot tables full) out on display and I get a lot of customers who’ve driven 100+ miles to visit who tell me they are stunned we have so many books out to look through. But it’s been over a decade since I personally was doing trips like you’re doing where I could see what’s “typical” any more.

I’m mulling the possibility of opening a second location, as leasing agents are rather motivated at the moment. And 2020 might turn out to be the best year in history to sign a new 7-10 year lease. 

I am going to guess that Crash Comics in Paducah  has 150 to 200  long boxes stacked on top and underneath a tables that are 8 foot long each I think.
1990 and Up on top of table and underneath is 1990 and down or something like that. You can see some of it in the picture. There depth is rather impressive going
all they way into SA. 

Fox Comics has probably 100 long stacked 3 higher for about 30 rows or little less. Better quality from 80s and up I think comparing the two, but not
by much. Both have good inventories.  

The rest are all under 50 long boxes. Now that I think about it again Crash probably has the largest inventory I have seen in a shop in many years. 

You definitely will get the best lease you can imagine this next year. In fact you can probably negotiate more out of it I think.

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by fastballspecial

[flashlites]

Nice trip! Its so important to support your local stores! We have about 6 or 8 i'd say here in San Antonio. I make my rounds throughout the year. Sometimes I hit 2-3 in a weekend. I've been known to hit the road up to Austin there's a shop up there I like to go to. But I love finding new stores when i'm on the road. A couple of years ago I found a gem up in Tyler Texas. And of course we have Bedrock City Comics in Houston, I think Rich is up to 3 or 4 locations now in the Houston area maybe 5!? My hometown store in Albuquerque, The Comic Book Warehouse, I always set aside a shopping day when I go home to visit. I was really worried about the newest store here in town though! Its been touch and go and came close to throwing in the towel, due to the pandemic. They are only 2 years old and the closest store to me, so for the last 2 months I've been spending my money there. It hasn't been easy for these shops. If you can buy local do it, instead of ordering from the mega online guys.

[NP_Gresham]

Great thread!

Wish there were that many options in the Sacramento area for back issues.

Basically A-1, and Cosmic Comics and nothing else. 

Just a bunch of latest issue open and fold operations around here.

[lighthouse]

12 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

The rest are all under 50 long boxes. Now that I think about it again Crash probably has the largest inventory I have seen in a shop in many years. 

You definitely will get the best lease you can imagine this next year. In fact you can probably negotiate more out of it I think.

 

Yeah. My inventory is all at waist height. Nothing on the floor or stacked. And we are at 16 short boxes of silver age in Mylar and fullbacks currently. But I’m way behind on grading. Have another 1200 silver that need to go out.

I had a lengthy conversation with my broker yesterday. Normally on a new 5 year you can expect 3-5 months free rent. And that’s the range I got on my current space. But he said there were several options around town right now where 7-10 months free rent was likely. And that on a 7-year I could likely get that plus a 50-60 cents a foot reduction for the first year as well. Still gonna be tough to pull the trigger though.