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REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LCS...
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361 posts in this topic

last night I was thinking about my first comic shop. Comic Kingdom on Lawrence Ave in Chicago.

 

I vaguely remember the set up, but what I do remember most was the smell of old books. Joe the owner was a nice guy, and later moved the shop to Irving Park near Central.

 

I'm many people from this area knew Joe or brought books from him. Unfortunately the shop is long gone but the memories still live on.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comic-Universe-The-Joe-Sarno-Fan-Page/103802766318694

 

What was your first comic shop and what do you remember the most?

 

 

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The one I went to was actually very sparse. They carried most DC/Marvel titles, but only 2-3 per month were ordered, no subscriptions, no back issues, no wall books. There was a lot of room for gaming, and they sold gaming and TCG stuff, but it wasn't like they had a ton of selection or even that much merchandise, but it was clean and spacious for gaming. And it was pretty cheap as it was in a bad neighborhood. The owner was super nice, and not at all what you'd expect (not to stereotype comic book store owners, you're all a beautiful and diverse group of people, but this was my first LCS), a big tatted up Mexican dude who wore too much Raiders stuff. He was always down for a game or to chat about comics.

 

Yeaahhh.... a year after I moved away they were closed down for selling drugs out of the store....after I got older, it started to all make much more sense....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Revat
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I was visiting my older brother and sister in San Jose, and my sister took me to Bob Sidebottom's Comic Collector Shop. It had a complete run of the Amazing Spider-Man on the wall behind the register, along with AF #15.

I was entranced.

 

At that time Spidey was up to #60 or something like that.

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My first shop was Flashpoint, on the north shore of Long Island. They moved a few times within the Port Jeff area as they grew, until they finally disappeared in the crunch of the late '90s. I actually was first going there for Doctor Who merchandise, but started getting into comics when I won a few in a trivia contest they held.

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The first comic shop I was a "regular" at was North County Comics near College Blvd. Oceanside, CA (right near a Ralphs or Vons grocery store if my memory serves me correct).

 

I was around 8 years old when I first went there to get some comics, I picked up some X-Men Classics or Early Years (reprints of older books). My friend and I would compare comics or trade/borrow books, sometimes our folks would bring us together to get comics. His favorite was Spider-Man books with Venom or Carnage and I loved the X-Men (mostly Wolverine stuff, but I also had a great appreciation for comics history). :cloud9:

 

We also were big into those Fleer trading cards, we had tons of them, most bought at North County Comics. The store didn't have much for back issues, mostly new comics and lots of War Hammer & dice games. There was an early ASM (#5?) hanging on the wall above the register, I don't think it was not for sale. The owner was an older gentleman, he wore glasses and was pretty quiet. When paying him for my books or cards he would make change with big roll of cash from his pocket instead of using the register. lol His store was always kept neat and organized, the last time I visited was probably 1997. I do not believe they are open anymore, google did not give me any results. :(

 

Did anyone from the boards ever go to this store?

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Harvey`s Bookland Lowell,Ma

We would visit our grandfather once a month in Lowell,and he bring us to this old skool bookstore. Harvey sold comics for 7 for a dollar back in the 80s.

No bags and boards,but a lot of reading and good memories.

(thumbs u

 

Edited by ComicConnoisseur
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The first comics shop that I ever went to was Campus Comics in Lansing, MI. It was in 1984. I bought from them on a weekly basis until they closed up in 1998. It was in the basement of a building along Michigan Avenue close to Michigan State University.

 

I remember one time being in there talking to Darren, the owner, and a hoodlum looking fellow came in to sell a book that a "relative" gave him. Darren gave the guy $20 for it. After the guy left Darren told me that it was the very same book that was stolen from the wall display of his store the week before.

 

Darren said that a group of young guys came in to look at comics and then they left without buying anything. That evening he noticed the book was missing from the wall display. Of course he did not have enough evidence to go to the police as he did not witness it and had no other records to back him up. If I remember correctly I think it was a Superhero book worth close to $100. This was in the mid-80's.

 

I still remember the look Darren gave me as the thug was showing him the book. I could tell he was livid, but he kept his cool so the theft ended up costing him $20 instead of the possible $100 or more he would have lost if the punk decided not to sell. I did not know about the theft until after he bought the book back and told me about it. It's bad enough being ripped off, but to have a friend of the thief bring the book into the same store a week later to sell is nuts.

