Why I hate my comic book store.

[UK_Stu]

My comic store is a week or two behind. What comes out on the 7th they get on the 14th or 21st. Now, I drive an extra hour out of my way to not go to this store for that reason. Is that excessive?

Thats pretty poor service, even in the UK, I only get my comics a day or so later than you guys in the US.

I have a subscription with comic book store, who are excellent, they'll happily sell me varient issues at stanadard cover price

 

[UK_Stu]

i dont like it when they are ********s as well. I know it goes with the whole cliche of being a fanboy but i think if you own or work in a comic shop you should be a bloody professional.

I was looking at a POWERS trade a few weeks ago and this guy walked up to me and said if i didnt put it down or buy it I would have to leave the store. Never read powers before, just skimming it and then he had his eye on me for the next ten minutes and when i bought my comics he was a real prick.

You guys ever go into a nice bookstore like borders or somewhere like that and you can grab a book of the shelf, get a coffee and sit down? Imagine if the comic industry was big enough to support that kind of environment.

Wouldnt it be nice?

This is a good point, I read an interesting article a while ago about this. It probably applies a bit more to Uk shops, but the principle is a the same. The article essentially said that most comic shops don't make any money, as a result the only people who independently open shops are comic fans and collectors, who have a tendancy to run the shop like a fan and not a businessman. It goes on, but the gist is that a comic shop is still a business and needs to be run like one, otherwise you don't get a professional service

 

[Joker]

my comic store is awesome...I have a box in which they put everything I get, and they know me by name

 

[Mr. Walters]

That is completely ridiculous. Have you ever asked WHY they're a week behind?

I did and the guy tried to explain it to me, but I didn't get what he was trying to tell me. He had a bad attitude. So I said the hell with it and left. Yeah, now I make a two hour trip to buy comics but at least I know when I get there they will have what I want.

 

[Electro UK]

My store also didn't get books in until a week after their release... but then the owner was punished for his crimes as he went out of buisness, now I use the internet... and get my books a week after release

 

[Blade757]

my shop is okay

 

[Elijya]

maybe the comic store thats late -- that guys from england or sumthin?? then agen my stores seem pretty up to date. what i hate is comic shops that dont order enough of comics. like 1 of an issue theyre not sure about. i cant guarantee im gonna come buy every week/month etc cos of e-bay and other subscriptions so i dont wana reserve comics but my comic shop never seems to have "the good ones"


today, went to get eternals 1. they had about 10.alllll reserved. fine. but they only had a couple to sale originally and then when i asked for it the shop workers friend who was just lookin asked and then the shop worker said "its alright i'll let u have one of those". what a ****in cheek! he only asked cos i asked. who do i havta sleep with around here for a ****in comic?? sigh..

Well that's pretty idiotic. Stores do have to be conservative in their ordering, since every copy of a bok they order that nobody buys is money down the drain for them. But this is a brand new Marvel series by Neil Gaiman and JRJr based on a Jack Kirby Creation. It's a surefire hit, and they damn well should have known to order more. If you have lots of subscribers putting it on their list, it only makes sense to have more for the wall!

I don't have a subscription folder cause, according to them, you have to be "A weekly customer for at least 4 years"

****ing hate the store. BTW; Emerald City II in Clearwater/Safety Harbor if you were wondering

Also ****ing idiotic. Subscription folders are garaunteed sales! if somebody has a folder you know they're very very likely to come to you each and every week, because they trust you'll have the books they've said they want. If they don't have a folder, they'll pick their books up anywhere. This is a completely idiotic set-up!

Seriously, tell me if this store has a website or email address, I'll rip them a new one

 

[Ben Urich]

I don't have a subscription folder cause, according to them, you have to be "A weekly customer for at least 4 years"

****ing hate the store. BTW; Emerald City II in Clearwater/Safety Harbor if you were wondering

That's so ******ed.

my comic store is awesome...I have a box in which they put everything I get, and they know me by name

Same here.
It's nice. I walk in, browse the stands in the back of the store for any non-subscription books I want to read, walk up to the counter and my books are waiting there for me.
The people who run the store are really nice, too.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

(english) people living in kent might have heard of incognito comics. they more or less had a chain of stores at one point - amazing in this day and age and ESPECIALLY in britain. but i remember they had the rudest staff ever. when i was 11 my mum used to go in and get my books from there and he'd always get an attitude towards her if she asked for stuff that wasnt out yet. i was 11 and she's got no clue, has she?!? if any of their staff (old maidestone branch) by some miracle look at these boards i want u to know ur a **** for makin my sweet mother feel like an idiot. f u guys. woo, i like this thread. they were famously rude bastards and every1 knows it.

 

[masteryoda]

i dont like it when they are ********s as well. I know it goes with the whole cliche of being a fanboy but i think if you own or work in a comic shop you should be a bloody professional.

I was looking at a POWERS trade a few weeks ago and this guy walked up to me and said if i didnt put it down or buy it I would have to leave the store. Never read powers before, just skimming it and then he had his eye on me for the next ten minutes and when i bought my comics he was a real prick.

You guys ever go into a nice bookstore like borders or somewhere like that and you can grab a book of the shelf, get a coffee and sit down? Imagine if the comic industry was big enough to support that kind of environment.

Wouldnt it be nice?

That's total crap. My shop actually has couchs and encourages people to take a seat and read at the shop. I've never done it but I've noticed a few regulars that do it. They also have signs on the TPB rack that says "Feel free to remove this book from the bag and read it." My shop is all about the customer service, I love it.

http://thecomicbookshoppe.com/

 

[masteryoda]

I don't have a subscription folder cause, according to them, you have to be "A weekly customer for at least 4 years"

That's complete bull****. When I first went to my shop they had me put down a $5 dollar deposit to get a sub. I asked why and he said it was just so they don't hold comics for someone for months at a time and they never show up. Made sense to me.

