This is what I used to do when i was a kid and doing shows. I didn't have a store front, but I would take some of the books to other shops for a 5-25x flip. There were a lot of shops that did not care about anything except Silver and Gold. Everything else got priced once and went into back issue stock. They only used the big guide, and did not look at the Monthly Updates or CVM. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
Man I miss those days. With the information instantly available thanks to technology, I doubt we will ever see that or anything like it again. On the other hand, I don't miss cassettes, VHS, or the lack of TPBs we used to have. Fair trade
Those days have never stopped for myself. Both in Oregon and Alaska, I would say only two stores, out of 20-25 stores, that are really "up to date" and leaders on the culture they supply, whether they don't care to be top of their business field, or are just poorly ran businesses, either way, Rare to find a store that I consider experts in the market.
One of the best ran stores in ak/or is - I love Comics in Vancouver Washington, the owner Chris is a nice guy and the most well educated of the store owners I have met. I personally shop at Excalibur comics in Portland, huge selection, great people, and are an example of one of those shops that does so well, they just don't care to stay up with current tends. They know me well and a lot of their info on current stuff comes from me when they ask what up with just about everything I buy! yesterday I got the " up to your old tricks again I see, what's up with theses? As I walked up with 10 copies of catwoman 23.
All other stores are current trend gold mines! Collecting is awesome in the northwest!