Marvel to Abandon Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores

[Buzzetta]

My current LCS has said he maybe has 3-5 years left in him as the ability to move around long boxes and diamond shipping boxes is for the young.

 

Once he folds I think I am done...

 

Brick and mortar stores are closing up around the nation and comic book stores will go the way of everything else. However I do not see the end of paper comic book as we know it. Before everyone goes digital I see an online mail order distribution for comics... something like we all can order directly from Diamond...

 

[GIJOEISAWESOME-migration]

My current LCS has said he maybe has 3-5 years left in him as the ability to move around long boxes and diamond shipping boxes is for the young.

 

Once he folds I think I am done...

 

Brick and mortar stores are closing up around the nation and comic book stores will go the way of everything else. However I do not see the end of paper comic book as we know it. Before everyone goes digital I see an online mail order distribution for comics... something like we all can order directly from Diamond...

 

That will make HG's and 9.8 census toppers hard to come by

[Fan Boy]

Growing up in the early 70's, all of my comic purchases were made from 7/11 stores from the spinner racks. While my interest now is purely backissue acquisition, I never have understood where new readers would come from if the books were not readily accessible in high traffic stores.

 

I am of the same in what you did. From my early days in mid-70s I would ride my sting-ray bike to the local grocery store to pick up the new comics every 2 weeks or so. Until I discovered a local comic book store (well, it was actually mixed used bookstore/comic store) in 1979. That's when I started to buy my comics there most of times.

 

But I still love the spinner rack days!

 

So Marvel is going to abandon them for good? Well, these bookstores like Chapters were never good for regular comic books. Graphic novels? Yes, they still sell ok, but comic books? No. Even Safeway food stores are having hard time to sell comic books - it's now mostly digests only

[shadroch]

Marvel has made some strategic decisions in the past that have ultimately hurt sales in the long term for comics. Anyone remember the self distribution fiasco where they bought Friendly Franks?

 

This looks like another one of those decisions. It is - just like high cover prices and reboots - a short term effort at maximizing profits that lacks any long term strategic vision of expanding the customer base.

 

 

You aren't comparing Ron Perlman and his corporate raiders to Disney, are. you?

[MrBedrock]

Interesting thread...some thoughts...

 

1) Digital is our newsstand. I first bought comics at Stop 'n Go, a local convenience store. Riding the bike, the spinner rack, the whole deal. So as a fan I miss that. As a store owner I have really missed it for the last twenty five years or so. But the last three years (since DC 52 and the beginnings of digital) have seen a huge increase in new readers for us. Digital is our newsstand.

 

2) A fairly well connected commercial real estate guy here has told me repeatedly over the last twelve months that Barnes and Noble will be vacating Houston by late 2014. Our main store is directly across the street from a big BnN. There was a time when they were real competition for graphic novel dollars. Then they were sending customers to us for items they were not stocking. For the last twelve months or so they have been no competition at all.

 

3) Walmart will never carry periodical comics for the simple reason that the publishers will not bow to their terms...super deep discounts off wholesale AND returnability. It ain't gonna happen.

 

4) I do think many smaller shops have closed, and will close. New stores are opening though. We've had three new shops open in our area, two by former employees. They are doing well. Regionally the larger shops are expanding and adding locations at a record pace. I don't think it will be long before we see a chain of stores break out of their regional constraints and start to grow out nationally.

[Prince Namor]

Interesting thread...some thoughts...

 

1) Digital is our newsstand. I first bought comics at Stop 'n Go, a local convenience store. Riding the bike, the spinner rack, the whole deal. So as a fan I miss that. As a store owner I have really missed it for the last twenty five years or so. But the last three years (since DC 52 and the beginnings of digital) have seen a huge increase in new readers for us. Digital is our newsstand.

 

2) A fairly well connected commercial real estate guy here has told me repeatedly over the last twelve months that Barnes and Noble will be vacating Houston by late 2014. Our main store is directly across the street from a big BnN. There was a time when they were real competition for graphic novel dollars. Then they were sending customers to us for items they were not stocking. For the last twelve months or so they have been no competition at all.

 

3) Walmart will never carry periodical comics for the simple reason that the publishers will not bow to their terms...super deep discounts off wholesale AND returnability. It ain't gonna happen.

