What kind of people do you see in your comic store?

[Lofwyr]

I know this is a bit of an off-topic question but I was extremely curious as to what the forum's local comic reading demographic is like. I visit quite a few stores in southern california and i've noticed that comic readers are an extremely diverse lot.

 

People i've seen in the past few days: Guys in military fatigues(! in Claremont, CA), cops, people of all ethnicities (blacks, whites, asian, mexican), all age groups but predominately 20 yrs old+ except for the little kids coming in to buy Yu-Gi-Oh, pokemon, and MTG. Saw an old man (at least 70) walk in and start buying green lantern issues at one store. It seems everytime i've walked in a comic store it was always multi-ethnic and highly diverse. I usually don't pay attention to what ethnicity anyone is but it's interesting how comics have universal appeal in all walks of life. The rarest comic customers were still women, during my comic shopping jaunt I only saw 2-3 women actively buying/reading for themselves.That was in the more "upscale" area of Pasadena.

 

Still..it really warms my heart to see comics bringing people together in society.

 

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

When I was in Florida last year, I watched a young girl come in and pick-up the lastest issues of ASM and PETER PARKER. I thought it was really cool. When I was a kid, girls didn't read anything but Archie, Casper and Hot Stuff. I'd love to know what girls think of Peter Parker.................

[dam60]

NY is NY, but there are tons of different ethnicities / cultures at the comic book stores that I patronize, with a few glaring exceptions:

1 - no one under 18

2 - no women

 

The only women I see at stores are for the most part the people that work in the store! An attempt to lure the male buyers perhaps?

 

DAM

[seank]

Most mainstream comics don't have anything that appeals to women, so women are scarce in most comic stores. Also, consider the types of comic stores:

 

1. The Comic Dungeon (a la The Simpsons) -- a dark, dirty, crowded storefront full of battered books, an unkempt proprietor, and pictures/drawings of scantily clad women with large breasts. Very female unfriendly. The place smells bad also.

 

2. The Clean, Well, Lighted Place (a la A-1 Comics in Sacramento where I shop) -- Well lit and clean, with a preponderance of graphic novels and other products well displayed, but still wth an emphasis on men in tights/women with breasts. There is stuff that could appeal to women, but you have to look for it.

 

In a conversation with Rory of Comic Relief in Berkeley, he told me that he's seeing lots and lots of teenage girls (12-15) in his store but they're buying Manga, not men in tights or even Archie.

 

[lighthouse]

Between 25-30% of my clientele is female... I'm one of those "brightly lit - wide aisle" stores, doing everything I can to take advantage of the fact that mothers spend more money than anyone else... Yes, I stock my store with stuff that makes the kids' eyes light up, but it is far more important that their mothers feel comfortable spending more than 30 seconds in the store.

 

I would say at this point that superheroes make up around 25% of all the new comics I offer; I try to carry as much non-traditional fare as possible. Likewise, Strangers in Paradise, Waiting Place, Eightball, Lenore, and True Story Swear to God ALL outsell Uncanny X-Men for me on a per-issue basis. None of those come out monthly, but each new issue sells more copies for me...

 

Last year on FCBD, I tracked the demographics of the people who came through the door. 41% female. 35% over the age of 40. 26% under the age of 21. Ethnic minorities were represented in greater numbers than the local population. If anything, it was the white people who were more likely to stay home.

 

And Rory (along with Joe Fields, Brian Hibbs, Jeremy from Titan Comics in Dallas, and the guys at Isotope) is an example of one of the current mantras in comic retailing. If you don't have teen girls shopping in your store you are doing something wrong. Titanic isn't the number 1 movie of all time because boys liked it... These girls WANT to spend money, and they are rabid fans. I sell more Johnny The Homicidal Maniac to teen girls than I sell Amazing Spider-Man to teen boys. Women read far more than men do, and video games are not the distraction for girls that they are for boys.

[aardvark88]

95% male. Teenagers come in for the weekly gaming tournament, hockey cards/Canuck coins, action figures. Young kids & their parents come in asking for Yu-gi-oh card packs & stuffed toys (old Pokemon overstock). Comic subscribers mostly men over 20. Women come in to buy shiney stickers as gifts or manga. 40% of the clientele are Asian as Vancouver, Canada is very multi-ethnic.

[towards2112]

Before we closed the store......

Actually found out that more ladies came in before the

3:30 after school rush.

My wife and brother ran the store from 10 am until I

pulled in from the regular job around 3-4pm.

My wife didn't find this at all unusual, we were located

near a huge apartment complex, something on the

order of 2500 units, and she didn't feel that the 50%

female patrons was that unusual until I called it to

her attention. As a 'non-fanboy' she pointed out that

many young ladies with small children loved to read,

and that we had the natural answer. Reading material.

In the aftenoons, male domination always returned, and

when I spent a week of vaction from the regular job with

her in the store, I noticed that she had cultivated quite a

following among the younger ladies, and gave great advice

on what to read, and what was to be avoided as far as

female interests were concerned. Few ladies want to have

large breasted, wasp waisted Rob Liefield splash pages

foisted upon them. BUT they certainly enjoyed the

'Strangers in Paradise' she aimed them at. We were

even fortunate enough to have Terry in the store for

a short hour or so for an autograph session.

Don't sell the ladies short, good stories, when viewed from

a woman's viewpoint will always sell..