 

[Tropico]

That's total crap. My shop actually has couchs and encourages people to take a seat and read at the shop. I've never done it but I've noticed a few regulars that do it. They also have signs on the TPB rack that says "Feel free to remove this book from the bag and read it." My shop is all about the customer service, I love it.

http://thecomicbookshoppe.com/

So they have copies that are only for reading or can you take any book you want and read it?

 

[masteryoda]

I've never done it but I'm pretty sure any trade or new issue would be safe. Back issues would probably be a different story. There's also a couple of hotties at my store. Actually one cute girl and one mega hottie.

 

[Elijya]

So they have copies that are only for reading or can you take any book you want and read it?

no, I'd imagine it's not quite like that. NO store would be ok with you coming in every week and pulling out several books and spend an hour reading them, then leave with buying very little or nothing. It's mnore of a case of "we don't mind if you check the books out to your hearts content, spend a few minutes reading them. But this is NOT a library."

 

[ToddIsDead]

I love going to a good, reliable store. I haven't been to the comic shop in three weeks, but I'm confident that when I get there this weekend, I'll have all of my books tucked neatly in my pull box.

 

[Elijya]

Souless, I began discussing your problem with that store on another board, and another user said he's a regular shopper there and there's no waiting period for subscriber boxes.

 

[Tropico]

no, I'd imagine it's not quite like that. NO store would be ok with you coming in every week and pulling out several books and spend an hour reading them, then leave with buying very little or nothing. It's mnore of a case of "we don't mind if you check the books out to your hearts content, spend a few minutes reading them. But this is NOT a library."

That's what I wanted to know and get at. Because cutomer service is one thing, but taking advantage of situations like that is a very different thing. Sometimes I have more empathy for the store owners and employees than what I have for some of the geeks (and there are more of them than I would have thought) that go to the stores. I've also heard kids in Borders go on about how they just pick up a TPB or comics and go take a seat and read and how they're not spending a dime. Borders or other large chains like that I guess can take people doing that; local comic shops, not so much.

The shop I go to is in a mall and although it's pretty succesful I've spoken with the owner and she says that she's not getting much profit from it. She's still in it for the love of it and not because she's going to be swimming in money (because she isn't). Most of the employees there are very helpful and knowledgeable, but they don't know everything and I don't expect them to, that'd be ridiculous. I usually don't go the day they get comics because I know they're rushed to count the merchandise, organize it and put it on the racks WHILE dealing with all the geek-nerds that just HAVE to have their comics right away. I've worked in retail, so I guess that makes me a bit more sympathetic to the situation of having the pressure to rush your work while dealing with overbearing clients. They're still human, even though they have a job to do "serving" others.

I've been to other stores that have the elitist snobs as employees, though. They're real chummy when people they know come over, but you can practically see frosted words materialize out of thin air as they talk to you. Now that getting your comics somewhere else than those kinds of stores those kinds of business practices are more hazardous since most comic fans just don't have to take it because"It's the only shop I can go to get my comics."

 

[Gogo Bananas]

Dear God! My dealer won't charge more than cover for variants!
We've discussed this and he feels hoarding by shop owners to be the eighth deadly sin.

 

[Anubis]

hmpf....I thought the eighth deadly sin was banging cheap hookers in your parents bed?

 

[Gogo Bananas]

That's a common misconception. Banging cheap hookers in your parents bed is actually 14th.

 

[Venom160]

My shop rules

same here, my store always has the recent stuff, and if they don't they'll order it for ya and it'll be in the following week.

 

[Elijya]

Dear God! My dealer won't charge more than cover for variants!
We've discussed this and he feels hoarding by shop owners to be the eighth deadly sin.

then you might want to inform him that one of the prinicipal reasons varients are made is so that retailers can charge more for them to increase their profits

 

[yenaled]

I've recently moved house to a different city, and between them two of them both comicshops hae been excellent.

The new place because it is a much bigger buisness than my old shop is actually cheaper (live in England so the prices are never "cover price" - but for instance Brave New World was free to everyone with a pull list) and orders comics in a larger stock. So never any trouble in finding a comic (this actually includes old books like Miracle Man which I bought there last week).

The old shop while more elitest at the start were good when they got to know me, when they knew every week I'd be in there buying a good amount of books and not just someone who comes in a buys the odd book and really if you go to a comicbook shop weekly and don't set up a pulllist you are being very stupid.

 

[MODOK]

My shop used to be pretty good but after a couple of moves I think they are losing their focus.
I have had a pull list their for six or seven years, and I have been a customer there since 1989. (17 years!) I am a very busy person with work, my home life with a baby to be born any minute, and working on a master's degree in the evenings. Therefore I don't always have the opportunity to stop by the shop every week. Sometimes I let comics pile up for a few weeks (or months) until I get the chance to read them.

Many times I have found out weeks or months later that a comic was not pulled for me. It is usually a hassle to get the back issues at that point.

I was told to start ordering everything I wanted through previews, in addition to already having the titles on my pull list. That way they would be sure to have them for me. They rewarded my by not pulling anything for three weeks!

I was going to switch to an online service like Westfield but I have trimmed the number of titles I get down quite a bit (in anticipation of the little one) so I am not sure it would be worth doing that...

 

[warren_sparta27]

my comic store is awesome...I have a box in which they put everything I get, and they know me by name

same i'd only been going there for about less than a month and they already knew me whenever i walked in.

That's total crap. My shop actually has couchs and encourages people to take a seat and read at the shop. I've never done it but I've noticed a few regulars that do it. They also have signs on the TPB rack that says "Feel free to remove this book from the bag and read it." My shop is all about the customer service, I love it.

my store has the same thing, there is always someone sitting there reading.