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Tampa Bay Comic Con! Feb. 20th, 2011 back at the Doubletree!

Started by KingOfRulers,

107 posts in this topic

KingOfRulers

KingOfRulers

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After a successful last convention at the location in Largo, the Tampa Bay Comic Con is making the big move back to the Doubletree Hotel in Tampa for the February 20th, 2011 convention.

 

The address is:

 

4500 West Cypress Street

Tampa, FL 33607

 

I suppose the first announcement for this show besides the venue change, is that we have confirmed Frank Brunner as a guest for this show. :banana:

 

In addition, Mike Perkins will be returning. :banana:

 

http://www.tampabaycomiccon.com/

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

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ok, question... what kind of attendance did you have at the last show...do you anticipate this show will attract more?

 

follow up question for any that set up (jive?)...how did you do...

 

final question...what major/minor dealers did set up?

 

trying to guage if it would at all be feasible for me to set up

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KingOfRulers

KingOfRulers

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The attendance at the last show was in keeping with what previous shows at the Minnreg brought in. It was about 550+/- people this time. The Doubletree's normal numbers in the past were about 200-300 more than that.

 

We had Chris Foss (Heroes & Dragons), Shelton (Heroes Aren't Hard to Find), Crazy Ed, Earl Shaw and Captain Lou as some of the more well known "national" guys. Then we have several stores from central Florida.

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KingOfRulers

KingOfRulers

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It depends on the inventory that you bring. Truthfully, I don't think you'll be selling any Tec' #27s. It is not that type of market quite yet. I've sold $500-$1,000 books at the show before (JIM #83, TOS #39, X-Men #1, FF #12 etc.), but it isn't standard for that to happen. $1-$5 books sell very well. I think Jive had $3 boxes, and from what I heard he did quite well. I'm sure he'll chime in eventually.

 

I think an inventory of $1-$5 material, a smaller amount of mid-level box stock in the $5-$50 range, and whatever decorative wall books you want to bring should do well.

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Sonofpromoterman

Sonofpromoterman

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hm

I would have $350 in van rental expense, $100 in gas, hotel, food, table, etc...my question is, can I make enough sales to cover hm

 

You got to be kidding ?

Its a no brainer...do the show...especially if you live in Florida.

 

If National level dealers from out of state are willing to drive for a quarterly one day Sunday show that has impressive marketing and is pulling in 500 plus collectors and will no doubt grow as the new management improves their operations.

 

It won't be long before other big time dealers will be filling up table space and smaller dealers will have to be put on a waiting list to set up.

 

All hail K.O.R. and the other owners of the Tampa Bay Comic Con.

 

(worship) (worship) (worship) (worship)

 

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JiveTurkeyMoFo

JiveTurkeyMoFo

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hm

I would have $350 in van rental expense, $100 in gas, hotel, food, table, etc...my question is, can I make enough sales to cover hm

 

I think with anything Rick, this being a 3 times a year show, you have to ask yourself if you're willing to do it a couple of times to establish a "presence" so that people know you are there and are willing to make the drive from Orlando or Miami to see your inventory. Florida still only has Mega-Con as its only National show, and Supercon is quickly becoming another animae joke. I'm sure that we will see more buyers from South Florida as they see how the Tampa show is growing and staying true to its roots as a comics first venue.

 

I bombed my last show (in part because I was both unprepared, and didn't have the right type of "stock" for the buying crowd), but had my best show ever this time around. Go figure.

 

The fact of the matter with this show is that dollar books and blow-out material is still your # 1 selling item. HOWEVER, people will ask to look and see wall books and will spend to money if the material is right. I don't know if you remember, but last year at Heroes you sold a 6.0 slabbed Avengers # 1 to a younger gent for a pretty decent penny (I think you were having a heckuva time getting a credit card transaction processed for him because of the poor reception in the hall). Well, he was there, and he bought $500 in misc HG wall books from me, and told me he was willing to spend $10k that day for a nice Spidey # 1, but there wasn't one to be found.

 

Will he be back in Feb? I can't say, but I know he drove from Georgia just to attend the show. If he knows you are going to be there as a "regular" dealer, I'm sure he'll be there with money to spend. Same with a dozen other collectors I know that haven't attended the show because it lacked the big dollar type books.

 

I would say if you think about doing it, you should consider doing all three dates next year. February is normally a little quiet, so you probably can't take much away from it if things are slow. Bring the cheap stuff (half off trades, dollar books, etc.) to hopefully pay for your costs, and bring plenty of business cards and contact info to give out. I'm sure you'll be making sales post-show as well. Lastly, if you have a customer database, make sure you email your Florida/GA customers two weeks ahead of time to let them know you'll be here.

 

 

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KingOfRulers

KingOfRulers

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hm

I would have $350 in van rental expense, $100 in gas, hotel, food, table, etc...my question is, can I make enough sales to cover hm

 

You got to be kidding ?

Its a no brainer...do the show...especially if you live in Florida.

 

If National level dealers from out of state are willing to drive for a quarterly one day Sunday show that has impressive marketing and is pulling in 500 plus collectors and will no doubt grow as the new management improves their operations.

 

It won't be long before other big time dealers will be filling up table space and smaller dealers will have to be put on a waiting list to set up.

 

All hail K.O.R. and the other owners of the Tampa Bay Comic Con.

 

(worship) (worship) (worship) (worship)

 

Wow, thank you. I appreciate the compliment! :)

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sufunk

sufunk

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The attendance at the last show was in keeping with what previous shows at the Minnreg brought in. It was about 550+/- people this time. The Doubletree's normal numbers in the past were about 200-300 more than that.

 

We had Chris Foss (Heroes & Dragons), Shelton (Heroes Aren't Hard to Find), Crazy Ed, Earl Shaw and Captain Lou as some of the more well known "national" guys. Then we have several stores from central Florida.

 

WOW! Crazy Ed is still around?!?

 

I used to buy books from him in the early 90's here in Fort Lauderdale at tiny little mall shows. He always had INSANELY nice SA/BA books but almost all of them were out of my price range back then.

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