I went to a comic store

[revat]

As someone loaded with OCD, this store drives me especially crazy. It's just another example of someone with a store who doesn't deserve one.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but why do you always come off as so bitter like this?

...because I want a shop. I want a shop like Chris' (Junkdrawer). There's nothing like it for miles down here and the "regular" comic shops here all suck save for one. I know for a fact I can do a better job than most of the yahoos out there. I lack the funds, end of story. The fact that places like the one in this thread (and the ones around here) exist just rubs me the wrong way. It's all luck, and I grow tired of seeing it whenever it pops up.

 

Most of the shops around here I wonder HOW they stay open. Hell, even the guys at the flea markets I wonder how...even assuming they have other jobs. I just don't get it all, and that makes me depressed.

 

 

Just like any other business, perhaps more than any other business, there are just a million stories where people end up with comic book stores, and that's part of the fun of the comic world, but it also results in some VERRRRY frustrating stores which leaves customers with a looooot of questions. Also a million different things that go into the success/failure of a shop

 

For example, to be a doctor or lawyer, the paths are generally somewhat similar, you have to do fairly well in high school, do good in college, go to med school/law school, pass the certification tests.

 

But to own an LCS, you might buy, inherit, or start one, possibly franchise, (and the initial money could come from all kinds of places) and your level of success might depend on competition, geography, customer base, how early you entered the market, size of store, organization, events, other items sold, staff, advertising, all kinds of stuff. But suffice it to say that not every owner has requisite business training/experience to follow best practices nor do they all have customer service acumen, and in many cases they may not even have strong profit motive. Not only that, casual customers may not see in an obvious ways how some stores make their money. I've seen very disorganized shops that run their subscriptions very well and make most of their money there, and other stores that make most of their money 'dealing' in back issues to their network of buyers, as they've got tons of connections and customers from being their for a long period of time.

 

 

 

 

[Chip Cataldo]

Chip, what would a 500 square foot place in one of the many mrytle beach shopping malls cost you?

I've never really looked seriously because I haven't had the cash to do it. That's why I started the thing from home...I could afford the one rent but never two. Most small places aren't in heavy foot-traffic areas and they're at least $500-700/month.

 

There's actually a shopping community about 5 minutes from my house where they have "live/work" buildings. The bottom floor is the retail store and the top two floors are the living quarters. That would be ideal, but the cost is prohibitive for me. I worked in one of the retail spaces when my parents had their realty company and would think every day how awesome it would be if I was running my comic shop instead of their stupid realty company that I wanted no part of. It seems my whole life I've been doing what they wanted me to do instead of what I really wanted to do...wasted a whole lot of money and time within that world, I'll tell you.

[the blob]

For example, to be a doctor or lawyer, the paths are generally somewhat similar, you have to do fairly well in high school, do good in college, go to med school/law school, pass the certification tests.

 

---------

 

Not to be nitpicky, but you are giving us wayyyyyyy too much credit!

 

There are plenty of lawyers who barely graduated from college and who took the bar 7 times before passing. There are a lot of terrible terrible law schools. Don't lump us in with doctors! Unfortunately, there are also plenty of lawyers who run their law practices like that store and they are disasters for their clients!

 

I hope the number of doctors who do is very few. I can't imagine you surviving medical school, but then again,my wife had a guy with an M.D. from a real american school working under her as an IT guy after he decided he didn't want to be a doctor (or couldn't get into a residency) and this guy's judgment was so poor he would have killed someone. He didn't like the tangled wires behind the server and decided to unplug it to organize the wires --- in the middle of the day with 12 people working on data files. All their work that day was lost and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the mess.

 

He didn't last long at the IT job.

 

 

[the blob]

Chip, what would a 500 square foot place in one of the many mrytle beach shopping malls cost you?

I've never really looked seriously because I haven't had the cash to do it. That's why I started the thing from home...I could afford the one rent but never two. Most small places aren't in heavy foot-traffic areas and they're at least $500-700/month.

 

There's actually a shopping community about 5 minutes from my house where they have "live/work" buildings. The bottom floor is the retail store and the top two floors are the living quarters. That would be ideal, but the cost is prohibitive for me. I worked in one of the retail spaces when my parents had their realty company and would think every day how awesome it would be if I was running my comic shop instead of their stupid realty company that I wanted no part of. It seems my whole life I've been doing what they wanted me to do instead of what I really wanted to do...wasted a whole lot of money and time with in that world, I'll tell you.

 

Aren't you doing ebay comics full time now? You don't think a brick and mortar could generate enough to pay the rent and then some while giving you a spot to work during the day and not cluttering up your house with ebay stuff? lots of down time doing retail means lots of time to list auctions/pack. at some point aren't your kids going to overrun you if you keep on working at home?

 

 

 

[Chip Cataldo]

Aren't you doing ebay comics full time now? You don't think a brick and mortar could generate enough to pay the rent and then some while giving you a spot to work during the day and not cluttering up your house with ebay stuff? lots of down time doing retail means lots of time to list auctions/pack. at some point aren't your kids going to overrun you if you keep on working at home?

I was but not anymore. No money. Working capital for the business was used for other stuff (like when my car died) so I'm only doing it part-time and that's only when I get consignments or find something locally.

 

Cluttering up my house? Well, since April & Everly moved out there's a lot more space.

PM me if you'd like more info about my situation now...I don't want to muck the thread up with my personal garbage.

 

As far as finding stuff locally it's tough when all I can do is Craigslist ads. I know for a fact a HUGE collection just "walked in" to one of the local stores recently...mostly a pop-culture store (t-shirts, POPs, etc). I need a store front where stuff can "walk into" it...that's one of the ways I miss out on things.

[Chaseman210]

Aren't you doing ebay comics full time now? You don't think a brick and mortar could generate enough to pay the rent and then some while giving you a spot to work during the day and not cluttering up your house with ebay stuff? lots of down time doing retail means lots of time to list auctions/pack. at some point aren't your kids going to overrun you if you keep on working at home?

I was but not anymore. No money. Working capital for the business was used for other stuff (like when my car died) so I'm only doing it part-time and that's only when I get consignments or find something locally.

 

Cluttering up my house? Well, since April & Everly moved out there's a lot more space.

PM me if you'd like more info about my situation now...I don't want to muck the thread up with my personal garbage.

 

As far as finding stuff locally it's tough when all I can do is Craigslist ads. I know for a fact a HUGE collection just "walked in" to one of the local stores recently...mostly a pop-culture store (t-shirts, POPs, etc). I need a store front where stuff can "walk into" it...that's one of the ways I miss out on things.

 

Was that the Player's Choice place?

[comix4fun]

For example, to be a doctor or lawyer, the paths are generally somewhat similar, you have to do fairly well in high school, do good in college, go to med school/law school, pass the certification tests.

 

---------

 

Not to be nitpicky, but you are giving us wayyyyyyy too much credit!

 

There are plenty of lawyers who barely graduated from college and who took the bar 7 times before passing. There are a lot of terrible terrible law schools. Don't lump us in with doctors! Unfortunately, there are also plenty of lawyers who run their law practices like that store and they are disasters for their clients!

 

I hope the number of doctors who do is very few. I can't imagine you surviving medical school, but then again,my wife had a guy with an M.D. from a real american school working under her as an IT guy after he decided he didn't want to be a doctor (or couldn't get into a residency) and this guy's judgment was so poor he would have killed someone. He didn't like the tangled wires behind the server and decided to unplug it to organize the wires --- in the middle of the day with 12 people working on data files. All their work that day was lost and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the mess.

 

He didn't last long at the IT job.

 

 

 

Don't give Dr.'s too much credit now.

 

You know what they call the guy that graduated last in his medical school class?

 

DOCTOR.

 

I've met plenty who have no business being in a medical practice...yet there they are.

[youmechooz]

I need a store front where stuff can "walk into" it...that's one of the ways I miss out on things.