 

4) I do think many smaller shops have closed, and will close. New stores are opening though. We've had three new shops open in our area, two by former employees. They are doing well. Regionally the larger shops are expanding and adding locations at a record pace. I don't think it will be long before we see a chain of stores break out of their regional constraints and start to grow out nationally.

 

1) Yep.

 

2) Amazon has really hurt the brick and mortar book stores. I miss going to them, but of the ones we have around here, I find I'm going less and less...

 

3) Yep.

 

4) +1. As the market has changed, stores have needed to adapt. It takes work to succeed in retail, and having a 'simple' comic book store these days, is tough to do. Diversification of product is needed to give more people more reasons to visit a store. Plenty of success stories out there...

[reptilekingdie]

Who cares, I don't read any modern marvel anymore unless they are dirt cheap.

[fastballspecial]

Grocery stores, 7-11, CVS, Walgreens all for me till I was around 17.

 

I really look for a change at the top of the Marvel leadership this next year. Too many things are going wrong for Marvel. Sales are down along with readership, Newstand decision, bought out by a company that wants success. I can only guess that Disney wont keep allowing poor fiscal decisions unless they are pushing them.

 

I am actually seeing Brick and Mortar stores opening back up this next year. I know of 3. All 3 will be run by people who actually understand the business and utilize online venues to help their business. Paper sales are on the up this past year. Part of the problem for brick and mortar has always been the wrong type of owners run them. They used to get into owning a store because they love comics not because they like running a business. Economic darwinism and age is helping slowly change that.

 

 

 

[Mutie Fan]

I bought a few issues off the rack at my local mini mart as a young kid, but I started going to comic shops in the mid 80's and never really looked back. We had 2-3 good shops in Fresno from the mid 80's to the mid 90's when I got out of the hobby in high school. Now there is only one shop in town that carries current issues. I haven't been in Barnes and Noble in a while, but I don't recall them stocking individual issues, only TPBs.

 

Fresno, California? That's where I live now! I actually grew up about a 30 minute drive south of there in a small town, Kingsburg.

 

Growing up, I mostly bought my comics at local grocery stores, which mostly had DC and Marvel. If you went in the toy isle you found Whitman 3-packs. The local drug store, Ostrems Pharmacy, had Harvey's. Every once in a while we'd stop at a 7-Eleven or liquor store in Fresno on our way to a vacation trip. That's where I'd find stuff like Charlton's and Epic titles.

 

I discovered Fresno's best comic store, Sierra Comics, in the mid-80's. I didn't start making monthly trips up there to get my pull books until the late 80's. When the first Batman movie came out it seemed like comic book stores exploded in Fresno, seems like there was at least a half-dozen different ones. Now Heroes is really the only decent shop in the area. There's a couple others that focus on new issues, but they're dives.

 

I'm going to miss comics at Barnes & Nobel. I don't know that they sold a lot. But if Heroes sold out of a hot DC, Marvel or Dark Horse issue, I could just pop into B&N on Friday and usually find a copy. Usually wasn't in the best shape, but at least I'd have a decent reader.

 

That's how I got my copy of Daredevil #21.

 

Sierra Comics was fantastic, I miss that shop. Wonderland in the Tower District is still there, but its not worth going into. Haven't carried any new books in 10 years or so and Wayne has no idea what he has. If you want to spend the time to sort through the back you can find some mint untouched issues of drek, but its been picked over for decades and the "employees" who sleep on the floor in the back hide anything good that comes in.

[DeliBebek]

Interesting thread...some thoughts...

 

1) Digital is our newsstand. …

 

3) Walmart will never carry periodical comics …

 

4) …I don't think it will be long before we see a chain of stores break out of their regional constraints and start to grow out nationally.

 

1) There is truth in this. There are a few series that I began buying monthly after reading from .cbr files. I went back and collected the missed issues in hard copy, even though I'd read them. New releases and back issues can both benefit from a judicious use of digital availability.

 

3) …again. There were a couple of years in the mid-90s when newsstand comics were available at almost any Wal-Mart, albeit on a spinner rack in the toy section. I don't believe it will happen again.

 

4) Brand recognition is valuable among retailers. See the DCBS thread as a gauge of collectors' commitment to carefully-handled comics.

