For those without pull list, what are your current comic shop experience? 0

[nocutename]

I don't want this thread to be a complaint thread.  I am curious how local comic shops serve you as a customer.  I am getting back into reading comics, or I should say reading collected editions.  I have noticed a while back that once I stopped my pull list, comic shops no longer really served my consumer needs.   Maybe more correctly, I felt no longer valued as a customer.   I think that still holds some truth based on my recent experiences.

This year, two different shops next me can barely hand a simple book order request.  I would love to have a place to go and actually find and purchase one book.  Go home and sit down and read that one book.  But my experience for years have been, it is not in stock but I can order it and call you.   Yes, I just end up ordering online.  I do bulk orders to save on shipping and then when I get the stack of books, become overwhelmed and they then sit on my shelf for sometimes years unread.

I soon will become bored again with this hobby because it has become too hard to obtain merchandise locally.   Ordering online has its own set of problems because I have had packages stolen from me which = out of pocket cost of $50 up to $100 at a clip.  Not cool and that eats up any online discount that I received for an entire year of online ordering. 

I am going to bump my Comic podcasting thread since they are starting up season 3 with a traveling around the US interviewing comic shop owners.  It has made me curious as to how every one else enjoys their local shops. 

[CAHokie]

I would love to go in my local comic shop every week and be able to pick up my pull list and anything new that looks interesting.  Unfortunately, as I have posted in the past, I would pick up my pull list every Saturday.  Half the books would be missing every single time. If it was a hot book or even one that may be hot, it was guaranteed to be gone. I was told, my list was too big (15-20) so I cancelled and went back to Midtown. 

Someone that has a big pull list that picks them up weekly like a clock should be considered a VIP customer.  I rarely changed the list so that couldn't be an excuse.  Heck, I don't even care about condition (within reason) since it is for my runs and to read.

I enjoyed going to the comic store weekly but if they can't fill my order than what's the use? I can do it all online, cheaper

[WoWitHurts]

2 hours ago, CAHokie said:

I would love to go in my local comic shop every week and be able to pick up my pull list and anything new that looks interesting.  Unfortunately, as I have posted in the past, I would pick up my pull list every Saturday.  Half the books would be missing every single time. If it was a hot book or even one that may be hot, it was guaranteed to be gone. I was told, my list was too big (15-20) so I cancelled and went back to Midtown. 

Someone that has a big pull list that picks them up weekly like a clock should be considered a VIP customer.  I rarely changed the list so that couldn't be an excuse.  Heck, I don't even care about condition (within reason) since it is for my runs and to read.

I enjoyed going to the comic store weekly but if they can't fill my order than what's the use? I can do it all online, cheaper

I had Graham crakes send me a box once a month with all my pulls.  They sent me fantastic condition books and only missed 1 book in 4 years.  Nearest store is 40 minutes away so I prefer to get them from GCC.  They have treated me well.

[Mercury Man]

I am really fortunate.  I don't have a pull list.  I pretty much show up religiously every Wednesday.   The owner of the shop now notices me as a 'regular' and gives me a discount as if I did have a pull list.  He knows what titles I buy, and by off chance there isn't one on the shelf, he will pull one out for me.  He replenishes from a larger store he is affiliated with, so nobody gets shorted when they come for their pulls.  

[nocutename]

4 hours ago, WoWitHurts said:

I had Graham crakes send me a box once a month with all my pulls.  They sent me fantastic condition books and only missed 1 book in 4 years.  Nearest store is 40 minutes away so I prefer to get them from GCC.  They have treated me well.

I love ordering from Graham crackers.  They are the few online comic shops that actually have animated comics.  I used to order from them often and never a problem

[FineCollector]

8 hours ago, nocutename said:

This year, two different shops next me can barely hand a simple book order request.  I would love to have a place to go and actually find and purchase one book.  Go home and sit down and read that one book.  But my experience for years have been, it is not in stock but I can order it and call you. 

One of the local hobby stores carries new releases and trades, has a life sized Batman, and a life-sized Harley Quinn as you walk in, but doesn't stock bags and boards.   The girl tells me they use them on the books, but they don't keep extras on hand.  At that time, they had one pack of mag bags, and one pack of current boards.  She asks me if I want to order some in, and give me a call when they arrive, little understanding how incredulous that sounds.  Rather than draw comparisons to the wall of Magic card sleeves they have, I just told her I'd buy them from someone who carries them.

[fastballspecial]

This summer so far I have visited about 12 shops regionally.

Of all of them several are just not up to date. The newest shops have impressed me as they both do comics and gaming which is how
you need to survive. I visited one shop that is heavy game with only 10% comics which I thought was a little odd but he told me as much
which at least I felt the owner is slowing getting into comics. 

What I really like is many are choosing to open up shops in small towns on their main streets where their rent is cheap and they get good 
foot traffic. They cater to gaming which brings the kids and sometimes the parents which is a win win. A couple do mail order so I have been
able to order thru them from Diamond and they will mail them to me which is a very good idea for them.

One South of my area has chosen not to carry new comics and is doing okay, but they are strictly toys and comics so I am unsure if they will last
without the gaming crowd. All of their books are prices over a dollar which is dumb in my opinion because it looks like they are bilking their 
customers too much, but time will tell.