+100

every week something walks in that I buy.

lots of stuff gets donated as well.

I've had 2 large mtg collections donated this past month.

[Chip Cataldo]

Was that the Player's Choice place?

Yep. Andy is a nice guy but he's doing it wrong. I love the arcade, though.

[Chip Cataldo]

I need a store front where stuff can "walk into" it...that's one of the ways I miss out on things.

+100

every week something walks in that I buy.

lots of stuff gets donated as well.

I've had 2 large mtg collections donated this past month.

I didn't know you also had a shop. Very cool! When did that happen?

[youmechooz]

I need a store front where stuff can "walk into" it...that's one of the ways I miss out on things.

+100

every week something walks in that I buy.

lots of stuff gets donated as well.

I've had 2 large mtg collections donated this past month.

I didn't know you also had a shop. Very cool! When did that happen?

beginning of this year

[dupont2005]

I wish I still had my 30+ boxes of drek. It wasn't really all drek either, I had some alright runs. It wasn't old dealer overstock, so not all X-Force #1, but multiple runs of multiple titles. Good variety, mostly NM. Lots of A list Marvel, lots of cool indies. Everything bagged and boarded and alphabetized in a fresh clean numbered box. It was ready to go retail wise. I'd have needed a hefty loan to get the doors open but I think I would have blown through the back issues quicker than most shops do. I'd probably have trouble keeping inventory full when many shops sit on back issues for decades.

 

Of course I could be way wrong and not sold any of it, and even if I did sell it all it would have only brought me about 10 grand or so, in the grand scheme of running a retail outlet I wouldn't have brought a whole lot of that home. But if it could have helped me get the ball rolling on something that paid a living wage and involved me talking comics all day, it would definitely have been worth it.

[revat]

For example, to be a doctor or lawyer, the paths are generally somewhat similar, you have to do fairly well in high school, do good in college, go to med school/law school, pass the certification tests.

 

---------

 

Not to be nitpicky, but you are giving us wayyyyyyy too much credit!

 

There are plenty of lawyers who barely graduated from college and who took the bar 7 times before passing. There are a lot of terrible terrible law schools. Don't lump us in with doctors! Unfortunately, there are also plenty of lawyers who run their law practices like that store and they are disasters for their clients!

 

I hope the number of doctors who do is very few. I can't imagine you surviving medical school, but then again,my wife had a guy with an M.D. from a real american school working under her as an IT guy after he decided he didn't want to be a doctor (or couldn't get into a residency) and this guy's judgment was so poor he would have killed someone. He didn't like the tangled wires behind the server and decided to unplug it to organize the wires --- in the middle of the day with 12 people working on data files. All their work that day was lost and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the mess.

 

He didn't last long at the IT job.

 

 

 

Don't give Dr.'s too much credit now.

 

You know what they call the guy that graduated last in his medical school class?

 

DOCTOR.

 

I've met plenty who have no business being in a medical practice...yet there they are.

 

no doubt there are plenty of terrible lawyers and doctors, but the barriers of entries to those profession means that at least you have a reasonable expectation that they have a high school and college degree (for whatever that's worth), worked hard at some point and have at least the bare minimum of SOME specific skill, not to mention the profession is heavily regulated. There is no assumption of ANY of those things with the owner of a comic book store (just that at some point in their life they or someone in their family had enough money to open a store), which is not to denigrate the comic store owner, it just means that you get much more variation of life experience and business style with comic book store owners than a lot of other professions or even small business that require more specific skills (like cooking, sewing, tutoring, accountants/lawyers/doctors).

 

Of course this is a generalization, but it definitely reflects my experience and I would think is a common one.

[dupont2005]

For example, to be a doctor or lawyer, the paths are generally somewhat similar, you have to do fairly well in high school, do good in college, go to med school/law school, pass the certification tests.

 

---------

 

Not to be nitpicky, but you are giving us wayyyyyyy too much credit!

