I am from the Buffalo, NY area and I have many fond memories of Fantasy World and of hanging and chatting with Norm at the store. I must have been a customer there for over 15 years, and I was sad when the store apparently closed some time after the second Queen City Comics shop opened close to it and starved his shop of customers. No place felt as homey or cool as Fantasy World did, and Norm was a very nice and cool gent, he is a very honest businessman, and he always went out of his way to help and find difficult to get items for his customers. I specifically recall him, for instance, getting me #17 of Marvel's GODZILLA title when I had missed it on the racks.
My mother first started taking me to Fantasy World when I was just a young child during the mid-1970s (yes, I am truly a lifelong comic book fan!). It was one of the earliest comic shops in the Buffalo area to open, back during a decade when the very idea of a store that totally catered to comics fans was new, years before the "direct market" emerged. I continued going to Fantasy World for a long time, and always enjoyed hanging with and talking to Norm in addition to getting my comics there. During my freshman year at college, he was even nice enough to bring a bunch of books to my house. By the time the late '80s came around, I had increasing difficulty affording comics, as that was the time their price went up dramatically and the infamous speculator market explosion and "bust" was just around the corner (remember that unfortunate era?).
By the onset of the '90s I had to be much more picky and choosy about the number of comics I got, I began subscribing more for convenience, and I unfortunately lost touch with Norm around that time. A few years later, around the late '90s, I inquired with a fellow comic book fan if Fantasy World was still open for business and how Norm was doing, and he let me know that by that point in time, Norm was no longer mass ordering books, but just taking direct subscription orders from customers and selling back issues he already had in stock. That way, he no longer got stuck with a bunch of inventory on the shelves that he couldn't sell easily, customers who couldn't pay for their orders, or pay exorbitant amounts to the distributors for mass ordering of product. It was, as noted, a difficult time for all concerned, since prices really went up by then and there was that speculator market thing that almost ruined it all... and then, as noted before, Norm got new competition when the second Queen City shop opened, something that came at the worst time for him. I remember how difficult it was for him back around the end of the '80s, with so many customers (including me, I'm sorry to say) finding it difficult to pay for their orders due to increasing prices, and too many of them failing to pay when he let them know their orders were in, or that they still owed him on the credit he generously gave them. I heard later from the same friend that by the mid-'90s or thereabouts, Norm was only open on Thursdays and Fridays, and within a year or so of that, only on Fridays before quietly closing his much loved Hertel Avenue store. This is what my friend said about the last few years of Fantasy World at any rate, so if I got some or all details wrong, someone please correct me.
I was very sad to hear about this state of affairs, because Norm ran a great business that I enjoyed since early in my childhood. Don't get me wrong, I do not wish "retrospective ill" on the owners of Queen City Comics or anything like that. They weren't bad people, just businessmen doing what people in business have to do, and I certainly acknowledge their own good service to Buffalo area comics fans through the years up to today. Nevertheless, I still wish many more customers had stuck by Norm when Queen City's second store opened, enough for him to keep Fantasy World going regularly. I felt bad that I couldn't have helped Norm out more during those years and remained a steady customer through thick and thin, as I certainly owed him as much. I always hoped I would get financially stable enough to do just that, but he had to close up shop before that could happen.
I often wondered what became of Norm and if he was still dealing in comics, as I regret losing touch. With the advent of the 2000s, I have focused mostly on buying digital comics for their convenience, but I am glad to hear that as of summer 2019 (just several months ago at this writing) Norm is alive and well and still sets up tables at the local Comics Con. I plan to attend the next one, and I will certainly hope to see Norm there, say hi, thank him for the cherished part his store played in my growth as a creative writer and comic book fan, and re-establish contact. Norm, if you're reading this, then this is Chris, and it's great to hear that you're okay and still dealing in comics!
