Last Days of the LCS

[s-man]

I personally havent been in an LCS in awhile. Its just easier to get it off the boards or ebay.

[VintageComics]

I can't complain about Metro Boston.

 

 

Agreed with Toronto and Kitchener as well. Toronto especially, has many comic shops still to choose from. Some have been around for decades.

 

There are still two decent ones in Kitchener/Waterloo and a few "hobby" shops. That's all that's ever been here for as long as I can remember except for one that went under due to mismanagement.

 

A lot of it will have to do with geography and demographics. We have two Universities literally across the road from each other so that is going to support a lot of hobbies.

 

Last time I was in Jacksonville, FL it seemed very spread out and not a very large population of young people. I could be wrong but that is what I saw.

 

 

[Comic_Diva]

We still have Fat Jack's in Center City. I work downtown now, but still haven't been there in awhile, so I have no idea if they have improved in the back issue department. We also have a comic store on South Street that has seen better days.

 

I visited Fat Jack's Comic store in December, the back issues haven't improved. The shop on South street used to be great (I bought my first issue of the Walking Dead there) it's now lackluster. Golden Eagles comics in Reading used to okay but has since really gone down hill. I shop at the Comics Store in Lancaster. It's an awesome B&M with lots of back issues, though no graded books.

[Larryw7]

We still have Fat Jack's in Center City. I work downtown now, but still haven't been there in awhile, so I have no idea if they have improved in the back issue department. We also have a comic store on South Street that has seen better days.

 

I visited Fat Jack's Comic store in December, the back issues haven't improved. The shop on South street used to be great (I bought my first issue of the Walking Dead there) it's now lackluster. Golden Eagles comics in Reading used to okay but has since really gone down hill. I shop at the Comic Store in Lancaster. It's an awesome B&M with lots of back issues, though no graded books.

 

 

I used to get tons of great stuff from the South St. store, including loads of high grade Bronze. They started going downhill awhile ago. I keep wanting to visit Fat Jack's on my lunch break, but there's so much good stuff on the boards and on the 'net that it seems like it would be a waste of time.

[Comic_Diva]

Fat Jack's is cool for a visit but just know that the back issues are well picked through and not in the best condition.

[Bill Robinson]

The Denver Metro is pretty lucky I guess. I live near Boulder, which is the home of Time Warp Comics, a great store. Arvada has Coins Cards and Comics, which has amazing back issues, Hero Headquarters in Westminster while small has a very helpful staff, I want more Comics in Federal Heights has a great staff too and a pretty wide selection.

I don't visit the mile high stores for several reasons, but there are quite a few independents all over the city.

[ComicConnoisseur]

I've heard some good things about That's Entertainment in Worcester. Maybe I can swing by there the next time I head up to Woburn.

The owner of the store is Paul Howley,he use to be a protege of Jay Maybruck of Sparkle City Comics. Highly recommended store! (thumbs u

[Conan_Aficionado]

With as cheap as back issues can be acquired from ebay and these boards and other sources, it's not a surprise that stores are suffering. What I don't understand is why more comic shops didn't incorporate more products into the mix to include video games and card gaming.

 

Drive in the kids and eventually some of those video dollars can trickle down to the comics and may even spur more interest.

[nocutename]

Connecticut has a few decent stores but even more that do not focus in back issues. Even some of the ones that have back issues don't have a really quality selection of them. The one that's about 40 minutes from me that I try to frequent every now and then has had at times a great back issue selection but even they haven't gotten a really quality collection in, in some time.

 

There are also far fewer shops than there was 20 years ago. No surprise there, sadly.

 

Which shops do you go to in CT? I normally go to Timeless Journey in Stamford as it is the closest to me. I have been to Heroes Comics and Cards in Norwalk and Cave Comics in Newtown but that one was hike for me.

 

[ciorac]

We still have Fat Jack's in Center City. I work downtown now, but still haven't been there in awhile, so I have no idea if they have improved in the back issue department. We also have a comic store on South Street that has seen better days.