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

Marvel doesn't give a about comic books. It's 2014. Advanced technology has made comic books irrelevant and obsolete. Great companies think forward, not backwards. Marvel will make tens/hundreds of BILLIONS in the next century in movie, cartoons, and video games. What kind of fool would waste their time struggling to make a few pennies on the dollar with comic books? Oh yeah... the undistinguished competition out there. Say goodbye to comic books and that sinful waste of paper.

 

Make Mine Marvel ! Keep that Money Train a Rollin' !

 

We salute you, Marvel !! (thumbs u

[Buzzetta]

I am of the thought that within the next twenty years the number of malls will decrease, the number of mega malls will increase and retailers as we know it will close shop and online retailers like Amazon, Zappos dominate the industry.

 

Sure, places that provide items that are of immediate need like food stores, plumbing and electrical supply stores and things of that nature will survive. Target and Walmart will survive. However specialty stores will not. Toys R Us has it's years numbered. Baby's R Us will outlast the parent corporation. Best Buy will eventually close as I see more people shopping with their mobile apps in hand scanning items and then ordering them from Amazon while in Best Buy. (I am guilty of doing that myself and have seen others do it.)

 

Comic Books are but a blip on the retail industry and perhaps digital media is the way to remain relevant. What is the price of a monthly issue going to be in 2015? Are we really going to have 18 page comics books for $4.50? That's where we seem to be headed if we want to see a printed format. Do you want to pay $5 an issue by 2017?

 

Digital media seems to be the only way to curb the eventual price increases while still offering the current form of visual entertainment. I know we have been speaking of the demise of the comic book for years, but I do not think it will eventually be a forced issue but one that the publishers will embrace. I eventually see individual issues published digitally while collections are published in a TPB format or omnibus format. Or perhaps every ten issues are published as a book.

 

I say within ten years.

[gaz973]

Collectors have to take some responsibility for the demise of the newsstand distribution. If you were with a friend and your friend's 10 year old son wanted to buy a comic at Walmart, what would you say? The odds are you'd be telling him that the comic he picked out had creases on the spine. You'd tell him he needed to pick out the very best copy. You'd tell him he needs to visit the comic store so he could get bags and boards to protect them. You'd essentially scorn every damaged comic you saw and you'd drain out every bit of excitement the kid might have. You'd want to shape him into being a wise collector. The lack of availability of newsstand comics is partly an issue because collectors scorn the way the general public is going to treat the product in a store. People who don't buy comics look at collectors as being part of some obsessed cult that they don't even want to understand.

 

DG

I don't know why you make the assumption that all the collectors here are incapable of relating to their children and have to fit to the stereotype that you've highlighted. I'm sure you'll find that most of the parents on this forum would be happy to have their kid want a comic to read and mangle like most of us did when we were kids.

[Ken Aldred]

Collectors have to take some responsibility for the demise of the newsstand distribution. If you were with a friend and your friend's 10 year old son wanted to buy a comic at Walmart, what would you say? The odds are you'd be telling him that the comic he picked out had creases on the spine. You'd tell him he needed to pick out the very best copy. You'd tell him he needs to visit the comic store so he could get bags and boards to protect them. You'd essentially scorn every damaged comic you saw and you'd drain out every bit of excitement the kid might have. You'd want to shape him into being a wise collector. The lack of availability of newsstand comics is partly an issue because collectors scorn the way the general public is going to treat the product in a store. People who don't buy comics look at collectors as being part of some obsessed cult that they don't even want to understand.

 

DG

I don't know why you make the assumption that all the collectors here are incapable of relating to their children and have to fit to the stereotype that you've highlighted. I'm sure you'll find that most of the parents on this forum would be happy to have their kid want a comic to read and mangle like most of us did when we were kids.

 

I'm a high grade collector / presentation obsessive now, but I mangled more than a few comics as a kid.

[Ken Aldred]

Newsstand pence copies for me until I was about 14 years old. Then I started going to a comic shop as a means of escaping the patchy on-off newsstand distribution in the UK. Very soon, though, I moved on again, getting most enjoyment buying imported cent copies from the monthly comic marts, where I also had the greatest range of back issues and a venue that was much closer and easier to get to than the 'LCS'.

