Every Fanboy's Fantasy

[jaeldubyoo]

No, I'm not talking about a hot babe who collects comics. I'm talking about opening your own comic shop. At one time, I had the burning desire to open my own. I dreamed of buying and selling comics and saving all the good stuff for myself. I even dabbled in mail order, advertising in The Buyers Guide (years before it became CGB). I advertised in the local paper. I stockpiled a lot of back-issue comics and speculated on new ones. Then the realities of running a comic shop set in. Running and maintaining a store was more trouble and money than I was willing to put into it.

Anybody else have the dream?

[fulltimer56]

I would love to have a Bookstore but I would have a section or room just for comics also! I would deal in new and used books of all kinds and new and back issues of comics. Of course it's just a dream, but it never hurts to dream does it? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/fulltimer56/smiley/rainbowedmoving0lx.gif

Linda http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/fulltimer56/smiley/ZZZshehulk2.gif

[marvelguy]

I've always wanted to open a comics shop, but the town I live in would not support the money I needed to make money off it. But on the other hand, if I were to run one in a big city, I would have to be greedy on prices to make it thru. Ebay is the way to go. It's sad that you can't have it one way or the other.

[4zack]

Actually, I occasionally dream of having a one hour free shopping expedition in my LCS. The sad part is, I'm not trying to be funny. I really do have this dream from time to time.

[The Charlton Guy]

I did have my own little shop. Only for two years, but it was a dream come true.

I started with the bulk of my collection and continued to sell on ebay as well. About 50/50 in sales between the walk-in trade and ebay. I also sold used and rare books which also made up a good portion of my sales.

The best part was the kids. Some had never seen a vintage comic before.

Some would go absolutely ape! One six or seven year old came into the shop one day, the jaw dropped (looking at the racks) then he started jumping up and down in place. He was beside himself. Never seen so many comics in one place before. I set him up with a grab bag of DC and Marvel gems. That was my modus operandi. I would BARRAGE the kids with a stack of books, usually giving them about 7-10 or more great issues for like $5.00 or whatever the parent wanted to dish out. The more enthusiasm they showed, the better the grab bag.

That was the greatest part about owning a shop. Getting the kids reading.

And like a drug or something, once they were into it, they were INTO IT. At that point (just like me when I was the Charlton Kid) they would come back regularly with lunch money and pennies and nickles in hand to snag their weekly fix.

I figure I was responsible for getting at least a couple of dozen kids into reading and at least 4 or 5 into serious collecting.

The collectors were great too, but like any collector, always out for a bargain, so I didn't make as much off of them as I would have liked. My prices were very low and I did a lot of swapping for SA stuff.

All it really took was about 5 regular collectors dropping $50 to $100 a week to keep things rolling though. Then the occasional drop-in collector was the icing on the cake.

I didn't really like dealing in the new books at all. I got in a VERY modest smattering of the mainstream titles and had about 10 college kids on a sub list. That was about it. I had a hell of a lot more fun selling back issues, even if they were typically underpriced to sell, I got them cheap. I am a natural born scavenger and bloodhound when it comes to finding collections at flea markets and yard sales, so my inventory was cheap and the profits, though modest on a per/book basis, added up over time.

The other HUGE bonus of owning a shop is that beople bring stuff to YOU. I had some very sweet collections walk in the door and even though I was a sucker for paying about five to ten times what the other area shops paid for collections, still managed to get some great inventory and put together some kick-ass full runs for my own collection.

As a living? A hell of a lot of work. To make ends meet and turn a profit (keeping in mind this was a VERY small operation), I had to typically work a 10 to 12 hour day at the store, go home, have dinner, put the kids to bed, then get back on the computer and ebay til the wee hours. Being self-employed is not condusive to sleep.

All in all though, one of the most satisfying, pleasurable, yet ultimately frustrating expriences of my life.

I would recommend it to anyone.

[rowand]

I received the antidote to this dream at my local comics book store. I won't mention the name but suffice to say he took us all for every shekel we had and we are still waiting for the last round of stuff we ordered. I did work at a comics store and my first day is still their largest volumn day.

[Gallinator]

I'll be living vicariously through one of my college buddies, as he opens up a retail store, hopefully within the next 2-3 months! He refinanced his house, paid off his debt and has another xx,000 that he will be devoting to opening up the comic book store of his dreams - and I will be in on the ground floor! I've offered to work at the store 12-15 hours/week, and I'll be getting paid in comics, natch!

