My first ever visit to a LCS...not impressed

[gilbertotorres]

well i see the 529 going for about 15 usually.

[Jo Seph]

well i see the 529 going for about 15 usually.

 

Correct me if im wrong, but isn't there $1 bins with marvel back issues or not?

[AussieRuss]

well i see the 529 going for about 15 usually.

 

Correct me if im wrong, but isn't there $1 bins with marvel back issues or not?

 

Hi Jo.

 

From my experience comic shops in Australia start a book at about double U.S. cover price for moderns. Once they get a few issues old they will add another $1-2 depending on how many they have left in stock. (This is a small part of the reason that I would rather spend a few dollars more & purchase a silverage comic from the boards instead of a modern but thats another story).

 

You may find a few $2 bins containing 1990's- early 2000 moderns but thats about it.

 

You may be better waiting for supernova in Sydney or going to a local comic fair as they often have boxes full of $2-5 dollar books.

 

One of the stalls at Supernova in Brisbane this weekend had about 100 long boxes full of late 1980's-2000 comics all at $2 each.

 

Russ...

 

 

[Jo Seph]

well i see the 529 going for about 15 usually.

 

Correct me if im wrong, but isn't there $1 bins with marvel back issues or not?

 

You may be better waiting for supernova in Sydney or going to a local comic fair as they often have boxes full of $2-5 dollar books.

 

 

 

Russ, how do I find out about comic fairs? I would be very interested in going to one but doubt theres any in Sydney..

[Unca Ben]

i'm so glad all my past lcs' were very good dealers and lasted for so many years: A1 comics (sacremento), comic outpost (sf), c&c central, heroes (san jose).

 

the Heroes comic shop is the best ive been to. they have such a great run of spideys for sale and good quality back issues. too bad they just ended their $1 sale where everything under $9.99 was $1 but they still have 50% guide on everything.

Agreed. Heroes is a great shop; clean, friendly service, great selection, willing to negotiate. A class act.

[cd4ever]

Since I stopped buying moderns over a year ago I have been to a LCS once. I was flipping thru some back issues while a dad and his 7 or 8 year old daughter were picking out some comics for her. The dumbazz kid running the register started playing loud rap music where every other word was the F-bomb or N-bomb. The dad didn't seem to notice but I went over there and told him to turn that off while there's a child in the place, which he did but he really didn't seem to understand why. Haven't been back to a store since.

[MrBedrock]

I will say the big problem you faced was... it WAS your first trip to this store.

 

1)Most LCS wont deal with you unless they know you as a regular.

 

2)Most clerks don't have the right to knock the price down, talk to the owner or top dog.

 

3)All LCS are overpriced on back issues unless its "drek" and if you want good prices at a LCS see #1 and this will not always work.

 

So keep your chin up and next time you go make it on a wednesday and see all the comic geeks come out of the woodwork.

Not to pick on you, Richnerd, but there are some big generalizations here.

1) I think most LCS are happy to see new customers come through the doors.

If they are not, then they will probably be out of business soon.

 

2) There should be somebody in charge who can make a decision on pricing for a customer. But in any case, it never hurts to ask.

 

3) This is absolutely not true. Sure, some shops do overprice their back issues. But to say that all do begs the question..."Where are you shopping?"

[TeenTitans]

Finally finished my exams. Hopped on a train to the city. Excited to finally visit a comic store. After a day of shopping and wandering around, I finally stumbled into my first LCS.

 

Quickly looking around, I cant hold back my excitement to scavenge through all these comics. After passing through the moderns and picking up a dozen or so moderns, I go to the back issue section. First modern back issues, and cival war spideys for example were going for $30!! Wtf? Forgot about those and went looking out for Silver Age comics, all I saw was overgraded, over priced, silver age comics. This made it worst with such a limited stock. After trying to reason with the clerk to reconsider some prices on a few SA spideys. Without any luck and coming home feeling empty, I retreated to reading some moderns. The End

 

smart move by walking away, don't ever pay good money for overpriced comics. word of advice try looking for another comic shop. don't feel empty you made the right move.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

[the blob]

I went to a newish LCS near where I live (as opposed to where I work) and I guess I was expecting a bit more based on the website. It supposedly has a horror theme ("Monster Factory") and I was sort of expecting an emphasis on that, but no, it was basically a regular comic shop with a few more 30 Days of Night type t-shirts and such. The wall books were curiously prices (very little old stuff), they did have some 50 cents/$1 boxes that may have produced some borderline worthwhile finds had I not been rushed (nothing pre-90s though) by family issues. I'll probably wander back one day, but I was expecting to at least see a decent selections of horrow comics/magazines and didn't get even that, or at least not in an easy to find place.