[Bosco685]

1) Digital is our newsstand. I first bought comics at Stop 'n Go, a local convenience store. Riding the bike, the spinner rack, the whole deal. So as a fan I miss that. As a store owner I have really missed it for the last twenty five years or so. But the last three years (since DC 52 and the beginnings of digital) have seen a huge increase in new readers for us. Digital is our newsstand.

 

Great comparison!

 

DC Comics had some comparison information about print versus digital growth this year.

 

DC Comics Seeing Double-Digit Growth In Print & Triple-Digit Growth In Digital

 

Why is that? Well, one theory could be that digital is greatly expanding the reach of comic books, which results in some digital readers seeking out local comic book stores. Part of the decline in comic book sales over the last couple of decades was likely due to their disappearance from racks in grocery stores and convenience stores.

 

Digital Market access leading to Direct Market engagement like the old Newsstand Market model did previously makes a lot of sense.

 

2) A fairly well connected commercial real estate guy here has told me repeatedly over the last twelve months that Barnes and Noble will be vacating Houston by late 2014. Our main store is directly across the street from a big BnN. There was a time when they were real competition for graphic novel dollars. Then they were sending customers to us for items they were not stocking. For the last twelve months or so they have been no competition at all.

If B&N and other related stores start pulling back, in addition to local comic stores seeing a decline based on region, then the main places to buy will be internet-based. Unfortunately, that takes away from the in-store experience of picking up a comic and looking it over before buying it. So I can't see stores going away completely. Though the Digital Market approach just has to utilize Amazon-like sampling approaches to address looking something over.

 

3) Walmart will never carry periodical comics for the simple reason that the publishers will not bow to their terms...super deep discounts off wholesale AND returnability. It ain't gonna happen.

 

Walmart market share is so large in the retail space, it is larger than its top four competitors combined (Target, K-Mart, Sears, Macy's). So with 8,000 stores worldwide, it has the deep access necessary to service consumers that otherwise would not be reached. Sam's Club adds to the greater access.

 

If a company could figure out how to utilize Walmart to its advantage without it being a total loss, leading to Direct Market engagement, that would be a powerhouse of a competitor. Maybe the digital route in Walmart stores.

 

4) I do think many smaller shops have closed, and will close. New stores are opening though. We've had three new shops open in our area, two by former employees. They are doing well. Regionally the larger shops are expanding and adding locations at a record pace. I don't think it will be long before we see a chain of stores break out of their regional constraints and start to grow out nationally.

 

We have a few multi-store operations in the Virginia area, like Stories Books. But they are usually these massive locations with inventory dumped in boxes that you can pick up for cheap, and are mixed in with paperback and HC used books, records, CDs and games. I would love to see something better than these stores.

[Bosco685]

Was checking Comichron to see what it had in the way of Direct Market trends.

 

Comic sales to comic stores

 

TPB growth is huge!

 

[Jeffro.]

My current LCS has said he maybe has 3-5 years left in him as the ability to move around long boxes and diamond shipping boxes is for the young.

 

Once he folds I think I am done...

 

Brick and mortar stores are closing up around the nation and comic book stores will go the way of everything else. However I do not see the end of paper comic book as we know it. Before everyone goes digital I see an online mail order distribution for comics... something like we all can order directly from Diamond...

 

That will make HG's and 9.8 census toppers hard to come by

 

Only for those who aren't Diamond employees

[passion4comics]

I hate digital unless they make a tablet with a 12-inch display.

 

I can see print going the way of vinyl records; replaced by digital. I do however see down the road a push by the masses for the nostalgic paper which may drive the companies to reconsider. Personally, I would not pay for digital comics because it feels like I am paying for air.

 

I would walk almost a mile to my comic shop in the early 80's, plunk down 50 cents, and actually have something in my hand. There is something about the paper and having something physical that drives it for me. Hopefully the next generation realizes that too.

 

Marvel is making a ton of money off its movies. They also have to realize that their fan base is from printing comics! If you can print a huge newspaper that takes two hands to carry for $2.50 there is no reason why a comic book should cost the same even if it is on a higher grade paper. Bring back the advertisements too. That was part of the fun of comics.

[Bosco685]

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