Just got bad news from my LCS...

[aggr1103]

where r u at in NC???

 

 

 

 

I think I've told you this in a PM before - Whiteville.

[sterlingcomics]

Cool---about an hour away from Wilmington.

[aggr1103]

Cool---about an hour away from Wilmington.

 

About an hour away from anything.

[sterlingcomics]

Cool---about an hour away from Wilmington.

 

About an hour away from anything.

 

I can relate. I used to live in Snow Hill and it was about 40 minutes away from any major town. Driving for extended periods was mandatory.

[Wally's Comics]

where r u at in NC???

 

 

 

 

I think I've told you this in a PM before - Whiteville.

 

I don't recall Howard.

 

anyway, look at the bright side now you can open a shop...

 

 

 

But on the serious side, you can always do mail order or just

let some of your NCSU buds hook you up.

 

 

 

[Green]

Cool---about an hour away from Wilmington.

 

About an hour away from anything.

[CAMPER49]

Myrtle Beach?

Is that Corsair Comics on Main Street that is closing?

I tried to visit this shop last February but they were closed when they were supposed to be open.

[aggr1103]

Myrtle Beach?

Is that Corsair Comics on Main Street that is closing?

I tried to visit this shop last February but they were closed when they were supposed to be open.

 

Never been to Corsair. The one I was referring to was Apocalypse Comics. Its out on 501 between North Myrtle and Myrtle.

[the blob]

Where are you in NC?

 

Whiteville. LCS owner has stores in Shallotte and Myrtle Beach.

 

Crazy thing is he's not closing because of slow sales. His store is always packed and popular. His used games are cheaper than Gamestop and he has a huge selection of used DVD's. He's closing because the manager of the shopping center where his store is is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person. He has struggled with the company he leases the storefront from because they refuse to repair the a/c. At the same time, his store is at the end of the shopping center and near a large brush field. Needless to say he struggles with break-ins. He had one the Thursday before Heroescon and I think it was the last straw.

 

I had been spending most of my lunch hours at his shop. I also had fun cherry picking his back issue boxes. Made over $200 on ebay the last two months from his backissue bins alone.

 

I appreciate all the input on a good online subscription service too. I really hate not supporting a local shop anymore, but even $6.95 shipping is cheaper than the gas to and from the nearest shop now.

 

This is America, the land of half empty shopping centers. Surely there is vacant space at another one nearby he could move to? Why give up on a store and customers that are making you money? Chances are his other locations are too far away to bring in many of his former customers.

 

Odd decision if you ask me. In this economy he could probably score a great deal on rent too.

[revat]

Where are you in NC?

 

Whiteville. LCS owner has stores in Shallotte and Myrtle Beach.

 

Crazy thing is he's not closing because of slow sales. His store is always packed and popular. His used games are cheaper than Gamestop and he has a huge selection of used DVD's. He's closing because the manager of the shopping center where his store is is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person. He has struggled with the company he leases the storefront from because they refuse to repair the a/c. At the same time, his store is at the end of the shopping center and near a large brush field. Needless to say he struggles with break-ins. He had one the Thursday before Heroescon and I think it was the last straw.

 

I had been spending most of my lunch hours at his shop. I also had fun cherry picking his back issue boxes. Made over $200 on ebay the last two months from his backissue bins alone.

 

I appreciate all the input on a good online subscription service too. I really hate not supporting a local shop anymore, but even $6.95 shipping is cheaper than the gas to and from the nearest shop now.

 

This is America, the land of half empty shopping centers. Surely there is vacant space at another one nearby he could move to? Why give up on a store and customers that are making you money? Chances are his other locations are too far away to bring in many of his former customers.

 

Odd decision if you ask me. In this economy he could probably score a great deal on rent too.

 

If his margins are higher and he saves costs (and trouble) with just one store...why do two? You're right to say he can probably score a great deal on rent where they don't maintain the building properly and there's lots of breakins.

 

Even if you might make significantly more money with the second store, the 'safety' factor might offset that significantly depending on the owner's level of risk aversion.

[LanceRoten-migration]

I can remember being 14 and my favorite shop in the area closed up. There's a 28 year old memory now that is still with me.

[the blob]

Where are you in NC?

 

Whiteville. LCS owner has stores in Shallotte and Myrtle Beach.

 

Crazy thing is he's not closing because of slow sales. His store is always packed and popular. His used games are cheaper than Gamestop and he has a huge selection of used DVD's. He's closing because the manager of the shopping center where his store is is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person. He has struggled with the company he leases the storefront from because they refuse to repair the a/c. At the same time, his store is at the end of the shopping center and near a large brush field. Needless to say he struggles with break-ins. He had one the Thursday before Heroescon and I think it was the last straw.

 

I had been spending most of my lunch hours at his shop. I also had fun cherry picking his back issue boxes. Made over $200 on ebay the last two months from his backissue bins alone.

 

I appreciate all the input on a good online subscription service too. I really hate not supporting a local shop anymore, but even $6.95 shipping is cheaper than the gas to and from the nearest shop now.

