Comic book stores & Quad Cities (Davenport, Harris: fit in, hotel, movie theater)

[2d6 Comics]

Greetings, True Believers! (Sorry, channeling Stan Lee...)

My name is Don Seehusen, and I am co-owner of 2d6 Comics, a distributor of comic books, RPGs, and other sorts of nerdery. We are looking into opening a store in Iowa, preferably in the Quad Cities area. My question is this: are there any comic book stores in already in existence in the area? If so, is there enough of a market that an additional one could be supported? Is there even a market at all?

Thanks for any answers.

Don Seehusen
2d6 Comics

[Jez]

Not sure if there are any comic book stores there now, but there should be a decent following if you were to open one up. I guess it's just "where" in the QCA you would attempt to open one up. The downtown has flourished in Davenport in the past 10 years, and even the Rock Island downtown is making a comeback.

There are new shopping centers on the north side of Davenport.

[Gregg]

hello,

yeah we have 4 comic book stores that I know of in the quad city area,2 in rock island and 2 in davenport, I personally think a comic store in either southpark or northpark malls would be perfect

Gregg

[oorat]

There are 2 comic stores in Rock Island, Tim's Corner and Mellow Blue Planet. And one called Midwest Collectibles in Davenport. There use to be a 4th comic shop called Reality Adventures but after it was sold to a guy with rather big gambling problems, it didn't last long.

There is only one gaming store taht I know of called (and I shudder at this name) The Dragon's Sanctum. It use to be called The Game Emporium, which was a much loved name by the entire gaming community, after the name change when the new manage came on board, most jokingly refer to it as the Dragon's *******. The family that runs the store now aren't well liked among the gaming community, but there is no other gaming store.

On the gaming front, if you have a friendly staffed store, thats clean and orderly, with easy to locate product, and provide areas for people to game(like hero clix and traditional rpgs) and an easily found location, you would steal all of their business.

So really, all you need is an easy to find location, a clean and orderly store, with friendly staff, and you would make a killing.

[jeffs]

I live in davenport and I know there are a few comic and rpg stores here. Whoever that was that said downtown davenport is flourishing, hasnt been down there too much. all i ever see is hookers, crack dealers, and homeless people. The quad cities as a whole is about 400,000 people so its big enough to support another store. I know a lot of friend who are into the RPG computer games. Let me know if you open it ill spread the word.

[oorat]

I agree with Jeffs, I work in downtown davenport. I wouldn't trust a comic shop owned by me to not be broken into. I think there is maybe 1 block that is "flourishing", and that's only because of some resturants and an office building and a hotel being right there.

And ofcourse there's always the possibility of a flood, which isn't a regular thing, but can happen. So Either side of the river, you're better off on the hill and not next to the river front.

I'ld say look into something near 53rd street, that is the area of town that is flourishing. Borders, a movie theater, clothing stores, music stores, gas stations. 2 main connections to the interstate, 1 at 53rd st, the other connecting to Brady Street and Harrison, which make for higher possible traffic. I'ld also say stay out of the mall, the Simon company running it over charges on rent, and seems to have very little interest in running a quality mall operation.

[ozradio]

Glad to hear Tim's Corner is still open. I frequented his store during the 80s and into the very early 90s. Tim was a great guy and good to his customers. Anyone remember the short-lived Tim's Corner 2 out in Milan? Takes me back...

[phelan 120]

i don't think from a bussines point of view you'd make a huge profit in comics or gaming here. On the il. side there is tim's cornor, mellow blue planet, one on 23rd ave., and one out in silvis. On the davenport side there's super stars and superheroes and one other one. Most the comic's readers in this area are pretty loyal to there dealer's because they've had pull bags for years with them and most of those guys are real friendly and treat there regular patrians more as buddies than customers. Tim will throw in a free book from time to time if it's a new title he thinks a customer will really like and i've heard of the other shops in the area doin the same.

As for gaming, there is epic games, dragon scrote someone else mentioned and a collectible game store in the mall. All of these places are constantly dropping games and product lines because they can't sell in this area. I'd love to see a new store in the area, but unless you have a dynomite plan for brining in new bussines, you'll lose your shirt