My friend is keeping his day-job, but dropping down to 30 hrs/wk so he can still keep his benefits. Not sure how it's all going to work out, but it WILL be exciting.

[btdhome]

Yep, lived the dream for 12 years or so.
Really great times, really sad times.

Any small business (comics or not) will devour your life, and usually your savings.

[4zack]

gall,

I'm curious about something. Over the years, I've known a few people that worked at a comic store just for the comics. How exactly does one get paid in comics? Let's say that the guy is going to pay you $6.00/hour and you put in 10 hours a week. Is that $60.00 worth of comics at cover price or $60.00 worth at what he paid for them?

[Gallinator]

Good question, 4zack. We haven't discussed it in detail yet, but since right now I pay cover minus 10% and get a free bag and board with each comic book, we'll just keep my "price" the same and work off my tab with hours in the store at some rate we can both live with. It'll probably be whatever minimum wage is now.

Of course, this gives him a discount off of my wage in the amount of his mark-up, but I don't really care. My goal is to see him succeed and if he gets it off the ground, I may renegotiate.

[dpxcomicsgirl]

As some of you already know, my full time job is online comics retailing through an auction site in Venezuela. The profits are ranking in extreemly nicely.

There's a convention in Caracas come July, and if it turns out to be the huge event they are bargaining for, I am hoping I'll be able to collect enough cash to open a store and simultaneously run an online operation. The competition is overpriced and understocked, so I could really strike it big if I go to regular retail. Happy prospect!

[fulltimer56]

I really wish you LUCK, dpx!! You go girl!!!

[4zack]

gall,

Even if your friend can only pay minimum initially, that would still be a sweet job. Doing something you have fun doing goes down much easier at a lesser wage.

As a side job years ago (before Ebay) I used to go around buying up comics for a nickel and selling them for a dime. You have to do VOLUME, VOLUME, VOLUME to make it pay off, but it was a lot of fun. I had a guy that would take whatever I had for a dime each. He wouldn't count them (I was trustworthy back then) and he didn't cherry-pick. He took it all.

Plus, I got to look thru it all before selling to him. I picked up so many runs of stuff at a nickel each, it was criminal. And he would let me go thru his stuff (hundreds and hundreds of long boxes in his house and garage). The hunt is as much fun as ownig it. Good times.

On the downside, I got rid of a lot of stuff that, at the time, wasn't guiding for much, but turned out to go for a pretty penny on Ebay. If only I could have some of it back.

He had boxes of stuff that had probably been buried for decades (I never made it thru 1/10 of what he had) so who knows what goodies he had buried. Unfortunately, he passed recently and his daughter sold it all to someone. He was always a very nice guy.

[disneyteddies]

I'm still working on my online comic store (an actual site that is a store for selling comics) like Comiclink.com or Colmorecomics.com. To do it right takes time and a lot of money for inventory and for a professional to build the e-commerce web site. I'm going to sell older comics (Silver and Golden age) at very reasonable prices and hopefully turn it into a huge store that will eventually compete with the biggies someday. We're trying for around the fall time...I CAN'T WAIT to do this full time!

[habib]

Hope you get that site up and running & it is very successful HH.

Good Luck, my friend!

[Evil Parsnip]

been there done that.. ran Stand Up Comics on the convention circuit for a number of years. Way too much work for too little return. My partner and I eventually just divided up the books and called it quits.

but good luck to those who try.. I see a very good business for someone who sells monthly updates to comic shops as to changes in price.

[disneyteddies]

Thanx guys, I'm really excited about it and really impatient to get it going. Hey Doc, hope you're having the time of your life on the world tour..don't forget to see Ashtabula! :D

[rowand]

Sites of beautiful downtown Astabula include

Hubbard House UGGR Museum 440.964.8168
Walnut Blvd. & Lake Avenue Ashtabula, OH 44005-2666
Visit our web site at http://www.hubbardhouseugrrmuseum.org
The only northern terminus of the Underground Railroad open to the public it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 (Building #73001385). Experience life in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the middle third of the 19th century at the circa 1841 home of William and Catharine Hubbard. Also features an Underground Railroad exhibit area; and the Civil War and Americana exhibit area in the basement.

Let my joy be only moderately restrained!

[Evil Parsnip]

Thanx guys, I'm really excited about it and really impatient to get it going. Hey Doc, hope you're having the time of your life on the world tour..don't forget to see Ashtabula! :D

hey you never know....

[theredsun]

I saw this and was so hoping for Amanda Conner Bikini pics.LOL :twisted: :cool: