Your complaints with the local comic shops

[Lt. Eckhardt]

In your opinion, what is the most annoying thing about your LCS? There is a LCS near work and everytime I walk into this place I notice the following things:

 

1. There are new packaged toys lying ontop of ALL the back issue bins so I cannot look through them.

2. The back issue bins are so jam packed with books that it is impossible to look through them.

3. The same key books are always displayed on the wall and never rotated.

4. The store has CGC books but they charge a huge premium on mid to low grade books as well. (Does paying $59.95 for a Punisher #1 CGC 9.0 regular series interest anyone? I thought not)

5. The woman working behind the counter doesnt know the first thing about any the books there.

 

It just frustrates me that so many of these LCS operate as if they aren't even interested in even making money!

[comicdonna]

The prices are too high in my LCS. Always above guide. I don't even bother to go anymore.

[Ringfinger]

I don't go to my LCS. No discount, no back issue bins to bother with, and the selection sucks.

[Kermit the frog]

1- First and most important the lack of manners/respect towards the costumers and the medium.

 

if at least this situation could be resolved, everything else would fall into the right places...

 

simply there's a lot of people/employes/owners who really don't know/care of what/how they do their business.

this can mainly seen for ex: in the biggest comicstore of paris, Album. Their service is a nightmare...

 

regards

[mar-vell]

Ina Alaska we really only have one LCS in the whole state! Luckily it is above average! I have been to comic shops all over the country and this is definitely one of the better ones. My biggest complaint is that although they have many back issues from the silver age they tend to be overpriced on the books and usually won't negotiate the price at all. Best example they have a raw hulk 6 on the wall that grades to around 5.5 or 6.0--i would be willing to shell out about $400 for it but they want a $1000 for it!!! Don't they realize ebay has made this sort of "retail" pricing obso lete!

[eddly]

the nearest lcs to me has no back issues...

[Lt. Eckhardt]

I seldom buy from my LCS and do most of my purchasing off of EBAY and conventions but I still enjoy going in and browsing. It's almost amusing to see these stores cluttered with stock and overpriced Copper books.

[Ringfinger]

Ina Alaska we really only have one LCS in the whole state! Luckily it is above average! I have been to comic shops all over the country and this is definitely one of the better ones. My biggest complaint is that although they have many back issues from the silver age they tend to be overpriced on the books and usually won't negotiate the price at all. Best example they have a raw hulk 6 on the wall that grades to around 5.5 or 6.0--i would be willing to shell out about $400 for it but they want a $1000 for it!!! Don't they realize ebay has made this sort of "retail" pricing obso lete!

 

I bet you're happy for E-Bay!!!

[batman_fan]

My local shop is Heroes in Cambell, CA. Great shop with a wide range of books from Golden-Age to Modern. They run specials all the time and have a pretty decent staff, although the owner is there a lot. No real complaints from me.

[MK Ultra]

I never liked either of my LCS. One is a joke in that they only have stock from the porcelain age, or it's wildly overpriced like the Hulk 1 example above. When I was there one Wednesday to get a book, they had sold out, but a friend of the manger's offered me one for $20 or something like that. I gave him my best Al Pacino impersonation from Dog Day Afternoon, "I like to get kissed when I'm getting fubared". Haven't been back since.

 

The other one has an okay selection, but their service sucks and they couldn't care less. No discounts either.

 

I was going to Boca, 30 to 45 minutes away, but was just getting bored with all the new stuff, and quit buying new issues.

[comicdonna]

I was looking at the early actions, and their was a #20 in there. I was checking the spine over so, so close for damage and resto, because I just got screwed on a #27. I didn't even notice until the end, that it was a Superman. Too bad. The price would have been right.

[Rob]

The prices are too high in my LCS. Always above guide. I don't even bother to go anymore.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. I go in every once in a while to pick up a Wizard. (I'm not a Wizard fan, but there's not alot to choose from when it comes to comic publications, and it makes good bathroom reading to keep up on what's going on in the hobby.)