 

With that said, I always like to check places out. Heck, even a big chain type place like Midtown Comics occasionally has something interesting in the bins. 2 or 3 years ago I picked up a copy of Marvel Team-Up #1 for $5 and that wasn't even during one of their sales! I guess it had been priced up a while ago and maybe got stuck in some box somewhere and it was graded as a "1" (good?), but it was really more like a VG/Fine, so that was cool. Was it worth rummaging through the bins for an hour to find that and pick up a couple of cheap Creepys? Probably not. But that's a book I wanted to own in any half decent grade and I got that out of the way for $5.

[the blob]

With that said, the guys running the shop near my house seemed perfectly cool and such and when my wife wandered in with baby blob there was no creeposity going on. actually, she was a little disappointed that the horror theme wasn't kicking in either. baby blob was happy to walk out with some free posters, which were trashed after about 5 blocks of walking later.

[mica]

Since I stopped buying moderns over a year ago I have been to a LCS once. I was flipping thru some back issues while a dad and his 7 or 8 year old daughter were picking out some comics for her. The dumbazz kid running the register started playing loud rap music where every other word was the F-bomb or N-bomb. The dad didn't seem to notice but I went over there and told him to turn that off while there's a child in the place, which he did but he really didn't seem to understand why. Haven't been back to a store since.

Well I'll thank you. (thumbs u

[That Ron Dude]

There are all qualities of stores in Toronto. You are definitely describing some of them but in many you see a good business plan aimed at various kinds of customers. I realize that businesses have to pay their taxes, their employees, their heating bill and everything else. It makes sense to buy low and sell high. I just don't want to be the one selling low to them or buying high from them. Even as a "prefered customer with 50% off the prices can be unrealistic. I assume they are fishing for suckers. Every once in a while I assume that someone comes in and really does want to plunk down $25 for a Tales of Suspense #86 in vg. The profit margin would be enormous. But I also wonder if it dissuades someone who'd have gladly paid $8 and doesn't want to dicker.

 

This weekend I will invest $10 in walking though the door of a downtown convention and hopefully find enough deals to make my small upfront investment worthwhile.

[moonlite]

I will say the big problem you faced was... it WAS your first trip to this store.

 

1)Most LCS wont deal with you unless they know you as a regular.

 

2)Most clerks don't have the right to knock the price down, talk to the owner or top dog.

 

3)All LCS are overpriced on back issues unless its "drek" and if you want good prices at a LCS see #1 and this will not always work.

 

 

Interesting observations.

 

On the last issue, I know alot of other stores that I dialogue with don't even carry back issues. The reason being that the ones that do generally see about 10 percent of their income from this inventory. And it takes alot of inventory and alot of space to have a good supply of back issues. They take up a lot of space in my store, require a lot of labor and tie up alot of money. Thats why many places don't often fool with them and rather wholesale out the boxes they get of overstock to CON dealers.

 

As for being overpriced, thats not necessarily true unless you are using the mentality acquired here where things seem to sell for lower than guide. I also understand some stores don't know how to price per grade and thats always a subjective issue.

 

I generally move books from the "new" stand to the back issues after several months. I bag it or bag/board it and stick it in the back issues for the same cover price unless its gotten really hot. So you can come in a year later and if you are missing one book in a run, pick up that book for the cover price and complete your set. Again, see the first paragraph above where it describes the amount of income derived from the inventory.

 

I don't put out my older books because of several reasons, least of which is space (I have plenty). Invariably I have people come by several times a year and want to buy SA stuff and want it at half off guide. Its just easier not to fool with rather than direct them to the back room where the boxes are.

 

I do agree with OCTOBER though about the Great Escape in Nashville. They have great stuff and discount after so long ( a year from what I note). However, they replenish their stock routinely from their warehouse stock. They have been in business for over 30 years and I started going to them about 28 years ago as I was growing up in Nashville. What I have noted though is that they are VERY labor intensive and I have never once seen a computer in their store (I know they do ebay so there is one somewhere). They do everything by paper and even write down everything you buy (title and number) when you checkout. Makes for a slow process but it has been done this way since I started going there as a kid. They typically have 10 people working in each store and they are WORKING, not goofing off. The store constantly is buying/trading for stuff and working to get it sorted and put out.