 

This is America, the land of half empty shopping centers. Surely there is vacant space at another one nearby he could move to? Why give up on a store and customers that are making you money? Chances are his other locations are too far away to bring in many of his former customers.

 

Odd decision if you ask me. In this economy he could probably score a great deal on rent too.

 

If his margins are higher and he saves costs (and trouble) with just one store...why do two? You're right to say he can probably score a great deal on rent where they don't maintain the building properly and there's lots of breakins.

 

Even if you might make significantly more money with the second store, the 'safety' factor might offset that significantly depending on the owner's level of risk aversion.

 

but he already has this third store. he's not closing it to avoid risk, he's closing it because he's fed up with his landlord. clearly this is a guy who doesn't mind having multiple stores, particularly if they aren't cannibalizing eachother's customers (I assume they are far away from eachother given how bummed the OP is)

 

of course, "full" of people does not mean profitable as I assume the OP doesn't have access to his books. Borders was always full of people...mostly people milling about looking at stuff, reading stuff and not buying much, especially in the comic section. I'm pretty sure nobody ever bought a comic from the Borders near me, but they sure as heck read them and trashed them on the rack.

[aggr1103]

This is America, the land of half empty shopping centers. Surely there is vacant space at another one nearby he could move to? Why give up on a store and customers that are making you money? Chances are his other locations are too far away to bring in many of his former customers.

 

Odd decision if you ask me. In this economy he could probably score a great deal on rent too.

 

Its a perfect storm:

 

He outgrew his original location and had to find a larger space. The space he is now moving out of looked to be the perfect location as it is in a shopping center at a busy intersection so he would see alot of traffic with rent that he could afford. He moved in a little over a year ago.

 

I know a few months ago he was talking about his lease being up and he was looking for a new location. This was not too long after he opened his store in Colonial Mall in Myrtle Beach. I think when the final break-in happened the Thursday night before Heroescon it was the final straw. He was just fed up with the town. Six break-ins over the span of maybe 14 months was enough. Colonial Mall made him an offer to expand because they need to fill empty space and the new store there is doing exceptionally well. Honestly I know from a comic standpoint the Whiteville store was doing better than his original store in Shallotte and there were always people checking out. He told me the store was making money, he was just fed up with the attempted burglary and the fact that over the past three months the air has been broken and the shopping center management (based out of Charlotte over 2 hours away) has done nothing about it.

 

So, new location doing well + bad experience in my town even though he was making money = time to move and use the old store inventory to build up the new store.

 

And at cheap rent. As you said - this is America: land of opportunists. You can only find cheap rent at storefronts owned by locals. Everything else seems to be owned or managed by companies in Raleigh, Charlotte, or somewhere up north. If the storefront isn't owned by a local the rent is usually 3x as much for the same size space. People want to rent and build small business, but when you price your rent based on rental averages of larger urban areas no one will rent the space. Locally owned shopping centers are full.

[Bookery]

You can only find cheap rent at storefronts owned by locals. Everything else seems to be owned or managed by companies in Raleigh, Charlotte, or somewhere up north. If the storefront isn't owned by a local the rent is usually 3x as much for the same size space. People want to rent and build small business, but when you price your rent based on rental averages of larger urban areas no one will rent the space. Locally owned shopping centers are full.

 

You are fully correct about this! Here in my region of Ohio most of the shopping centers are actually owned by companies in California! They charge the same rate per square foot no matter what region of the country their center is located. Areas with bad economies, like Ohio and Michigan, can't possibly pay those rents, so shopping centers sit empty. And they are fully rigid on this... it makes no difference how many years these properties sit empty.

 

Meanwhile, the downtown I'm in which is mostly locally owned, was until recently all booked up (even some of these buildings are unoccupied at present).

 

Moreover, a lot of the national-chain shopping centers have a multitude of other issues that make rental for something with the customer base of a comic shop unlikely. Not only are the rents usually way beyond what a shop could handle, but the companies, at least around here, also demand a percentage of your profits! If, after the exhorbitant rents, you manage to scrape together a profit, the company expects you to kick back some of that to them. This means that they expect to be able to go through and audit your books at any time. The rooms are usually completely empty at time of rental as well... you are expected to carpet, put up any necessary walls, slatwall, etc., and all of that stays with the building when you leave.

 

I got out of renting years ago, and now own all of my business property. There are problems with doing that too, but still-- I would never go back to the rental route again... though I realize that when you first start out, it's about the only choice you have.

 

[Wally's Comics]

now that we are on sniffle towel stories,...

 

What's even worse is when you have a large bells-n-whistles LCS

come into town and kills the small mom and pop operation that you

treat like family and in a year or two later the big store folds up

it's tent and leaves.

 

 

 

 

[sterlingcomics]

I'm pretty sure nobody ever bought a comic from the Borders near me, but they sure as heck read them and trashed them on the rack.

 

That was my perception as well. :thumbsup:

 

I cried at all of the damaged comics.