kids and comics...

[jokersrevenge]

I don't have a LCS, so I'm wondering, when you go to pick up comics ... Are there younger adults and kids in there buying comics? or is it just an older crowd, still hanging on to their past?

[Maccai3]

anywhere from 18 to 50, mostly mid 20's and late 40's at my LCS

[oakman29]

I see kids in my LCS all the time.

[Mr 9.8]

I don't have a LCS, so I'm wondering, when you go to pick up comics ... Are there younger adults and kids in there buying comics? or is it just an older crowd, still hanging on to their past?

Both.

I'm constantly surprised how many teens come in to buy comics and of course parents coming in with their kids to buy comics that their kids want. (this happened a lot when Thor, The Avengers and the batman movies came out)

[tinynascarfan-migration]

There are a lot of younger folks, teens and twenties i would figure that hang out at my LCS but they all are there to play Wizard, or Pokemon or whatever the hot card game is.

I have not seen a person younger than 20 buy a comic book in any of my LCShops in many years now.

And i cant blame them, if they get 10 bucks a week most of them spend that money on phone minutes. at least that is what my daughter tells me.

 

[vader2001]

For me it depends on which LCS I go to, I have 4 in my area. Although 1 of them is mostly selling new stuff and orders way to many. Another one has new comics and a lot of video games and Magic cards(resellers) that attract alot of kids that play Magic. Another one has some new stuff and when they don't sell he usually puts them in a $1 box, he has a lot of toys. My favorite store has an awesome selection of back issues and new issues but I hardly see any kids in that store.

[Whizzer]

We have loads of customers in the 11 to 16 age group, both male and female.

 

If there is one market demographic the comic book industry neglects more than any other, it is the pre teen age group, which seems silly when you consider that most collectors of my age started quite young.

 

The number of 11-16 year olds we see is increasing all the time, which indicates that kids this age aren't perhaps as entirely addicted to purely high tech forms of entertainment as might have been thought.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

I only visit occasionally, but I've been seeing more kids than in the past if there is anyone in the store at all.

 

When I did frequent a comic shop about 15 years ago, parents would drop their young kids off while they went to neighboring stores. When the parent came back to get them an hour later, the kid would say "Mommy, get me this!". The mom would look at the price and say "That's too expensive" and leave buying nothing. The comic shop employees were essentially babysitting the kids for free.

 

DG

[nocutename]

One shop by my house will get the occasional dad picking up his comics. I rarely see them wanting to spend money on the kids though. You can always here the that's too expensive for a comic.

 

My new shop I go to gets a ton of families and they do purchase comics for their kids. But overall it is mainly the 25-40 yr crowd that keeps the shop in business.

[buuduh]

Mostly people 18 to 50

[Psithyrus]

I see a good combination of kids through adults. The differences I see are in what they're purchasing.

[nwpassage]

What a shame.

[Radj4ck]

I see a good combination of kids through adults. The differences I see are in what they're purchasing.

 

Just out of curiosity, what do you see kids buy?

[rjrjr]

One shop by my house will get the occasional dad picking up his comics. I rarely see them wanting to spend money on the kids though. You can always here the that's too expensive for a comic.

 

My new shop I go to gets a ton of families and they do purchase comics for their kids. But overall it is mainly the 25-40 yr crowd that keeps the shop in business.

 

For the rare visit to the LCS (30 minutes away) I usually take one or both of my kids with me. I always steer them to the back issue bins where they can pick up comics for $1.00 or less. The reasons, they are just going to read the comic once and throw it somewhere where the cover will undoubtedly become detached. Eventually, my wife will clean and the comics will be tossed if I'm not around to save them. (Ask me sometime about a large stack of Gold Key/Whitman funny books from the 70s that I purchase for my two kids that got thrown out ... Ouch!)

 

I find that $3.99 is too expense to purchase on disposable entertainment.

[Psithyrus]

I see a good combination of kids through adults. The differences I see are in what they're purchasing.

 

Just out of curiosity, what do you see kids buy?

 

I should have specified era, as well. I see kids with things like Spider-Man or some of the kids' titles. Older kids, Walking Dead, Fables, X-Men, Batman. Adults, some Moderns but often also digging through back issues and higher dollar stuff (which isn't and shouldn't be surprising).

 

The shop has tons of other comics-related items, as well.

 

 

[BaltimoreLauren]

The LCS I used to visit was overrun with people under the age of 20. It was actually refreshing! However I go to a store closet to my house, where it's a pretty mixed bag. I guess Baltimore has a good balance.

[Logan510]

I haven't seen "kids" buying comics since I was one myself buying them at the local 7-11 / drugstore. Once I started going to comic shops ( which my mother had to drive me to as opposed to riding my bike to the previous venues ) I rarely saw people there my own age until I became a late teen and could drive myself.

[Maccai3]

One shop by my house will get the occasional dad picking up his comics. I rarely see them wanting to spend money on the kids though. You can always here the that's too expensive for a comic.

 

My new shop I go to gets a ton of families and they do purchase comics for their kids. But overall it is mainly the 25-40 yr crowd that keeps the shop in business.

 

For the rare visit to the LCS (30 minutes away) I usually take one or both of my kids with me. I always steer them to the back issue bins where they can pick up comics for $1.00 or less. The reasons, they are just going to read the comic once and throw it somewhere where the cover will undoubtedly become detached. Eventually, my wife will clean and the comics will be tossed if I'm not around to save them. (Ask me sometime about a large stack of Gold Key/Whitman funny books from the 70s that I purchase for my two kids that got thrown out ... Ouch!)

 

I find that $3.99 is too expense to purchase on disposable entertainment.

 

i bought my near 3 year old a My Little Pony (although i really should have read it first, looks abit violent), its just bent and creased

[The Less Blob]

2 of the shops I routinely frequent definitely aim for kid customers. Both are in relatively affluent residential areas, one is near a school, both have parents walking in with their kids after school or on the weekends with the kids being allowed a reading treat or whatever. so we're talking about a $3-$15 purchase (presubaly some GNs or tpbs are getting sold too) and not a kid with a file picking up 12 books a week.

 

the shops near my office, in less residential areas, for obvious reasons not so much.

[chrisco37]

One shop by my house will get the occasional dad picking up his comics. I rarely see them wanting to spend money on the kids though. You can always here the that's too expensive for a comic.

 

My new shop I go to gets a ton of families and they do purchase comics for their kids. But overall it is mainly the 25-40 yr crowd that keeps the shop in business.

 

For the rare visit to the LCS (30 minutes away) I usually take one or both of my kids with me. I always steer them to the back issue bins where they can pick up comics for $1.00 or less. The reasons, they are just going to read the comic once and throw it somewhere where the cover will undoubtedly become detached. Eventually, my wife will clean and the comics will be tossed if I'm not around to save them. (Ask me sometime about a large stack of Gold Key/Whitman funny books from the 70s that I purchase for my two kids that got thrown out ... Ouch!)

 

I find that $3.99 is too expense to purchase on disposable entertainment.

 

i bought my near 3 year old a My Little Pony (although i really should have read it first, looks abit violent), its just bent and creased

 

Yep. Bought my daughter #1 (she's 4) for Xmas and it's beaten to heck already. A little bit intense for her age really. And too pricey to buy anymore. $3.99 is too much for something that gets destroyed in a day or two. If it was a buck, I'd get her the next one.

 

I was just at the store on Saturday and was looking at the kids section. Every book I saw had $3.99 cover. Who's gonna pay that for a little kid?