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Take a trip with EP to some "local" Brick and Mortar Stores
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71 posts in this topic

On 9/3/2020 at 9:13 AM, electricprune said:

Graham Crackers Comics- Wheaton, IL Home of the Falcons

This GC store is on the second level of a strip mall. We actually took an elevator to get to the second floor. I didn't even see stairs. I'm sure they were somewhere. Upon walking in, you'll notice this store is definitely smaller than the first two. They still have a lot of stock though. Several long boxes right when you walk in. TPBs, etc. line the wall to the right when you walk in. They do have some toys, but this seemed to be a more comic-centric store than the first two. They did have a small hallway in the back of the store that had shelves of cards in binders. So they offer those as well.

I looked through the DC boxes, but didn't find much I wanted to buy. I went to the Marvel boxes, and woah! What a mess. They weren't labeled well, they were all over the place, out of boxes, and I didn't know if they were even to be looked though for sale. I didn't want to bother with them, so I didn't even look through them.

Although smaller, this is still a store worth visiting. They did have some nice wall books. I don't remember seeing any Golden Age books, but they had a bit of Silver.

Aside: Made my first Wall Book purchase of the trip. As usual, just an impulse buy. Brad looked though a lot of longs, but bought nothing.

 

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The bottom picture is the “unsorted” section — which I think you said was the Marvel area. The Marvel area is also labeled very well — like the DC — and is right when you walk in. In the top picture the red boxes are Marvel. 

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3 hours ago, manetteska said:

Very good write-ups on all of the stores. I’m surprised you ventured all the way to Chicagoland. I guess I shouldn’t be looking for anything at a Graham location now that you and Brad blew through. Lol. (And Hector as well.)

Chicagoland isn’t that far away from me. You just never know where I’ll show up!

As far as the stores having good stuff left, you can see what I buy. There is probably a higher percentage of good books after I leave.😄

Brad and Hector on the other hand... could leave the stores as barren wastelands.

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13 minutes ago, electricprune said:

Summit Comics and Games- Lansing, MI Home of the Lugnuts

I have been aware of this store, but thought they really only dealt in moderns and games. I believe someone mentioned in here that they had back issues too, and were trying to increase what they have. I stopped in at lunch and ended up spending a full hour here. Store is right in downtown Lansing. I was the first one in the door today. They had three people working, and two were very attentive. When you walk in, you'll first see tons of games. As you walk back further into the store, you'll notice tons of new comics and racks and the walls. Many were bagged and boarded. This looks like a great place for moderns and games. Again, two arenas I'm not all that knowledgeable in. They did have some older books on the wall, up very high. I wasn't able to get a good feel for condition due to this.

I thought maybe they didn't have any older books, but when I hit the back of the store, there were 13 or so longs. These are the nice, black plastic longs, not the carboard longs. I started looking through them and pulled out a few books. The workers were very attentive, as they asked me twice if I was finding everything ok. When I was about halfway through the longs, the guy (owner?) asked if I knew about their dollar books and as marked books. "Do tell!"

He said they were in what was their gaming area. They can't host games due to covid, so I could head back there. You have to exit the store into a hallway and back to another room. I walked into a room with maybe 30 longs, maybe more, on tables on several others stacked on top of each other. I went though as many as I could, and just ran out of time. I didn't even get a chance to look through $1 boxes! I'm going to have to go back.

The store was very clean and organized. The workers were very friendly and helpful. The boxes are in alphabetical order for the most part, but within any given letter, they might be out of order somewhat. Still, they were easy to search through. Stopping here is a no brainer if you're in the area. Especially if you are into moderns. They had a good deal of Copper as well. A fair amount of Bronze, and some Silver. They may have even had a few off-title Gold books.

 

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I see an Avengers 16 on the wall.

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In Texas we tend to go BIG so here is my favorite store in San Antonio Heroes and Fantasies, its probably 10-20,000 square feet! I will do my best to cover some of the stores in this great state but I will put a call out to other Texans to share their favorite stores too. Heroes and Fantasies has a huge selection and a great knowledgeable and friendly staff. I've been shopping here for about 10 years. They do everything BIG from toys and statues to gaming, copper, silver, gold and modern age comics, graphic novels, PoPs, t-shirts and more. The tall wooden shelves are new and are full of graphic novels and statues. There is so much here and I only took a few photos. The vintage toy section is amazing and it runs the length of the store on one wall and my son Jackson found at Nightwing action figure that we picked up today! The new toy section is huge as well and runs the length of the store on the opposite side. The Comic wall is huge and use to contain many key gold and silver books but many were sold off on Ebay during the shut down, Still lots of good stuff up there. Each month Erica takes a section of the back wall to highlight some books and picks out a theme. This month its Halloween and she has vintage Monster Magazines displayed. I picked one out. In February it was Romance comics and I actually found a few for EP there!

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All those boxes under the wall are full of Silver and Golden age books!

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Its hard to tell for this photo, but that's a life size Silver Surfer up there!

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(Check out the TOD mags there Wes! :cloud9: I may have to pick up a few of those next time)

Edited by flashlites
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Here's my other favorite store. Jax and I stopped by there yesterday: Dragons Lair! Every week Dragons Lair hosts "Comic Book Club" A wonderful two hour discussion about what we are currently reading and sometimes a little 'comic book history lesson' from yours truly. I love this store because of this. It was once an in person meeting but since the lock down we've continued virtually on Zoom. Although they only sell new comics and related merchandise, this weekly meeting, promoting the hobby and giving a time and place for new and old enthusiasts to gather and discuss makes this store very important to San Antonio! 

 

 

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On 8/23/2020 at 4:28 PM, Gaard said:

I used to take a drive to Lansing now and then to thumb thru the back issues at Curious Books. This was back in the 80s...I couldn't tell you if it even still exists.

it's still there but the shutdown almost did owner Ray Walsh in.... i think they may have done a go fund me ...

back in the mid 70's Curious books is where i got all my back issue comics , many that i still have today

they have very few comics anymore. i heard he sold his entire stock to Harley a long time ago

they have a great selection of books and magazines though... three floors full

Edited by 1950's war comics
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On 8/29/2020 at 2:57 PM, electricprune said:

That is possible. I believe he lives in Jackson.

I have heard of another store/dealer that used to be in Jackson. People would travel great distances to deal with him because he would get incredible books in quantity. Not sure what his name was or what happened to him.

Nostalgia Ink (inc ?) had a different owner at a different location in Jackson maybe even a different name but i can't remember , a wonderful store that i would drive down to from Lansing .... he had great back issue selection in nice grades and would give a nice volume discount , he sold the store to another comic person but i think he kept most of his best stock to do shows...

last time i went five years ago the new store had almost all modern stuff 1990-on with almost nothing before,... but from your photo it looks like the store has moved to a new location

it sound as if maybe the previous owner still works there, maybe as an employee now ? , because of the $50 book you got for $10  !!

Edited by 1950's war comics
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On 8/29/2020 at 6:38 PM, electricprune said:

Aside: Yes, Kalamazoo is also a real name. I have had more that one non-Michigander ask me if it was a real name when it happened to come up in conversation with them.

wow , i pretty much thought that Kalamazoo was a well known name among America, along with Battle Creek , 

probably the younger people don't know it as well as older people as schools today and in person social skills are not anything like they once were

Edited by 1950's war comics
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