sacentaur Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dale Roberts said: On the flip side, I had my 2nd best San Diego ever, and I know SoCal Comics, A1 Comics, Terry O'Neill, and Harley all had very good shows as well. I found no shortage of people wanting to buy comics at the show... You had a terrific display Dale, as did other dealers already mentioned. I strongly prefer to purchase vintage books in person, and shows like SDCC provide me ample opportunity to do so. This year's Con was my buying best in the past decade as I was able to get a Holy Grail (New Fun #3), OO Centaurs (7 beauties), a batch of Bakers (15 of 'em), a grouping of coverless pre-hero Detectives (8 various issues with exceptional PQ), several Spirit Sections I've been searching for (my 1940 and 1941 sets are nearly complete), two scarce EC romance books (including a double cover!), a tough book for my African-American collection (Joe Louis 1), a white-paged Archie, and finally a few SA Marvels to fill in some gaps. Many thanks to you and the other dealers who made the trek and setup at the show. Like I said, great Con... Edited July 27, 2017 by sacentaur Sqeggs, thehumantorch, ThothAmon and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 30 minutes ago, MrBedrock said: I have always justified the cost of San Diego in a very simple way... The booth costs less than one month's rent in one of my stores. The extra expenses (housing, food, staff) are similar or less than one month's fixed costs (electricity, phones, payroll) in one of my stores. The sales totals are usually the same or more that one month's sales in one of my stores. As long as that holds true I will continue setting up. Hmmm, a clearly identifiable business/show plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Roberts Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 45 minutes ago, MrBedrock said: I saw some stuff there that made me VERY stiff. Sometimes you're just so ......I can't decide. Creepy or dreamy. Maybe you should do a poll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dale Roberts said: On the flip side, I had my 2nd best San Diego ever, and I know SoCal Comics, A1 Comics, Terry O'Neill, and Harley all had very good shows as well. I found no shortage of people wanting to buy comics at the show, except on Saturday and a good chunk of the day on Friday. As always, when there are big movie panels the buying pool shrinks for those days. That's awesome So Saturday was universally bad...too bad that was the only full day I was at the con...it was my only reference for observations, so I apologize for making them without proper clarification overall sounds like sales appeared to be good to great for most. That's fantastic. Theres always reasons why some folks have less than stellar sales , glad many did well Edited July 27, 2017 by G.A.tor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 2 hours ago, MrBedrock said: I have always justified the cost of San Diego in a very simple way... The booth costs less than one month's rent in one of my stores. The extra expenses (housing, food, staff) are similar or less than one month's fixed costs (electricity, phones, payroll) in one of my stores. The sales totals are usually the same or more that one month's sales in one of my stores. As long as that holds true I will continue setting up. What's the margin like on the inventory that sells at the show versus the inventory that sells at the store if you don't mind my asking? Seems like show inventory would have higher % cost of good sold than store sales (TPB's and such) but you can't argue with a month's sales in 5 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 36 minutes ago, Bronty said: What's the margin like on the inventory that sells at the show versus the inventory that sells at the store if you don't mind my asking? Seems like show inventory would have higher % cost of good sold than store sales (TPB's and such) but you can't argue with a month's sales in 5 days. Margins are really all over the place. Certainly there are some things with very small margins, but those are usually items that, on their own, would skew the sales total so significantly higher that it would no longer be comparable with normal retail sales. In cases like that I normally just factor in the profit when determining our final sales total. We also have box stock silver and golden age that could have margins approaching that of standard retail items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 3 minutes ago, MrBedrock said: Margins are really all over the place. Certainly there are some things with very small margins, but those are usually items that, on their own, would skew the sales total so significantly higher that it would no longer be comparable with normal retail sales. In cases like that I normally just factor in the profit when determining our final sales total. We also have box stock silver and golden age that could have margins approaching that of standard retail items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 4 hours ago, MrBedrock said: I saw some stuff there that made me VERY stiff. I'm guessing you aren't talking about comic books now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 4 hours ago, MrBedrock said: I have always justified the cost of San Diego in a very simple way... The booth costs less than one month's rent in one of my stores. The extra expenses (housing, food, staff) are similar or less than one month's fixed costs (electricity, phones, payroll) in one of my stores. The sales totals are usually the same or more that one month's sales in one of my stores. As long as that holds true I will continue setting up. I have a friend from the east coast that used to say SDCC was part of his yearly vacation so whatever he made profit wise was gravy. He always does well enough not to quit though and takes some extra time before and after the show to do some things. San Diego is one of the countries top vacation sites and there's a lot more to do than look at comics if you're so inclined. Sadly it's also why it seems so expensive with things although I'm surprised by the amount of dealers that seem to not venture very far from their space or out of downtown really. I got tired of telling a friend that just a short distance away in the city is Little Italy with far better restaurants than that convention center frozen pizza but they were to lazy to make the effort. thehumantorch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straw-Man Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 4 hours ago, Dale Roberts said: Sometimes you're just so ......I can't decide. Creepy or dreamy. Maybe you should do a poll. dale, he's saying he DID do a pole. MrBedrock and thehumantorch 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batman_fan Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 1 hour ago, N e r V said: I'm guessing you aren't talking about comic books now.... I'm guessing he IS talking about comicbooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightsofold Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, N