Brick and Mortar Comic Book Consignment store viability

[MichaelB1973]

Just curious as to what everyone thinks...

 

Selling individual common issues (for $1 - $10 each) online when you have to list them, takes pics, etc seems so difficult to make a profit.

 

Does anyone think that a purely brick and mortar comic book store (that sold only back issues) could ever survive if you used a consignment model? Or is the non-online back issue market toast?

 

For example, local residents would drop off their collection of bronze and later books at the store. Everything would be priced the same. Say $2 each. Or maybe $1.50. The stock would be constantly rotating as these would all be consignment items. How many back issues (in a medium sized city) do you think would sell a week if you had approximately 1 million 1976 to current issues at $2 each. How about $1.50?

 

This store could earn money on higher value issues on ebay and what not. But what about just for cheap common issues?

 

 

 

Final Note...it was a thought but the community suggestions convinced me otherwise.

[miraclemet]

interesting thinking...

 

the problem is the store would get flooded with dreck that no one wanted (think 90s), and never get any bigger dollar books to consign because the onramp for individuals to just list the books themselves (and thus get 100% of the realized price) is pretty easy these days.

 

The merchandise value per square foot would make it almost impossible to pay retail shop rates. It might work in a more warehouse type environment where the cost per sq foot is lower, but then you arent doing retail traffic, you'd have to do things online or mail order...

 

 

[Bookery]

 

We sell over 500 dollar-comics per week out of our Discount Division, and we're not in a big city. But we try to maintain a quality selection as well.

 

The problem I see is with the consignment part. By the time you log in and track all of your consignor info, and make sure each and every item is assessed properly to the consignor when it's sold, you might as well still be doing eBay insofar as hassle goes.

 

Comics from the mid-70s up can generally be bought very cheaply, so there's little reason not to just purchase them outright yourself.

[MichaelB1973]

setting the details aside of managing inventory, what do people think about number of common issues (70s to now) for $2 each. If I have a million of these issues, do you think I could sell a few hundred issues per day? I keep hearing how stores go days on end without back issue sales.

[MichaelB1973]

is this just brick and mortar or also internet?

 

$500 is a start, but I don't think $26,000/year in sales would be enough.

[MrBedrock]

Let's assume you need about 1500 sq, ft of space (1000 retail, 500 storage and office).

 

And let's assume rent and overages cost per month on that space is $1.50 per foot (I'm averaging here realizing that in some places it will be much more, some places much less). That is $3000 per month.

 

And let's assume you fixed costs per month (phones, internet, electricity, alarms etc.) at $1000 per month.

 

And let's make up a number to cover supplies needed to conduct your business (paper, merchandise bags, toilet paper, pencils, tape, etc.) at $300.00 per month on average.

 

That's $4300 per month in essentially fixed operating costs.

 

That does not include you initial build out costs (fixtures, signage, deposits, permit fees etc.) That could run in the tens of thousands of dollars. But we won't include that for now.

 

At this point you already need to sell 2150 books per month just to break even on your fixed costs.

 

But I assume you will want to earn a salary out of this place too. Let's say you are frugal and can live on $1000 per month. That's 500 additional books that need to be sold.

 

2650 books per month just to cover fixed costs and your meager salary.

 

And remember you are only relying on $2 back issues to draw in customers. You will have no other media generating product, no new issue buzz, no advertising incentives other than old discounted back issues.

 

I personally don't think it is viable over a long stretch.

[seanfingh]

Let's assume you need about 1500 sq, ft of space (1000 retail, 500 storage and office).

 

And let's assume rent and overages cost per month on that space is $1.50 per foot (I'm averaging here realizing that in some places it will be much more, some places much less). That is $3000 per month.

 

And let's assume you fixed costs per month (phones, internet, electricity, alarms etc.) at $1000 per month.

 

And let's make up a number to cover supplies needed to conduct your business (paper, merchandise bags, toilet paper, pencils, tape, etc.) at $300.00 per month on average.

 

That's $4300 per month in essentially fixed operating costs.

 

That does not include you initial build out costs (fixtures, signage, deposits, permit fees etc.) That could run in the tens of thousands of dollars. But we won't include that for now.

 

At this point you already need to sell 2150 books per month just to break even on your fixed costs.

 

But I assume you will want to earn a salary out of this place too. Let's say you are frugal and can live on $1000 per month. That's 500 additional books that need to be sold.

 

2650 books per month just to cover fixed costs and your meager salary.

 

And remember you are only relying on $2 back issues to draw in customers. You will have no other media generating product, no new issue buzz, no advertising incentives other than old discounted back issues.

 

I personally don't think it is viable over a long stretch.

 

 

It's got to be hard for you to imagine a store that is not propped up with breath mint sales.

[MrBedrock]

It's got to be hard for you to imagine a store that is not propped up with breath mint sales.

If you are going to open a comic shop you need to have the basics.

[MrBedrock]

Superman Pajama Pants!

[MichaelB1973]

Rent can be had for much cheaper than $3000. Again moot. I am well versed in P&L, operational considerations, etc.

 

 

I am simply trying to determine how many issues a back only store might expect. With a million back issues, is 300-400 issues a day reasonable? I suspect not, but wanted opinions.

 

Dammit man, I am a doctor not a comic book geek

 

Bones

[sckao]

For this to work, I'm thinking you need to follow the Frank and Sons method.

 

Industrial area but near a large population. A warehouse... preferably already paid for...

Space rentals... but you make it easy for people to set up shop there.

 

So you DON'T do comic consignments... You're a landlord/promoter and you provide a venue.

 

If it was a pop-up type flea market, even better.

 

In this age of social media and websites, pop-up comic flea markets might actually work.