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Trade-N-Go Books on Staten Island, New York, which was a book shop that just so happened to deal in comics too. They had piles upon piles of Tarzan, Turok, Walt Disney and Classic Illustrated books, along with a distribution stand for new books.

 

Nice people, kind to kids, and they fed my Sci-Fi and Fantasy needs as well with plenty of Robert E Howard, Robert A. Heinlein and J.R.R. Tolkein books.

 

:cloud9:

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Mine was Bender's Books in Phoebus...... at the time Dave worked there and was allowed to sell back issues from behind the counter. The rest of the store carried half price books, some new release books, and new magazines and periodicals. Dave made enough off back issues to eventually buy the business and building. At the time his back issues consisted of about 20 boxes, all behind the counter. I remember buying high grade early Ditko Spideys for 20 to 30 dollars a piece..... you could add a new one to your collection each week as they turned up. He ended up outgrowing the shop and buying an small grocery market that had gone out of business.... where he still is today. He always had a "shop cat" that would sleep around the store. He was great with want lists and paid decent if the need to sell arose.... usually around 40% of OPG. He's become a great friend and I look forward to those occasional Saturdays when I get to drop in and talk about the old days and such. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

Edited by jimjum12
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Aardvark Books in Berlin, CT.

More a used bookstore than a comic store. The owner carried mostly new issues but did have a modest recent back issue stock. My fondest memories include getting my parent's to stop by there on our way to weekly dinners at my grandparent's house and what would end up being a 30+ year (and counting) friendship I established with one of the guys who worked there.

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My first comic shop was the Comic Exchange in Ft Lauderdale, Fl owned by Bill Cole. I still remember riding my bike up there as kid each time I had finally saved up enough money to buy another back issue of X-men to read for the first time. :cloud9:

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The one I went to was actually very sparse. They carried most DC/Marvel titles, but only 2-3 per month were ordered, no subscriptions, no back issues, no wall books. There was a lot of room for gaming, and they sold gaming and TCG stuff, but it wasn't like they had a ton of selection or even that much merchandise, but it was clean and spacious for gaming. And it was pretty cheap as it was in a bad neighborhood. The owner was super nice, and not at all what you'd expect (not to stereotype comic book store owners, you're all a beautiful and diverse group of people, but this was my first LCS), a big tatted up Mexican dude who wore too much Raiders stuff. He was always down for a game or to chat about comics.

 

Yeaahhh.... a year after I moved away they were closed down for selling drugs out of the store....after I got older, it started to all make much more sense....

 

 

 

 

 

That's funny, the first comic store I remember was a guy who was running a head shop and had some comics in there. First underground comics then later other comics. He ended up just becoming a comic book store a bit later. Probably better profits and safer to sell at the time. This was in the late 70's early 80's.

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My comic shop was a little grocery store about a half hours drive away. The cool thing was that they wouldn't toss the books so I could find months of back issues on the rack since I only made it there once a month or so.

 

It wasn't until years later when on a trip to the closest city that I visited a real comic shop. It was called Perelandra and it was a tiny hole in the wall. Seemed like a monstrous cavern of awesome books to me. First time I ever saw an Amazing Fantasy 15. Just wish I had the $300 to buy it.

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Classic Cards N Comics was my first LCS. I hardly ever bought comics though, always bought comic cards. Fleer Ultra Xmen was the first set I ever completed including all the chase cards. I wasted so much money in that place. When I went to college I was lucky enough to have to comic stores on the same street directly parallel from each other. Acme Comics in Bloomington/Normal was my go to shop every Wednesday before class to get the new releases. Got my entire run of Preacher from that store, got hooked on Bowen mini-busts and they had a great back issue selection. I think they still open and I have a business card of theirs from 2001 with $1.25 of store credit still on it.

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I grew up in Hampton, VA and the first place I remember coming across old comics for sale was "Paul's Coin Shop". It was around 1973 and I was 7 years old, and had started buying new comics along with my older brother. My Dad was into collecting coins and I went along with him one day to this shop. It was a small place with not only coins, but various old stuff, lots of great junk!

 

What caught my attention right away was several tall stacks of comics. I think they were 10 cents each, or he would trade 1 for each 2 you brought in. My little mind was completely blown, I had a quarter but wanted to buy everything! I don't remember much what was in the stacks, I ended up buying Not Brand Echh #7 because it had parodies of Superman and the FF and I thought that was really cool. Seeing cover prices of 10 and 12 cents was a revelation (comics were 20 cents then). I do remember lots of Westerns (i.e. Rawhide Kid etc), never my cup of tea.