 

I visited Fat Jack's Comic store in December, the back issues haven't improved. The shop on South street used to be great (I bought my first issue of the Walking Dead there) it's now lackluster. Golden Eagles comics in Reading used to okay but has since really gone down hill. I shop at the Comics Store in Lancaster. It's an awesome B&M with lots of back issues, though no graded books.

 

Guess I'll have to make a trip over to Lancaster one weekend. Looks to be a little over an hour away

[Larryw7]

I was at the store in Lancaster a few years ago, they did have a real nice selection of back issues.

[RockMyAmadeus]

To the west is Bedrock/Bop City in Framingham and Superworld in Worcester, (though Ted isn't an LCS per se, you can make an appointment) Larry's Comics is up north in Lowell.

 

You forgot about That's Entertainment in Worcester It's probably the largest comic store between Hartford and the Boston area.

 

I'm loving your new handle!

 

It's all me You should see the Weird Fantasy # 1 (#13) I just bought. As our Dr. Skull used to say, it's a nice POS minus (thumbs u

 

I <3 stu.

[Ken Aldred]

This happened in most of England over ten years ago.

I haven't been inside the Manchester branch of Forbidden Planet for nearly 8 years now, and I'm very, very proud of that. I recently asked a non-comics fan for an update, and he described the store as looking a bit like an over-cluttered, tacky, seaside souvenir shop. Not missing much, then.

[Foolkiller]

I have a few in Jersey, but you have to travel. The close ones stink, and one has started getting back issues but cant grade at all.

 

This is a fun subject for me as I've been to almost every store mentioned in this thread and many more. You have to be diligent with the hunt. Here's just a sampling of what I've bought out of North and Central Jersey in the past 3 weeks:

 

TTA 27

ASM 14

Avengers 1

several high grade bronze age HOM and HOS

several high grade Adams Bats/Tecs

small group of high grade pre code horror

Brave and the Bold 29 7.5

Vengeance of Bane x15 (all at less than $5 a pop)

 

There are probably a 6 or 7 stores in North/Central jersey I routinely hit. Every one of them has pros and cons. Some get more in than others. But every one of 'em has turned up some unbelievable material, even when it looks like they have nothing. Oh, and they're cheap.

[Foolkiller]

My LCS, a five minute drive. They're on their third owner in 20 years, and are still going strong:

 

The Comic Book Shop

 

How's the selection of back issues there?

 

DR.X

 

I was going to ask the same question, that shop looks to be less than 30 minutes from where I live

 

The only shops I've been to in Delaware County are the two Showcase Comics. One is in the Granite Run Mall, and it is driven by gaming. Nice selection of trades and books. A few cool wall books, I bought a GS X-Men 1 last month. Their other shop in Bryn Mawr, has a better selection of back issues than the mall store, but the wall books seem a tad high and the store manager indicated an unwillingness to work a deal on them. At the mall store, the owner made me a nice deal on some back issues though

 

Here's the lowdown on all the stores you just mentioned:

 

1) Showcase in the mall is negotiable because the owner, Mike Clark, is there and will deal. I have bought several books out of that location and gotten some awesome deals on the high grade spideys (if you were wondering where more were Bill, I bought many of them and some were already gone). He is a good to work with and occasionally gets some nice stuff in. Mike is the founder and still the owner and works out of the mall location.

 

2) Showcase in Bryn Mawr used to get stuff and the last score I got there was probably 2 years ago when they had early Archie annuals priced way under guide and under graded. They used to be ruthless in their grading, now, not so much. This is no longer one that I go out of my way to go to, since, as you pointed out, they don't discount.

 

3) The Comic Book Shop: Nice enough new owners, but the back issue inventory really hasn't turned in quite some time. They definitely will wheel and deal with you though if you go there Bill, I just haven't found anything lately that would make it worthwhile on a flip because it's the same books primarily for the past 3 years. They did get some low grade keys in, and there's definitely customers who will buy, but their turnover is a bit low. They do run periodic sales though.

