An LCS Doing Well

[Ivanko]

It's not all gloom and doom on the LCS front:

 

$1 million comic shop

[Johnny G]

Very cool. I'll have to stop in and check it out the next time I am down that way.

 

There are a couple of "gems" in the WA area. I have found a treasure chest that I routinely vistit in the Seattle area. There is one other boardie that I have taken there... and he knows that if he spills, he gets cut-off!

 

John (thumbs u

[kc120us]

Great story!! I hope other LCS's take notice.

[sckao]

 

I'm not sure you're reading the article correctly...

 

She's moving into a 7000 sq feet space that is roughly double her old space. It does not say she owns the building or is doing the build-out.

 

(The store is obviously doing well, but maybe not as well as the $1 million LCS implies...)

 

Comic Relief here in Berkeley moved to larger digs as well.

 

 

[Johnny G]

Good point Shin...

 

In a way, it could spell disaster for an owner! Bigger space, because of stock concerns, means that items aren't moving all too well!

 

Factor in the cost of a higher lease and we may see another article in a year or so... one that isn't so celebratory!

John

 

[Ivanko]

She just purchased the commercial land (it had a tear down building on it) a few months back, and is doing a custom construction business loan.

 

Land+Construction= $1 million.

 

It is on a major secondary arterial, almost directly across the street from the current store.

 

The current building is a lease which ends at the end of January.

 

As far as inventory is concerned, the current store is claustrophobic. There is product on almost every inch available, including walls and ceilings. She also has to rotate back issue stock from a storage unit.

[MrBedrock]

She just purchased the commercial land (it had a tear down building on it) a few months back, and is doing a custom construction business loan.

 

Land+Construction= $1 million.

 

It is on a major secondary arterial, almost directly across the street from the current store.

 

The current building is a lease which ends at the end of January.

Sounds like a smart move.

[sckao]

She just purchased the commercial land (it had a tear down building on it) a few months back, and is doing a custom construction business loan.

 

Land+Construction= $1 million.

 

It is on a major secondary arterial, almost directly across the street from the current store.

 

The current building is a lease which ends at the end of January.

 

Ah. You would think that they would mention these IMPORTANT details in the news article... Journalists today!

 

She's also apparently applying for the licensing to be able to serve food.

 

 

 

 

 

[jmg3637]

I thought that the most surprising part was that it is a woman who owns the store. How many women are there who own comic stores? I don't think I have ever run across another store that was owned by a women. And buying the store in the first place at 18. She certainly sounds amazing.

 

 

[cloudofwit]

The gender gap in comic store ownership might be like the gender gap when I delivered pizzas for 5-6 years--there might've been a gal or two among the hundred guys barreling around town selling pies.

 

The journalist in question on this LCS story could've hit more on that angle of the story, how she is a rarity indeed. Journalistically speaking, it wasn't an, ahem, Olympian effort.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Nah, it's not like that. Though I admit that I think a high pct. of woman-owned stores come from the husband passing on.

 

1 of 2 Kalamazoo stores in the mid-80s was owned by a woman.

 

1 of 2 or 3 South Bend stores in the same time frame was woman-owned (her husband had passed on). I think she spent the next 10-15 years in business and at the local twice-a-year show she would take an entire wall. Kind of impressive. I visited her store twice and walked out with a lot of post-code 10-cent Batmans. Went there with Harley and he walked out with her Fantastic Four #1. We weren't even out of the parking lot before she closed the shop and was hurrying to her car. Going to the bank, apparently.

 

A woman owned a small store in Concord, CA which recently closed down. It seemed like a tiny store in Albany, CA was also owned by the woman I saw there. Perhaps co-owned but I never saw an authority male there, just a male employee.

 

Collector's Ink, an Overstreet advertiser, with hundreds of thousands of comics in a warehouse is woman-owned.

 

Now, maybe I can think of 40 male-owned stores off the top of my head, but my point is that ownership is closer to 10-1 not 100-1!

 

 

 

 

[Doctor Svord]

Very cool. I'll have to stop in and check it out the next time I am down that way.

 

There are a couple of "gems" in the WA area. I have found a treasure chest that I routinely vistit in the Seattle area. There is one other boardie that I have taken there... and he knows that if he spills, he gets cut-off!

 

John (thumbs u

 

For those keeping score at home, I'm not the other boardie.

 

But, this Seattle store wouldn't happen to be a little hole-in-the-wall place where the owner is Captain Marvel (Shazam) fan would it? To this day (going on twelve years now) I kick myself for not buying the VG/VG+ More Fun 74 he had for $300.00.

 

I concur, definitely some great comic shops in Seattle.

[Calamerica]

She just purchased the commercial land (it had a tear down building on it) a few months back, and is doing a custom construction business loan.

 

Land+Construction= $1 million.

 

It is on a major secondary arterial, almost directly across the street from the current store.

 

The current building is a lease which ends at the end of January.

 

Ah. You would think that they would mention these IMPORTANT details in the news article... Journalists today!

 

She's also apparently applying for the licensing to be able to serve food.

 

If I am ever that way I will check her shop out.

 

She must be doing something right because she IS successful.

 

A LOT of comic shops closed doors betewwn 1993 - 2000. I don't have a recent link that tells that story of the mass close-downs Nation-wide after the Valiant craze.

 

I think part of her success is that she manages to move items that smaller children want, and she probably cashed in on the Spider-man Merchandize frenzy the three movies that were out.

 

Young kids hanging around w/ Pokemon tournaments, buying drinks and candy, those sales add up too.

 

I wish her well and hope she can manage the construction payments.

 

CAL

 

 

 

 

[Calamerica]

Very cool. I'll have to stop in and check it out the next time I am down that way.

 

There are a couple of "gems" in the WA area. I have found a treasure chest that I routinely vistit in the Seattle area. There is one other boardie that I have taken there... and he knows that if he spills, he gets cut-off!

 

John (thumbs u

 

For those keeping score at home, I'm not the other boardie.

 

But, this Seattle store wouldn't happen to be a little hole-in-the-wall place where the owner is Captain Marvel (Shazam) fan would it? To this day (going on twelve years now) I kick myself for not buying the VG/VG+ More Fun 74 he had for $300.00.

 

I concur, definitely some great comic shops in Seattle.

 

She would not be able to do this where I am at - the costs would be prohibitive.

 

CAL

[Guest]

I've known the owner off and on for many years. And she is quite remarkable for how far she has brought Olympic Cards and Comics. I hung out there when it was a small store in the South Sound Mall many years ago. I had no idea Gabrielle would take it to where it is now.

[Calamerica]

I've known the owner off and on for many years. And she is quite remarkable for how far she has brought Olympic Cards and Comics. I hung out there when it was a small store in the South Sound Mall many years ago. I had no idea Gabrielle would take it to where it is now.

 

can you tell me something about the quality of her back-issues???

 

CAL

[Ringfinger]

Good story.

[HouseofComics.Com]

I'm glad this topic has kept going. I hate it when my west coast late night post is the final one in a thread.

 

I thought of another woman-owned shop just 30 minutes south of me too.

 

 

[tilleycs]

Good for her. I hope she continues to do well.

[joe_collector]

Holy cap, if that's what owning a comic book store for 15 years does to a 32-year old, then count me out.