Brick and Mortar Comic Book Consignment store viability

[Davenport]

Makes me think of an old bookstore I used to haunt for comics prior to the net/eBay.

 

Pay $__ for any comic. Sell any comic for $__.

 

It sets up a 'treasure hunt' scenario. Never know what showed up unless go and browse the stock.

 

And, from time to time, do a 'blow out' weekend to move the accumulated dregs, generate some extra cash flow.

 

 

[revat]

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)

 

how long do you think it would take to physically sort and tag 500K-1M issues? especially if prices are different at all?

 

i don't mean to rain on your parade, because there are plenty of consignors (online) with models that 'work', but if you're doing drek... in a physical store...

 

and what if people decide they want to pull out their 20K X-men 1 and X-force 1 and valiant comics after three months? Then a month later decide they want back in?

 

thats without bringing up the estimated 75K issue sales.

 

Your shop will get full of stuff that will never, ever sell.

[the blob]

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)

 

then sell at a flea market, regularly. become known to collectors in your area. you will be open on the day(s) [sat and/or sun] they actually have time to go shop rather than sitting in your store M - F twiddling your thumbs (and paying rent) as 2 people come in per day (because you're not going to get any rush on new comics day). believe me, i have seriously considered it as there was a year-round indoor flea market ran out of a public school on the weekend near where I lived in manhattan and there were NO comic shops in the area at the time (the upper west side -- population 300K or so)

[MichaelB1973]

i won't be sorting them. each customers issues would be located in its own booth and would be logically separated by digital tags

[Prince Namor]

If you're going to do a comic book shop, why wouldn't you do new releases?

Pull and Hold, Customers come in each week, you make your profit if you order correctly. Diamond has some great programs for new retailers and you can still sell your cheap books as add ons.

The problem is finding a location that isn't swamped with comic stores already.

I wonder if Diamond maybe even has an idea of areas throughout the U.S. that feel they haven't covered...

[MrBedrock]

The "retail comic shop customer" can be broken down into many sub-categories. The type of customer you would be appealing to with your proposal is the one which is first, a collector; second, looking for a deal; and third, only interested in dated material. That subset of of the "retail comic shop customer", from my experience, is maybe 1 or 2 percent of the whole. In the early years of comic shops that customer was the backbone of the business because that was what customers were programmed to expect out of a comic shop. But as the years have gone by and the retail experience of comic shops has changed the customer base expects something totally different. That's the central reason why the subset of customers who would find that type of store appealing enough to regularly shop there has diminished so greatly. People still like to browse back issue bins. But now they do it in a way that creates an add on sale as opposed to the old days when that was the primary intent for their visit.

[MrBedrock]

 

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?

 

How many long boxes can be comfortably placed in 300 sq. ft.?

Remember, we aren't talking about new issues. Those can generate a ton of revenue off of sixteen or so linear feet. And new issues turn weekly so the inventory in that space is constantly fresh. But back issues take up significantly more space.

[revat]

i won't be sorting them. each customers issues would be located in its own booth and would be logically separated by digital tags

 

this might be ok under the supposition that in this day and age, customers don't mind flipping through hundreds of thousands of unsorted comics that are mostly drek, unlikely to be in good condition, to find a few random back issues they might be interested, or the 1 in a million gem.

 

There are people like that, but they're getting fewer and far between. And you have to suppose that person has the time and not just the desire as well. My LCS has a huge 50cent bin full of the drek that this store will be full of. It does get picked through occasionally, but there's a LOT left in there considering its just 50 cents. $2 comics? $1 bins are the same way, and you want to charge $2 per?

 

The only place this would even remotely have a chance is NYC just because the population is so big. But then you can expect your rent (and theft) to be triple. And people there don't have cars, so they can't bring boxes and boxes of stuff to and from the store as easily.

[Davenport]

The "retail comic shop customer" can be broken down into many sub-categories. The type of customer you would be appealing to with your proposal is the one which is first, a collector; second, looking for a deal; and third, only interested in dated material. That subset of of the "retail comic shop customer", from my experience, is maybe 1 or 2 percent of the whole.