 

 

[dupont2005]

The game is definitely changing. Comic shops are few and far between, and it seems the ones that do still exist no longer have rows and rows of long boxes filled with back issues of all ages, genres, and grades. Instead they have toys, games, tee shirts, and so on. TPB sections are getting larger, back issue bins are getting smaller and focusing more on recent issues from the past few years. Self published and small press stuff that can't make Diamond minimums are not going to be stocked. I think the way things are going, comic shops will merge with used record and video game stores as some sort of twentysomething nostalgia, entertainment, and hobby store. Vintage comics will probably be confined to internet and convention sales.

[Foolkiller]

We still have Fat Jack's in Center City. I work downtown now, but still haven't been there in awhile, so I have no idea if they have improved in the back issue department. We also have a comic store on South Street that has seen better days.

 

I visited Fat Jack's Comic store in December, the back issues haven't improved. The shop on South street used to be great (I bought my first issue of the Walking Dead there) it's now lackluster. Golden Eagles comics in Reading used to okay but has since really gone down hill. I shop at the Comics Store in Lancaster. It's an awesome B&M with lots of back issues, though no graded books.

 

Guess I'll have to make a trip over to Lancaster one weekend. Looks to be a little over an hour away

 

Yes, I was there recently and went through all 22 magazine boxes of their vintage inventory. It's actually where Greg Reece (who I brought) found the Archie 1, which had sat there for some number of years (I won't tell you what he paid, but it would make the trip worthwhile I would imagine). There were also tons of Marvel, DC silver/bronze and a very nice selection if you were a collector. I went through the inventory and found a number of amazing books.

 

They do seem to get stuff periodically and I like the people who work there.

[Foolkiller]

Finally, the shops in Philly:

 

Fat Jack's is still a solid store, but they aren't buying much anymore of real high quality. Plus they seem to be getting slightly more aggressive in grading and pricing, which makes buying from them more difficult. They will work with you, but not enough to really make it worth while. Still, they don't catch on to trends that fast (I bought the hot Legends of the Dark Knight from them and their Vengeance of Banes) and so you can still find stuff. They were slow when Watchmen was hot etc.

 

They had an amazing collection in 2006. Bought tons out of that collection and probably made more off of buys from Fat Jack's over the years than any single store except one. Lately, in the past two years, that's dried up, but for quite some time, they were absolutely worth shopping in and I still like to go in. My favorite "home run" from them was the FF 112 I bought from them that was priced at $80, they gave a 25% discount on, and came back 9.6 -- and once in awhile, you can score like that with them.

 

 

Showcase (or Atomic City) on south st. -- they used to be a great source but like many others have completely wilted under the new management. There's almost no focus on vintage and when they tried to do so in the previous few years, they had no clue on grading or pricing. However, they recently devoted a little area and they priced the stuff so low, it made it impossible to pass up. They priced the original Deadpool series with an average of NM at $2 a book for issues 1-20. Not bad. Plus there were a few bronze pieces that were really high grade, but the issues just were not special. Still for $3 a book, you couldn't beat it.

[Foolkiller]

I've heard some good things about That's Entertainment in Worcester. Maybe I can swing by there the next time I head up to Woburn.

The owner of the store is Paul Howley,he use to be a protege of Jay Maybruck of Sparkle City Comics. Highly recommended store! (thumbs u

 

Fantastic store. Just awesome.

[Mac Man]

I have 4 in my area... 3 B&M and 1 in a large mall.

 

2 of the 4 are supported by gaming but seem to do very well regardless.

 

There is one however that is stocked floor to ceiling with wall copies of most major and minor SA keys along with a nice sampling of GA.

 

Prices are decent and there are plenty of CGC books.

 

As for sales, I know he would like to do better on the comic side but he does very well on the numismatic side of the store which keeps it going.

 

 

 

 

Where in Upstate NY do you live? I'm originally from Oswego, NY and get home now and then--would LOVE to see a store like this!

 

(I think there was one GOOD store in Syracuse--Twilight Book and Games--but haven't been there in some time now).