 

It was a few months before I got a chance to get back to Paul's, but it was always changing (for the worst, from my perspective). Now the big stacks were gone, just a handful of books left. In the next few years, Paul began to specialize in Art Supplies, and changed the store's name to Paul's Discount Center and then Paul's Art Supplies or something like that. He continued to carry comics for a while, I remember going there and scooping up some Silver/Bronze Avengers back issues, Hulks, and Spider-Mans. But as the Art Supplies became his bread and butter the comics were phased out completely.

 

Later discovered Bender's in Phoebus and agree with Jimbo, Dave has always been a great guy to deal with.

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I had 2. One was the "first place I regularly bought comics" which was a Woolworth's with a spinner rack that was next door to the place I took drum lessons as a kid.

 

But then the first actual comic shop was actually closer to my house. I didn't find out about it until about 6 months after I started buying those spinner rack books. Little shop called Infinity that I still stop into every once in a while when I'm out visiting my parents & sometimes pick up a few back issues. It's always been in the same place & has been one of those owner/operator businesses for as long as I could remember. I only have the faintest recollection of the anyone other than the owner ever being behind the counter. Not much in the line of wall books or back issues beyond modern or copper, but still a good dude with a nice little shop. It's gotten quite cramped over the years, but still a great little shop.

Edited by Doktor
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I grew up in Hampton, VA and the first place I remember coming across old comics for sale was "Paul's Coin Shop". It was around 1973 and I was 7 years old, and had started buying new comics along with my older brother. My Dad was into collecting coins and I went along with him one day to this shop. It was a small place with not only coins, but various old stuff, lots of great junk!

 

What caught my attention right away was several tall stacks of comics. I think they were 10 cents each, or he would trade 1 for each 2 you brought in. My little mind was completely blown, I had a quarter but wanted to buy everything! I don't remember much what was in the stacks, I ended up buying Not Brand Echh #7 because it had parodies of Superman and the FF and I thought that was really cool. Seeing cover prices of 10 and 12 cents was a revelation (comics were 20 cents then). I do remember lots of Westerns (i.e. Rawhide Kid etc), never my cup of tea.

 

It was a few months before I got a chance to get back to Paul's, but it was always changing (for the worst, from my perspective). Now the big stacks were gone, just a handful of books left. In the next few years, Paul began to specialize in Art Supplies, and changed the store's name to Paul's Discount Center and then Paul's Art Supplies or something like that. He continued to carry comics for a while, I remember going there and scooping up some Silver/Bronze Avengers back issues, Hulks, and Spider-Mans. But as the Art Supplies became his bread and butter the comics were phased out completely.

 

Later discovered Bender's in Phoebus and agree with Jimbo, Dave has always been a great guy to deal with.

Sounds like your dad was trying to get you into coins, but you discovered comic books instead.

That happened to me.

(thumbs u

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Shinders on 7th and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis.

Had to take the city bus there.

I loved it, that was 35 years ago and I remember it like yesterday.

Massive selection of back issues.

One of the greatest line ups of wall books I've ever seen.

I remember standing and staring up at FF #1 on the wall every time I went in.

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My first shop was a coin/comic shop in downtown Rialto, Ca.

 

I was very young, and the shop was probably pretty small. But it had a fantastic quarter bin. The type of bin that may have been common in the 80's but is nowhere to be found today. Whitmans, 10 cent covers, weird small press stuff, foreign stuff, it was great. That variety and quality found in that bargain bin being my first exposure to comics is probably why I was never a Marvel Zombie. Of course the bin had Marvels too, and DC. I bought a ton of Batman comics out of that bin. Nearly a full run of Spidey Super Stories as well.

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Newbury Comics and Bop City Comics, both in Framingham MA were the first two I visited, I don't recall which was the first. Had to beg mom to go, based on ads in Marvels. I bought off spinner racks in the early 90s.

 

My first real LCS experience (with a pull box!) was Stan's Toy Chest in Westborough, MA. My home town, very exciting. I was a constant presence with my paper route money buying mostly 90s Marvels and Valiants. Nothing super old, but having a comic shop right there I walked by on my way home from school was crazy awesome

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