I remember a heated rant by a comic shop owner who "ain't gonna become no f 'n Spencer's Gifts, man". He didn't make it, while the competitor he was railing about is still going strong, bigger than ever.

[the blob]

 

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?

 

How many long boxes can be comfortably placed in 300 sq. ft.?

Remember, we aren't talking about new issues. Those can generate a ton of revenue off of sixteen or so linear feet. And new issues turn weekly so the inventory in that space is constantly fresh. But back issues take up significantly more space.

 

i agree, if it's a dollar box store that's tough to do in a tiny space.

 

he had a wall of long boxes, I'd guess about 10-15 across, three levels, so perhaps 30-45 long boxes of cheap stuff. behind the counter he had the better stuff on the wall or in boxes he'd pull out for you to peruse. he also had a glass display of toys and one for sports cards and on the other wall new comics and some spinner racks.

 

yes, it was crammed in there, but that's what you do with manhattan rents. In 1989 - 1993 he was pulling about $250K a year out of the store (he was a tax cheat and only took cash)..of course, a chunk of that was sports cards for the first half of that time. plus, he was a compulsive gambler, so not much got saved....

[the blob]

The only place this would even remotely have a chance is NYC just because the population is so big. But then you can expect your rent (and theft) to be triple.

 

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Triple? Hah! I called about a 400 square foot spot near where I live in a Brooklyn ghetto and was quoted $2K/mo and it's not even on a busy street!

[MrBedrock]

We are planning a move that would expand our retail space in our main store from 2400 ft to about 4500 sq ft. (it would also greatly increase our parking, but that's another story). I don't expect any of that additional space will be devoted to back issues. But it will make the existing back issue displays much more accessible. And we will be able to have a dedicated high value back issue viewing room. I'm pretty excited about that. All of you nerds who come to Houston to look at old funnybooks will get the full Texas treatment.

[Dale Roberts]

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.

 

There is simply not enough info here to give any sort of accurate assessment. Where are you located, what is the population, what is the draw for people to come in? What makes you different than every other store with a discount section?

 

Personally, to have any chance of working, you have to be in an area where square footage is cheap, and if not high traffic, easy to reach.

 

And I don't care if you have a million comics (I am guessing that if you in fact do have 1 million comics(thats about 3500 - 4000 long boxes), there is enormous duplication), you are going to have to add inventory constantly to keep people coming in and be interested in finding books. There would need to be some home runs in the books to keep people coming in, because honestly, you can go to Chicago or a similar show and there are all of the same books represented, maybe not in the same quantity that you may possess.

 

I don't see how consignment works at all in this circumstance. Lets say someone consigns you 40 boxes of books. What is going to make those 40 boxes stand out from your other 3500 boxes? And how do you keep 1 million comics straight as far as what is sold, and who the money goes to. It just seems unworkable.

[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.

 

There is simply not enough info here to give any sort of accurate assessment. Where are you located, what is the population, what is the draw for people to come in? What makes you different than every other store with a discount section?

 

Personally, to have any chance of working, you have to be in an area where square footage is cheap, and if not high traffic, easy to reach.

 

And I don't care if you have a million comics (I am guessing that if you in fact do have 1 million comics(thats about 3500 - 4000 long boxes), there is enormous duplication), you are going to have to add inventory constantly to keep people coming in and be interested in finding books. There would need to be some home runs in the books to keep people coming in, because honestly, you can go to Chicago or a similar show and there are all of the same books represented, maybe not in the same quantity that you may possess.

 

I don't see how consignment works at all in this circumstance. Lets say someone consigns you 40 boxes of books. What is going to make those 40 boxes stand out from your other 3500 boxes? And how do you keep 1 million comics straight as far as what is sold, and who the money goes to. It just seems unworkable.

Other than the inept use of the quote function I agree whole-heartedly.

