Monday, November 12, 2007

Another One Bites the Dust

Yes, once again, I am sad to report a store closing down. This store opened around the same time we did, I think. They're in northern Illinois, so that's not too far from this area. He doesn't mention it on his site, but he did make the announcement on other on-line venues. While I have not met the owner, I did communicate with him on a retailer forum on occasion, and he seemed like a good guy who did a lot to try to have a great comic book store. However it seems that eventually it just did not work out, and over the last few months he could not hang on. (one thing to note - September and October are typically slower months for comic book retailers) He did just recently move, and it sounds like he lost more business from that than he gained, which is a risk one takes when relocating a comic book store.

But, on a positive note, he does want to save up some money and try again at a future date in a different location.

The comic book retail business can be moody and unpredictable. It's hard and a good day one day can turn out to be a bad week the rest of the days. As the prices of everything go up, loyal customers leave due to jobs or budgets or new family members or even just to save money by buying from an on-line discounter. Some stores exist as collectibles stores, while others function as visual entertainment retailers. Any time you have your own business you are taking a risk, and this business is no different. Over these few years I've seen stores come and go, consolidate, switch to on-line, etc. It is always sad to see a store go, especially when I believe that in order for the comic book industry to thrive we need more, not less, good comic book stores around.

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