Anyone have experience owning/running a comic book store?
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starting any storefront business in nyc is kind of its own thing because the rents are so high, but i'd suggest e-mailing the owner of copacetic comics in pittsburgh (just use the contact info on his site). he's very friendly and since you're not competition for him, you might get more answers than if you asked a local person. i don't know exactly how successful he is but the store has been open for about 10 years and has moved to a bigger space. i know he makes a living doing it. he doesn't have any employees though, besides friends who occasionally work for comics!
the buyers of comics/anime are kids, teens, maybe college. The ones without money. Hence wanting things for free and rarely buying much.
Not true. This might have been true in the 80s and early 90s when comic book stores first popped up and were actually profitable, but not anymore since all those kids are now grown. Every time I go to my local comic book shop, I never see any kids, only working adults. Especially on Wednesdays when new comics come out. The store is basically packed with adults still in their suits and ties and work uniforms dropping in to buy their new comic books for the week.
Also, Free Comic Book Day was a couple weeks ago and at my local comic book shop, the store was so packed that you could barely move and the line was literally going out the door. You know how many kids I saw in that entire store? Only TWO.
Kids and teens these days have too many other things vying for their attention that they spend their money on besides comic books, like video games. Also, in such a tech and computer based world we are living in now, kids who are still into comics usually avoid the brick and mortar places and buy digital comics for their ipads and computers instead. It's really only us now-grown comic book fans who grew up with the actually excitement of holding the physical, paper copy of a comic book in our hands who still buy paper comics as opposed to digital ones (In other words, we're stuck in our ways).
Last edited by Carlito Brigante; 05-10-2013 at 11:14 AM..
Perhaps your store is different then my local ones. So you have a bunch of adult geeks in your area. My area is pierced anime wannabes.
Could be, but the way my store is is generally how it is in the vast majority of comic book shops. That's why comics are written for more mature readers these days, because the vast majority of the people who buy them are adults. The big two companies, Marvel and DC, don't even adhere to the Comics Code Authority for censorship anymore.
Online presence is critical to a successful store. I used to know the owner of Iguana's online, who made a fortune by being one of the biggest online sellers of beanie babies at its height, and one of the premier sources for top collectible magic cards (he literally owned thousands of moxes before he sold out). He eventually sold his website for a small fortune and closed the store.
Another owner I know had a successful, but not that profitable, store by working hard on a base of dedicated gamers numbering a couple of hundred. He eventually landed a better paying job in the Target corporation though. He did not have online sales, but did have a huge online presence for the store and would frequently travel to midwest conventions and promote his store/sell merchandise.
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