[revat]

Oh and you have to do tax stuff. Sales tax, plus tax stuff for yourself, plus tax stuff for your consignors.

 

How will you pay your consignors, will you cut 100-200 different checks every month? Some of which will be less than $2-$5? You will have to print it, put it in an envelope, and put a stamp on EACH to mail it out.

 

 

Plus if you take credit/debit card, they take even more money off the top.

 

 

And on top of this and all that was said before, the target population is dwindling AND people want things more instantaneously than ever before, which many cases means doing a websearch and buying online.

[brooksone]

As I sit here and read this weeks new books, I must admit that I too have thought of opening a brick and mortar store with a focus on $1 comics. I think the consignment part will be too much trouble in the end. Not everyone has the ability to put their own scanning labels on every comic. Then you run the risk of having the same bar code on differant peoples comics.

 

I would also stress the importance of carring new stock so you can draw customers back weekly or monthly. This is where the profit will reside. I have listed on ebay as a hobby for the last year selling all comics for $1 and have found that ity pays for itself but not a lot of extra profit. Also sales suffer if I don't constantly keep adding new stock to the store. If I had to make a living at this I would be broke.

 

However, if I had the stock to open a store I would still give it a he** of a try. I like the ability to get the 1 or 2 issues I need instead of buying complete runs to fill in the gaps.

[boomtown]

We had a guy try this in San Antonio a couple of years ago. I forget what his per book price was, but it was $75 a long box. First trip there I loaded 2 long boxes full of Walking Dead, Pre Unity Valiant, The Goon, etc. & 100 or so copies of New Teen Titans #1. The next time I went in he was offering $35 per box & I loaded up on Vertigo runs, Spider-Man, Batman & and basically the complete CrossGen library of books. By the 3rd time he was offering $15 long boxes, which was nice for reading stuff because he had nice solid runs of a bunch of stuff.

 

This lasted for 3 or 4 months, anytime he got a new collection he would advertise it on Craigs-List. I'd head over about once a month. But by the end there were just huge stretches of books from the 90s, with blocks of the same issue. Overall I probably ended up with around 8-10 long boxes of books, but by the end it was pretty difficult to find anything even worth reading. I don't think he lasted more than the 4 months.

[batman_fan]

Every place I have ever seen that has this type of model, it always goes through the same steps

1. Great first 1 - 3 months

2. okay 3 - 6 months

3. what the heck happened 6 - 9 months

4. how the heck can I break my lease 9 - 12 months

 

As other have pointed out, getting decent replacement material will be a struggle. Without a continual stream of new material coming in, you won't get people coming in and all the "best" stuff will get cherry picked the first few months leaving the dreck of the dreck of the dreck. Quickly you will have your $2, $1, $0.50, and $0.25 bins to move stuff.

[dupont2005]

Just comics? No. No way would it work.

 

If it were comics, anime, toys and statues and collectibles, video games, and any other nerd paraphernalia or hipster collectible (If someone brought in old Playboys, pulps, smut novels, music mags, vinyl and 8-track, whatever) then it could work in the right area. There's second hand stores on South La Brea Ave in LA charging $200 for a used old tee shirt, and they stay in business. They had a bunch of old Playboys in mag bags and a handful of old music zines. In fact most stores in that area have a zine or two for sale along with whatever they actually sell. You can get Tintin comics and old smutty novels at American Rag. But just old issues of X-Men and Batman? No way.

[dupont2005]

The only place this would even remotely have a chance is NYC just because the population is so big. But then you can expect your rent (and theft) to be triple.

 

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Triple? Hah! I called about a 400 square foot spot near where I live in a Brooklyn ghetto and was quoted $2K/mo and it's not even on a busy street!

I found a nice sized garage/warehouse thing locally with an air conditioned office that could have been made into a tiny bedroom/studio and the rent is less than I pay for my crappy old place. For a second I had a dream of buying a little Ford Transit and becoming an American Picker. but then I came to my senses.