nightwing
Defender of Kandor
Council of Wisdom
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Posts: 1627
Semper Vigilans
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« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2006, 04:19:06 PM » |
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With the constant speculation about why comics don't sell like they used to, I wonder how many people have had the guts to come right out and admit that experiences like yours are not uncommon; that, to be blunt, comics shops can themselves be a major turn-off to potential new readers.
One of the things American consumers have come to rely on is the ability to walk into a store in one city, or state, and have pretty much the same experience they would in any other city or state. A McDonald's in North Carolina is going to be pretty much like one in North Dakota, for instance. You also expect a certain degree of civility, politeness and professionalism from store clerks...it may be forced on them in annoying corporate seminars, but by gum you do tend to get used to it and even appreciate it.
At comic shops, the very definition of a mom-and-pop, independently run franchise, you can't count on any of that. Here in Richmond (VA) we have a number of shops, and every one of them provides a different experience. One of them is a huge affair, actually three old shops in a strip mall connected to each other to make one big shop. A third of it is old books and the rest is comics and related merchandise. It's an old place, with the unmistakable smell of yellowing pulp paper, tons of trades and hardbacks stuffed onto shelves every which way with little effort made at organization, pegs and shelves full of toys, some of them old and shoddy relics of someone's last garage sale (think old Mego figures with scuffed paint jobs and tattered capes and you get the idea); others are new but relatively "rare" figures and vehicles scalped off the toy aisles at Target and slapped with a ridiculous mark-up (if you've ever wondered how brand new toys can be "rare," it's because of places like this). There are hundreds of long-boxes full of comics, mostly Bronze Age and almost uniformly in bad shape. I've seen books there that had the kind of water damage, tears and scribbles on them that, if they were my books, would have earned them a spot in the trash can, but here they're poly-bagged and offered for ridiculous sums. Except for the impossibility of finding a bargain, this place gives the feel of a flea market, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your personality, but for me it's the kind of place that would be run by that obnoxious kid in grade school who always undervalued the trade value of your cards and comics while insisting his own were priceless. On the other hand, if you can get over all that, the staff is helpful...if you don't mind over-paying for a book once they find it.
Another shop is the near-opposite; everything is meticulously organized into neat sections, every book is bagged the second it arrives and practically enshrined on a shelf. This is the place run by that kid you knew in grade school who bought Star Wars figures and refused to take them out of the box, ever. Once I bought a book here and the guy almost didn't let me have it...it was an import dealing with the Avengers TV show. The guy realized it was his last copy and as he held it in one hand while the other hovered over the cash register, you could watch the struggle in his mind...do I let this go or keep it on display? Finally, grudgingly, he let me have it. Another time I bought a Calvin and Hobbes poster created for store displays (Bill Waterson never authorized C&H "merchandise" of any kind) and I got a lecture before the guy rang it up. "I hope you're not planning on giving this to a kid...this is a very rare item...frame it and care for it" On the rare occasions I enter this place, I'm immediately swooped down upon by one employee or the other, all asking what I'm looking for and how can they help, and coming across like that annoying little dog in the cartoon who says, "I'm your pal, right Spike? You and me are buddies, right?" This guy is a major dealer in back issues who advertises nationally in Marvel Comics, but his shop, packed as it is with comics, toys and the latest fad (pogs, Magic cards, whatever) is about the size of a phone booth, which makes it hard to get to stuff no matter how well organized, and impossible to avoid those clerks.
Another shop has a laid-back staff, which is cool for a guy like me who likes to browse unassaulted, but they also can't be bothered to unpack half their boxes and a display area in the center of the store has, for the last 8 years or so, just been a place to stack cases of folded t-shirts and cardboard boxes the contents of which must forever remain a mystery (they all say "Diamond Distributors" on the outside, but beyond that who knows).
Eventually you find the shop that best suits your temperament and you stick with it. But it's a dicey proposition at best entering a new shop...you never know what you'll find. Comics collectors can be an exclusive lot, people who live and breathe their obsession but seem to ward off anyone new from joining in. And I'll bet good money that more than one parent has brought their kids into a shop only to have a negative experience and judge all comic shops by that one bad one.
Thank heaven for online resources like Tales Of Wonder and DCBS that take all the icky personal interaction out of the equation and give you a big discount, besides.
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