e r V said: I have a friend from the east coast that used to say SDCC was part of his yearly vacation so whatever he made profit wise was gravy. He always does well enough not to quit though and takes some extra time before and after the show to do some things. San Diego is one of the countries top vacation sites and there's a lot more to do than look at comics if you're so inclined. Sadly it's also why it seems so expensive with things although I'm surprised by the amount of dealers that seem to not venture very far from their space or out of downtown really. I got tired of telling a friend that just a short distance away in the city is Little Italy with far better restaurants than that convention center frozen pizza but they were to lazy to make the effort. + my favorite Mexican food ever in Ocean Beach. Man I miss me some rolled tacos and a real Carne Asada burrito. I moved out of CA so I haven't been to the Con since 1990 when according to wikipedia attendance was only 13,000. Compared to today's 167,000+ I think I have no idea what today's SDCC is really like. It seemed crowded to me back then! Edited July 28, 2017 by Knightsofold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 2 hours ago, N e r V said: I have a friend from the east coast that used to say SDCC was part of his yearly vacation so whatever he made profit wise was gravy. He always does well enough not to quit though and takes some extra time before and after the show to do some things. San Diego is one of the countries top vacation sites and there's a lot more to do than look at comics if you're so inclined. Sadly it's also why it seems so expensive with things although I'm surprised by the amount of dealers that seem to not venture very far from their space or out of downtown really. I got tired of telling a friend that just a short distance away in the city is Little Italy with far better restaurants than that convention center frozen pizza but they were to lazy to make the effort. We spent four of the five nights in Little Italy. Some wonderful restaurants there. Dale Roberts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 3 hours ago, N e r V said: San Diego is one of the countries top vacation sites and there's a lot more to do than look at comics if you're so inclined. Sadly it's also why it seems so expensive with things although I'm surprised by the amount of dealers that seem to not venture very far from their space or out of downtown really. I got tired of telling a friend that just a short distance away in the city is Little Italy with far better restaurants than that convention center frozen pizza but they were to lazy to make the effort. +1 When I used to go, I always set aside a day like Saturday to drive up the Coast Highway and visit all of the beach cities like Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, etc. and then stop off in beautiful La Jolla for a nice romantic Italian dinner. Very nice and relaxing day. Or am I venturing too far from the convention center? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 29 minutes ago, MrBedrock said: We spent four of the five nights in Little Italy. Some wonderful restaurants there. Absolutely great restaurants in Little italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProcessedMeatMan Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 As an attendee, this was one of the better SDCCs for me buying Silver/Bronze back issues. I came home with a short box full of low/mid-grade Marvel and DC books. It's been years since I've found vendors with decently priced bargain bins to sift through. This year had a few and I spent the majority of my time on the floor gleefully digging. Just my 2 cents. sacentaur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 42 minutes ago, lou_fine said: +1 When I used to go, I always set aside a day like Saturday to drive up the Coast Highway and visit all of the beach cities like Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, etc. and then stop off in beautiful La Jolla for a nice romantic Italian dinner. Very nice and relaxing day. Or am I venturing too far from the convention center? Yeah, you are going into OC at that point. FYI, construction is currently underway for a trolley line to La Jolla/UTC. So in a few years (3-4) you'll be able to catch the trolley from downtown to La Jolla if you don't want to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooter99 Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 On 7/25/2017 at 5:51 PM, Mmehdy said: CGC vs SDCC is apple/orange and cannot be lumped in the same sentence. Unless you were at the beginning of the SDCC you might not understand how or why we ended up with today's mess, and it is a big one. CGC is a mixed bag to me, but I am glad it exists. I dont like the fact you cannot touch or feel the comic book, but it does protect the investor....the widget buyer from buying something he would not be aware of such as restoration. If you want the unslabbed book you can buy it cheaper and feel, read and enjoy it which is ok with me. The behavior of the speculator," the widget buyer" is another story, sometimes paying 5x the current market price on a difference of 9.2 vs 9.4.. in which you need a microscope to see any difference .now that could qualify. Mitch, did you ever get your Action 1 graded and sold? Inquiring minds need to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmehdy Posted July 28, 2017 Author Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) The one possible solution for the SDCC is to let the studios/gamers/toy collectors have the main room, they can charge more for tables...move all the comic book dealers to an adjoining area or room, possibly where the autograph areas are , not charge to get in for ANYBODY, charge dealers lower table prices(just the cost of set up). Edited July 28, 2017 by Mmehdy Knightsofold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 2 hours ago, Knightsofold said: + my favorite Mexican food ever in Ocean Beach. Man I miss me some rolled tacos and a real Carne Asada burrito. I moved out of CA so I haven't been to the Con since 1990 when according to wikipedia attendance was only 13,000. Compared to today's 167,000+ I think I have no idea what today's SDCC is really like. It seemed crowded to me back then! Mexican food is still so easy to find anywhere in the city... 1990 was the last year in the old Performing Arts center. It moved into the current center in 1991 and began growing legs since. First with the expansion to the center around a decade later and next when the superhero movies became big in the early 2000's and Hollywood took notice they had a built in audience just down the road. There was a time when you could easily sit near a favorite star in your show and actually meet them afterwards or stand in line after a panel to get Hugh Jackman's autograph. Miss those days too. Love it or hate it now you have to admit it's become an important fixture as a media tool for the genre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