 

There are plenty of lawyers who barely graduated from college and who took the bar 7 times before passing. There are a lot of terrible terrible law schools. Don't lump us in with doctors! Unfortunately, there are also plenty of lawyers who run their law practices like that store and they are disasters for their clients!

 

I hope the number of doctors who do is very few. I can't imagine you surviving medical school, but then again,my wife had a guy with an M.D. from a real american school working under her as an IT guy after he decided he didn't want to be a doctor (or couldn't get into a residency) and this guy's judgment was so poor he would have killed someone. He didn't like the tangled wires behind the server and decided to unplug it to organize the wires --- in the middle of the day with 12 people working on data files. All their work that day was lost and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the mess.

 

He didn't last long at the IT job.

 

 

 

Don't give Dr.'s too much credit now.

 

You know what they call the guy that graduated last in his medical school class?

 

DOCTOR.

 

I've met plenty who have no business being in a medical practice...yet there they are.

Same with lawyers. I actually have three lawyer friends and know a few more I wouldn't exactly call friend. One of my lawyer friends I shouldn't really call "lawyer" either.

 

He used his GI bill to go to law school, I guess he went to the wrong one, my other lawyer friends said that matters. Anyway, he had trouble getting a job even as a paralegal after graduating and passing the bar. Became homeless and hooked on drugs, eventually lost all his worldly possessions and went to jail for theft. He's out now, selling phones in a kiosk in the mall. I guess he can't practice law for a certain period of time now because of the arrest.

 

He graduated law school and passed the bar.

 

I know another guy out of Santa Ana who is a successful lawyer as far as I can tell, owns half a million worth of cars easy. He's also a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person. No social skills at all, basically a well off Mexican Steve Urkel. He's REALLY weird, I don't know who is hiring this dude.

[CheeseFrog]

I would love to open a small shop some day, as a side thing. I'm sitting on about 60 long boxes of books ranging from the mid 50's to late 80's... lots of good runs. Lots of collectible, higher end books... magazines.. graphic novels...

 

With my career, doing that now would be an impossibility, unless I employed a couple of folks. But the idea of having all of that stuff out of my house, into a small shop is very appealing (especially to my better half!).

 

Not to mention the walk-ins looking to sell their collections- sounds like a large plus as well...

 

Time is my big hang up...

 

Looking at the local shops, I would have more back stock (and higher quality) than all but two stores in the Austin area. Those two stores are located more to the south, leaving the north area (suburbia) pretty open. Maybe some day.

[s14roller]

Wow, what a view huh.

[Chaseman210]

Was that the Player's Choice place?

Yep. Andy is a nice guy but he's doing it wrong. I love the arcade, though.

 

Yeah, the arcade is pretty fun. I've gotten a few decent scores from there, but never tried to buy a wall book or anything since most don't have visible prices. It's pretty tough to find new issues as well with the layout of the comic section.

 

Do you like Apocalypse?

[Ryan.]

As someone loaded with OCD, this store drives me especially crazy. It's just another example of someone with a store who doesn't deserve one.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but why do you always come off as so bitter like this?

...because I want a shop. I want a shop like Chris' (Junkdrawer). There's nothing like it for miles down here and the "regular" comic shops here all suck save for one. I know for a fact I can do a better job than most of the yahoos out there. I lack the funds, end of story. The fact that places like the one in this thread (and the ones around here) exist just rubs me the wrong way. It's all luck, and I grow tired of seeing it whenever it pops up.

 

Most of the shops around here I wonder HOW they stay open. Hell, even the guys at the flea markets I wonder how...even assuming they have other jobs. I just don't get it all, and that makes me depressed.

 

 

Chris hustles like a mutha trucka to maintain that store. It's fun work but it's a hell of a lot of labor.

[Chaseman210]

What's his store like?

[Chip Cataldo]

Chris hustles like a mutha trucka to maintain that store. It's fun work but it's a hell of a lot of labor.

Yep, I know. However, I hustle as well and I don't have a store nor do I have the money. See the difference? :-)