[Pirate]

my LCS has tons of overpriced mid to low grade silver. He wont budge on prices nor offer any type of discount because he says he has plenty of money and doesn't see why he should have a big sale to make 5 grand on 10 grand worth of sales. Occasionally you will find a halfway decent deal since he never updates the old pricing. I think he had an 8 year old grade the stuff.

 

This is a guy who has a 1 dollar raffle to win an rpg editon of some book and instantly makes his variants $10 on wednesday. He's a nice guy just really tight i guess

[comicdonna]

my LCS has tons of overpriced mid to low grade silver. He wont budge on prices nor offer any type of discount because he says he has plenty of money and doesn't see why he should have a big sale to make 5 grand on 10 grand worth of sales. Occasionally you will find a halfway decent deal since he never updates the old pricing. I think he had an 8 year old grade the stuff.

 

This is a guy who has a 1 dollar raffle to win an rpg editon of some book and instantly makes his variants $10 on wednesday. He's a nice guy just really tight i guess

The grade at my LCS is about 1 full grade above the actual grade.

[Aces]

Your complaints with the local comic shops

 

Let's see...

 

1) Overgraded.

2) Overpriced.

3) Understocked on back issues (even from 2-3 months ago).

 

 

One good thing around here is the owners are in-shop 90% of the time so you don't have to deal with "the help" who have no idea where anything is or when anything will be in.

[Foolkiller]

Wow. A lot of hefty complaints here. Well, I've been lucky to develop some good relationships with the folks from my LCSs back in New Jersey. JC Comics, Zapp Comics and Dewey's Comic City have all treated me very fairly over the years.

 

However, as I've mentioned numerous times, the comic stores here in Philly basically offer minimal discount 10% + discount is basically not much of a discount, so why pull books, have overgraded back issues and pretty much don't show a very extensive knowledge of their product. Atomic City/Showcase on South Street is a pretty weak store, though I would go there before anywhere else because they are at least friendly. They don't know how to grade back issues, but they are at least enthusiastic comic fans still. As opposed to Fat Jack's which, while larger, cleaner and delivers their new books and back issues in a more professional environment, has employees who look like they are going through the motions only.

 

That said, some of the other complaints I've seen here are far worse than what I have had to deal with in Philly. But for a major city, I'm always stunned we can't get something like Midtown Comics or Jim Hanley's who would absolutely crush any comic store in Philly if they would come here.

[seank]

A-1 Comics in Sacramento, CA. One of the best shops in the business. Clean. Well lit. Friendly knowledgable staff. Tight grading. "We're out of that. Check back next week. We'll see if we can get you one." and "You're a Batman fan. We pulled this for you because we thought you might want one." -- with no pressure to actually buy the book they specially pulled. And a great back issue selection with regular sales up to 50% off.

 

Only complaint from me is that it's a bit far from my house.

[kidcolt]

2 stores in my area. The one with the best selection and the best store is WAYYYY overpriced and the owner is an [embarrassing lack of self control]!! I swear no one likes this guy(bet even his mother wouldn't buy comics from him but would go else where). The other shop has a cool owner who really tries his best, he runs a decent shop and really looks after is key customers. However he don't have anything good in back issues. He isn't aggressive enough in buying up lots, almost like he is afraid to spend the money to make money.

[sterlingcomics]

Personalities and customer service aside...

 

These complaints mirror the sign of the times. With the Internet, the "middle men" have been crushed with increased competition since buyer and seller can more easily connect (aka eBay). In addition, since they have a physical location, they are forced to charge higher prices to pay the rent. Their labor is a variable cost under their control, so I won't bother with that...

 

In other words, the LCS as we know it is an endangered species.

[the blob]

The LCSes I go to here in NYC I don't have a problem with. There are damaged books on the racks, but that's mainly due to customers manhandling things. The ones I go to (rather than the ones I don't go to) have a semi-realistic idea of pricing things. I'm not going to name my sources, but one I don't go to much is Midtown comics, which is pretty big. OTOH, their comic boxes are well priced (and the people at the cash registers are pretty professional) and every once in a while I find something that isn't overpriced in their back issue bins. Otherwise they seem to have everything priced at wizard, but once in a while they'll have a low/mid grade SA or BA book priced decently.