 

 

 

 

[revat]

its cute that you think tracking consignment and handling the duties involved with maintaining a physical store (if someone 'consigned' you 300-400 issues a day, you'd have to sort that many EVERY DAY, and they're likely to not have more than 1 of each comic) are somehow easier than just taking pictures and posting online sales.

 

Everything has to go into 'the system' anyways, so its not too hard add the extra step and post pictures online.

 

There are very few brick and mortar stores successful already, and this seems like an even less viable model to begin with. But if its something you're passionate about, who knows?

[MrBedrock]

You have had one retailer (Tim at The Bookery) say already that he sells 500 per week at $1 per. He has an incredibly diverse, and very large store in a fairly large city (Dayton Ohio). I don't sell $1 books any longer in my main store. We determined that they just didn't generate enough revenue to justify the square footage that they took up. Two of my stores do have a limited amount of $1 books available. But when I say the effect on the bottom line is negligible it is an understatement. I doubt if we sell more that 200 per month at either of those locations.

 

Now if I made all of my back stock available at $1 per book we would have a gangbuster first month. But diminishing returns dictates that eventually we couldn't maintain that initial momentum. And at some point we would be losing money on a monthly basis.

 

There was a store here in the early nineties which tried to do exactly what you are proposing. He was open for about three years. Every comic was $1 and he bought bulk to replenish his stock. By year two he was running poker games out of his back room to supplement his income. By year three he was ready to give it up when Tropical Storm Allison dropped sixty inches of rain on Houston over a two day period. He had six feet of water in his store. A total disaster for many. His store was totally destroyed. But he had insurance. He took that money, shut his shop, and ran. He now plays poker for a living.

[the blob]

The problem I see is with the consignment part. By the time you log in and track all of your consignor info, and make sure each and every item is assessed properly to the consignor when it's sold, you might as well still be doing eBay insofar as hassle goes.

 

-----------

 

the info could be on bar codes or something on the price tags. all 3,000 price tags from a given consignment will have the info. if you have a scanner/bar code reading set-up it should not be that hard. and since we're only talking about 2 or 3 different prices you can spit out a bunch of price tag sheets in advance and put them on when the books go into inventory.

 

obviously it all depends on how much rent you're paying.

 

and the problem is there are not THAT many folks who will go out of their way just to buy cheap back issues like this, and probably very few in a small city. on the other hand, the potential customer base expands greatly when you include people coming to the shop to buy their monthlies or TPBs who then check out the back issues/

[MichaelB1973]

the point of this venture is for people not to have to sell their own comics. If I have 2000 70s and up books, I can:

 

1. sell them on ebay as a lot for 8 to 20 cents each.

 

2. spend massive amounts of time to sell them for a few dollars each.

 

3. consign them (where maybe I sell them for $2 each...give $1 to owner and $1 to myself).

 

 

If I have 100 - 300 people consigning with me (maybe 500,000-1 million issues), I would need to sell 75,000 issues per year to make $50,000 or so after expenses (not a huge salary, but a starting point)

[MichaelB1973]

i don't think I want to do tpbs or new issues...

 

i imagine it as a flee market of back issues. i just don't know if this market still exists. i think I may be stuck in the 80s where it was a treat to treasure hunt for back issues.

 

I still remember buying my first comic book in 1980 (the Flash)

[MichaelB1973]

awesome info MrBedRock about the bookery. did he say he was selling them for $1 each. I must have missed that. How much stock? If he had 10 times as many issues, would he sell more?

[the blob]

Let's assume you need about 1500 sq, ft of space (1000 retail, 500 storage and office).

 

And let's assume rent and overages cost per month on that space is $1.50 per foot (I'm averaging here realizing that in some places it will be much more, some places much less). That is $3000 per month.

 

And let's assume you fixed costs per month (phones, internet, electricity, alarms etc.) at $1000 per month.

 

And let's make up a number to cover supplies needed to conduct your business (paper, merchandise bags, toilet paper, pencils, tape, etc.) at $300.00 per month on average.

 

That's $4300 per month in essentially fixed operating costs.

 

That does not include you initial build out costs (fixtures, signage, deposits, permit fees etc.) That could run in the tens of thousands of dollars. But we won't include that for now.

 

At this point you already need to sell 2150 books per month just to break even on your fixed costs.

 

But I assume you will want to earn a salary out of this place too. Let's say you are frugal and can live on $1000 per month. That's 500 additional books that need to be sold.

 

2650 books per month just to cover fixed costs and your meager salary.

 

And remember you are only relying on $2 back issues to draw in customers. You will have no other media generating product, no new issue buzz, no advertising incentives other than old discounted back issues.

 

I personally don't think it is viable over a long stretch.

 

1500 square feet?? mr. bedrock, you are clearly thinking of texas size portions! of course, if you're selling cheap-o books, you probably do need a ton of space. with that said, my old LCS in law school and a bit afterward could not have been more than 150-200 square feet with 200-300 square feet of storage in the basement. they sold a mix of everything though.

 

with that said, you need really cheap space. my recollection is that junkdrawer is paying $350/mo rent for his storefront. let's say you want 2X as much space?

 

 

[MichaelB1973]

the idea is that the person consigning the books adds a digitally coded sticker to every issue (not me, but them). when someone brings up a book, i scan it and a program keeps track of what was sold. I would never spend the time to actually keep track of what particular issues came in...only the x books sold for customer y.

[Murrs]

DollarBackissues.com

 

Sort of the same idea but no consignments.

Its tough to move things some people have no interest in but however if you had the brick and mortar you would be leaving a lot of money on the table by not having new books TPB's and manga and such.