Many don't care much in back issues which makes me scratch my head. You make the most from your back issues not your new issues. Heck I would also
almost consider not buying new issues because of so much glut that doesn't sell. An ideal store would cater to gaming, have new issues, health stock of back issues, 
and some dollar books. Some tell me they cant get the back stock to come in, but you cant tell me in this day and age you can advertise and hussle for it. 
It just seems to be me over time many shop owners just get lazy.

 

[nocutename]

I just feel like comic shops don't know how to serve customers.  Twice the books were sold out from underneath me.  Are shops that nervous being stuck with $13 books now?  I seriously wonder if has to do with me being a woman and not taken seriously.    I think am done struggling with comic shops.  They don't work for me.   I have tried and tried.

[Get Marwood & I]

10 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

It just seems to be me over time many shop owners just get lazy.

 

30 minutes ago, nocutename said:

I just feel like comic shops don't know how to serve customers

I can relate to both points here. If I had a fiver for every comic shop I've visited where the guy on the desk doesn't acknowledge you as you walk in I'd have at least thirty pounds. I spent a few days on the east coast of England the other weekend and checked out two comic shops in the area. In both, the owner just sat at the counter scrolling on their mobile and ignored me. In one, I spent 15 minutes browsing and just left saying "thanks" as I walked out. The only response was a brief look up from the phone to grunt "thanks" back. In the second, I tried to drum up a conversation with the owner who, miraculously, advised me that he had "only just sold all the things I was looking for" (old western titles) to a guy the previous week. But he floundered when I pressed him for title details and glazed over when I mentioned pence variants. Funny that.

On the flip side, when I moved to my current location 20 years ago I was delighted to find it had a comic shop 15 minutes walk from me. They are actually quite rare in Englandville. I started buying all the Spidey books each week and then one day struck up a conversation with the owner which led to me asking him if he would save a copy of every Spidey title, variant and printing. He did, and from that point I spent between 50 and 100 pounds a week there, picking up all the variants (including ASM 667 and 678 for under 10 pounds each) for over 10 years.

As well as the books, I'd get a discount and we'd chat about everything from comics to films to Doctor Who. I loved it. So I think the point is that you have to work to build a relationship with your LCS. I'm sure if I went to the aforementioned shops every week and spent money we'd develop a similar rapport. 

It would be great if you could get great service everywhere, but the world isn't like that. When I go into a pub I've never been to before, I'm not surprised that the barman serves his regulars before me, even though I was first up there. It's not professional, but it seems to happen everywhere. 

I was in one of the main London shops some months back.  A young girl came in and tried to strike up a conversation with the owner. She wanted some cheap comics for a project and was concerned that if she cut them up it would be wrong. Bless her I thought.  The owner was patronising and indifferent, which annoyed me, so I stepped in to help her. On that day, the owner lost her as a potential customer and me as a potential big spending customer. But here's the thing.  When you've made enough money,  you don't have to be nice. It's a choice. And many just can't be bothered I'm afraid.

If you persist, you can get somewhere. But it would be nice if some of these guys could remember to be nice when you walk in to their otherwise empty shops. I mean, what else have they got to do if not strike up a chat with someone new about the things that put food on their tables?

Well, that passed a few minutes. Still waiting for the wife to get ready so we can go out. Why do they take so flipping long!

[CKinTO]

Agree and empathize with a lot of the points made already. In this day and age of comics becoming less and less popular, and local stores going out of business more frequently, you would think shop owners would be more motivated to offer good service to keep people coming into their stores. It amazes me that some don't, but who knows what their own internal motivations / perspectives are.

I'm fortunate to have a really great LCS about 15min from work, which allows me to head over during lunch on Wednesdays to pick up my regular titles. I don't have a pull list (I enjoy the process, gets me away from the desk for "exercise" hah, and I can also pull the mintier copies to keep), but over time, the owner has gotten to recognize me and generally chat for a minute when I'm paying. It also helps that the store has a points system that tracks your purchases (get $5 credit every $100 in purchases), which 1) incentives me to use it, and 2) gives the owner instant access on what and how much I've been buying when I pay.

They don't deal in slabbed books at all, but that's fine with me - I buy my regular on-going issues at my LCS, and my slabbed books online (where it would be cheaper anyways).

[revat]

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 7:23 AM, CAHokie said:

I would love to go in my local comic shop every week and be able to pick up my pull list and anything new that looks interesting.  Unfortunately, as I have posted in the past, I would pick up my pull list every Saturday.  Half the books would be missing every single time. If it was a hot book or even one that may be hot, it was guaranteed to be gone. I was told, my list was too big (15-20) so I cancelled and went back to Midtown. 

Someone that has a big pull list that picks them up weekly like a clock should be considered a VIP customer.  I rarely changed the list so that couldn't be an excuse.  Heck, I don't even care about condition (within reason) since it is for my runs and to read.

I enjoyed going to the comic store weekly but if they can't fill my order than what's the use? I can do it all online, cheaper

its insane that a LCS would complain about someone buying too many books.  "Oh no, I'm making too much money! Whyyyyy???? Stop giving me your money!!!  The horror."

[CAHokie]

Yeah, unfortunately the owner is never at that store, she works at the one 8 miles away or so. I haven't seen her in years and when I left my number she never called. (That's not on her though, I am sure the number never made it to her....)