I'm toying with the idea of opening a comic shop here in my hometown within a few years. I know there are some here who are current or former shop owners or employees; plus in general you gals and guys are some of the smartest cats I know. Any advice you want to share would be welcome. A few things you might like to know: - There are no comic shops in my hometown. The nearest one is a 90 minute drive away. As far as new comics go, they seem to carry about half (or less) of Marvel and DC's titles. I don't think they carry anything from other companies, although they have told me they can order anything. They have a lot of back issues; everything is $3 each unless otherwise marked (and that's always at a higher price, $3 is the least you'll pay for anything). There is no dollar bin, quarter bin, what have you. They do have a small selection of 3 comics for $1.99 (bagged so you can't see the middle comic). The nearest decent store (imo) is 2.5 hours away in Halifax - in fact, there are 3 great shops there. - In my hometown, you can buy comics at 3 convenience stores and 1 bookstore. The selection is pretty limited; they all carry a few Marvel titles, only 1 store and the bookstore carry any DC titles. The price is always $1 more than what you would pay in a comic shop. The bookstore carries some manga and has a small graphic novel section, but their new comics is usually about 8-10 titles total. No one carries any of the "all-ages" Marvel or DC lines, and even the selection of Archie comics seems pretty limited. - The population of the local area is about 18,000. The population of the "tri-county" area (that's not a great description but I'm simplifying) is about 80,000 - that is, a theoretical store would be closer for these 80,000 than the "decent" stores. My hometown has a university, with an enrollment of about 4200. - My thought is to start small, maybe even out of my home. Ideally, I would want to carry Marvel, DC, Archie, Image, Dark Horse, Vertigo, and (although I know almost nothing about it) manga. - My background is that I have over 10 years of retail management experience, although I have never owned my own business As I said, any input from anyone would be appreciated.

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  • My plan has always been that when I opened a comicbook store it would not be only a comicbook store. Ideally, I'd like to do a part comic shop/part old-time soda counter. Being more realistic, the other half of the business would be a coffee shop (Cavalier's Comics & Coffee). There actually is a store on the other side of Portland that has done this, Guapo Comics. It's a nice shop and seems to be doing well.

    So, that's my suggestion: Comics & coffee.
  • My suggestion is to talk to every comic shop owner you can and get their POV's, opinions, ect. Make contact. Find out what they do to keep in business. If you need to take some free-courses in business, take them.
    Also, be braod-market. Comics plus action figures plus CCG games will help draw in a larger customer base. MY FLCS does comics, figures, statues, special orders, CCG games and back issues. They also buy loose action figures.
    If the place you're renting has a medium or large room/area that you can use, set it up as a rentable gaming area. Some shops in my state hold CCG, table-top, console or PC network-gaming days/nights that draw in additional revenue.
    Get to know the distributor by name. It's not just Previews you're dealing with, but also the person delivering your orders (or the clerk at the distribution place).
  • I always wanted to go to Nova Scotia. If you open up a comic shop there, I'll have one more reason to go!
    I think the key is to definitely be a little bit broader than a comics-only store. Whatever your passions are beyond comics, throw that into the mix (action figs, baseball cards, games, video games, etc.). It strikes me as a pretty small population to draw comics readers from.
    Is your area mostly rural? A city? My favorite comic shop from years past drew from a very rural region ... BUT ... it also was in the same town as a Fortune 500 company, so it could sucker executives' kids to blow money there all the time.
    Also, make your store location selection based on its neighbors. I'm never comfortable going to a comic shop in a weird neighborhood or when its the only shop in an abandoned strip mall.
    Finally, anytime something 'weird' comes up (Death of Superman, Archie marries Betty, or you come across an ancient and super-valuable back issue), call the media (newspaper, TV, radio, local web sites)! They love those kinds of stories, especially on a slow news day. You'll probably strike out more often than they show up, but it's a small effort on your part to get some free advertising.
  • I know that, as a customer, I like things like extensive boxes full of back issues and quarter bins and cheap remainders, but my conversations with store owners and personnel over the years tell me that they take up a lot of floor space and time to maintain with little financial return -- and that was before every storyline was collected in trade paperbacks and back issues were widely available on the likes of eBay. If you can figure out the proper balance, that would be a very good thing.
  • Thanks for the input guys. This is very much in the ideas stage right now and I would have to gather a lot of information before I made this venture. I know I would love to do it, but it would have to be financially viable too. Many of you touched on something important, I would have to combine comics with something else to make it work, especially considering the population I'm dealing with. My two thoughts on that are candy and video games, two areas that are I think have a lot of potential locally. I would want this hypothetical store to be as kid friendly as possible.
  • 1. Check out Dagwan's Store Research Thread from the old site to see what everyone said about what they want in a comic store.

    2. You are going to need a lot of start-up capital, including living expenses for at least the first year. You will not be able to get a bank loan for it, either. (Unless, as the old saying goes, you can prove you don't need it.) My business plan had $75,000 US in it for start-up costs, and that seemed to be about right in hindsight. I wish I had stuck to that plan...

    3. Write a business plan. "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail."

    4. Start taking notes now for said business plan, even if you don't plan on opening until 2012.

    5. Diamond won't let you start out of your home, unless you are hosting a website with a shopping cart and intend to primarily be an internet retailer.

    6. Look at the graphic novel section of the bookstores nearby. If their selection is poor, say. under 30 linear feet for a big box store, then there may not be enough of a market to support a comics specialty retailer. If it's huge, can you afford to buy the inventory to compete with them? Sounds contradictory, dunnit? Welcome to comics retailing.

    7. Read the Comics Distribution and Retailing forums on Comicon.com. Some of the discussions are quite dated, but many of the principles are still sound.

    8. There is no #8.

    9. ComicsPRO has a new retailer mentoring program. It wasn't there when I started, but I know there has been some action there.

    10. Mel Thompson's law firm in CA does a lot of consulting projects for the comics and games industry. There are several useful articles on his site. Don't bother with ComTrac as a POS, though. Reviews of it I've read have been poor.

    That should keep you out of trouble for a while.

    "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

    Check out the Secret Headquarters (my store) website! It's a pretty lame website, but I did it myself, so tough noogies

    Listen to WOXY.com, it's the future of rock-n-roll!


  • You replied while I was typing...

    If you are considering video games and other merchandise as well, you will be doing what is known as "The Entertainment Model". Marcus King from Titan Games and Music in Battlecreek and Kalamazoo Michigan is the guy I suggest talking to about that.

    "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

    Check out the Secret Headquarters (my store) website! It's a pretty lame website, but I did it myself, so tough noogies

    Listen to WOXY.com, it's the future of rock-n-roll!


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