Good shops in San Francisco

[FlyingDonut]

What are the good shops in San Francisco and environs for Silver Age? A friend of mine will be there Tuesday afternoon and will have some free time and a car. The more back issues the better!

[seank]

If he doesn't mind a bit of a drive, A1 Comics in Sacramento has a most excellent selection of gold, silver, atom, bronze, and modern comics. Grading is strict and the prices are reasonable. If he's looking for high-end books, he should talk to the owner. There's a lot of stuff that's in a safe or hidden away that the general public doesn't have easy access to.

[PovertyRow]

Maybe Supa can chime in as well. Really not much of anything in San Francisco itself. Most sell new or TPB. Very small store called Amazing Adventures that does have back issues. You may want to give them a call - they're listed in the yellow pages.

[realitytrip]

Yes, unfortunately most of the good shops in SF focus on new issues and TPBs. Amazing Adventures has a little bit of stuff. The best place in the Bay Area for back issues is Comic Relief, they have a decent selection of Silver Age, but don't expect high grade, mostly VG/FN or less. Lee's Comics in San Mateo also has a decent selection of Silver Age. That's about it, sad to say....

[Susanville]

If he doesn't mind a bit of a drive, A1 Comics in Sacramento has a most excellent selection of gold, silver, atom, bronze, and modern comics. Grading is strict and the prices are reasonable. If he's looking for high-end books, he should talk to the owner. There's a lot of stuff that's in a safe or hidden away that the general public doesn't have easy access to.

 

Just an FYI... from the City, Sacramento can be a haul especially with traffic. I-80 can be a pain. He'd be looking at 3 hours total drive time if he times it right. If not, then it could be ugly. I would leave early in the morning and try to get out of Sacto by 1pm.

 

I will give a shout out to Crush Comics in Castro Valley. Not much Golden Age but he has more long boxes out with back issues that I've seen just about anywhere I've been in the Bay Area. And if he feels like taking BART, there's a stop less than a mile away.

[Susanville]

Better yet, tell him to screw the comics and go to PacBell and see Jason Schmidt pitch and Barry Bonds hit against the Pirates. Bonds always does well against his old team and Schmidt came here from the Pirates too.

[spidermanbeyond]

Many shops don't carry much Silver Age anymore for obvious reasons. Best bet is Ebay and the major big dealers. S.F. stores seems mainly to carry the new stuff and TPB and hot Yuki-Oh etc stuff. My recommendations would be Comic Collector Shop in Mountain View, Heroes in Campbell, Lee's in Mountain View, and also A1 in Sacramento which was mentioned. Skip Crush comics (been there recently and not much old stuff in high grade at all). Comic Relief in Berkeley used to carry old stuff but always seems overpriced. The best thing would be to call ahead. Many of the store owners I mentioned may have good stuff locked up and at home.

[LordRahl]

There's two good stores down here in the south bay. About a 45 minute drive south of S.F. Comic collector shop in Mountain View and Heros in Campbell. Both have good selections of Silver and Heros has plenty of Gold, at least they did before San Diego not sure how much they sold there.

[garthgantu]

Having lived in the SF Bay Area for the past 20 years, I too can testify to the woeful dearth of quality back issue sources. In terms of shops, I've had pretty good experiences with Lee's comics, which has a couple of locations near SF (I tend to hit Lee's at WonderCon, not the shops).

 

Comic Relief in Berkeley is pretty good, but increasingly focused on graphic novels, TPBs, action figures, etc. The back issue selection is still decent, but expect to pay very near guide; you're only hope in this respect is that most of the people doing the grading are strict, and some (IMO) are overly strict...I find VF-NM books that are graded as FN+ to VF- on a fairly regular basis. If you go here, be sure to check out the "binder" of pricier books; covers are photocopied and listed in a three-ring binder, with the actual books accessible with staff assistance.

 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland is well worth avoiding, IMO... decent back issue selection, but all at guide prices, and not particularly strictly graded. Add to that a staff comprised almost entirely of condescending jerks, and it's a less than stellar experience.

 

Amazing Adventures is another SF shop - on Geneva St. or Ave, I think... pretty cool old retro store, with a lotta long boxes of just about everything. Pretty limited supply of high grade, but lots of mid-grade and below, including Golden Age. Generally gonna pay guide here, too, though...

 

I've heard great things about A-1 in Sacramento, but haven't been there yet.

[supapimp]

if there were any, i would've raided them all by now.