For comic book readers: Do you like your local comic book shop?

Question

If not, are the employees there elitist jerks? My experience has been that many of these "employees" horde comics for themselves, are rude to customers, and are greedy weasels. This has been at many, but I did find ONE comic book shop where the owner was helpful, nice, and appreciated business. I am thinking about getting comics online. What has your experience been either in a comics shop or via online?

Answer 1

I can speak on both sides of it... being a collector/customer but also having been able to work in a comic shop.

Hording and greedy employees- yes, it can be a concern, and not just at the employee level. The owner of the chain i worked for would stash a quantity of high demand books, so he could turn them out a couple of months later and sell at the increased guide price. So technically speaking, someone walking in and asking if the store had a copy of "X" would be told "sorry, all out" when the owner did have some in the back, but didn't want to sell them.

If the owner/manager is strict about making sure the product gets out to the customers, it's not much of an issue. Workers that are also subscribers pull their stuff with the rest, and if there were any special items they wanted, they were already earmarked for them because they placed an order for it just like a regular customer. For regular items...if for some reason something shipped and there wasn't enough to go around, customers got priority.

Basically, if you have a manager or owner that oversees when new product comes in and is put out, they can control what the employees do (assuming the manager/owner wants to, that is).

Rude to customers- i hate to stereotype, but there is a reason for some of the generalization. A lot (I won't say most or all) comic shop employees are there because they are collectors/ gamers/ etc... and many (again, not all) lack maturity and social skills. Plus, you aren't going to be attracting many stellar workers since a comic shop is essentially a low paying job with little or no advancement within. Another issue is supervision. If the owner/manager isn't there, the "mice will play". Employees like that would rather do nothing except read, hang out with or play with the gamers, and a customer wanting service is seen as a hassle.

Again, not all places are the same. Some places have a good and knowledgable staff, some don't. Depends a lot on what they look for when hiring someone. Some places just want bodies on the floor and the register, some are more picky on who they hire. At one point the store I worked at had 5 degrees amongst 3 of the workers there... I and another had our BA and Master's degrees, one had a BA. Essentially, you get what you hire.

There are decent places out there, and they aren't. I recently moved to a new state, and had to find a new comic shop to get my stuff at. Best advice I can give you-

See what your choices are in your area, and check all of them out before actually setting up a subscription

Here is a good tactic. Visit the store a couple of times. Either 1)take a long time browsing... or if the store has gaming tables, and you or a friend has a ccg, rpg, board game, etc... 2) set up the game and play, or if you are alone, act like you are waiting for someone, or trying to see if you can get a pick up game started...
*** use the time to observe the owner/manager and staff***.

See how they treat the customers with subscriptions vs. customers off the street. See how the staff answers customer questions, and ask some yourself... test their knowledge of what they are selling and how they treat people with questions. Are they giving honest answers, are they faking it... one of the things that's key for me is "do they give an honest opinion as if they would want to be told in the customer's place".

That's a biggie... if an unknowledgable customer comes in looking for a good $$ book and sees the shiny #1 that has Collectors Item on the cover and wants to know if that would be a good book to get... the employee knowing that it's not a good book speculation-wise can either 1) be honest- nah, that book really didn't go anywhere when it came out or 2)yes, that'd be a good one (just wanting to move the product and get a sale). Listen to the advice they give the customers.

Visit on new comic day if you can and see how they put stuff out (if it's not already out when the doors open). Visit on days that you know the manager/owner isn't there and see how the employees conduct themselves without supervision.

If you go for limited edition/ alt covers... ask them what their policy is concerning them and who gets them if there is a limited amount amongst all the subscribers.

If you pick a place to get your sub at, keep testing them for a while. Do they get all the books pulled for you, or do they miss some? That's very important if you don't have the luxury of going to the shop every week. When you add or take things off your sub, how fast does it get done? Is it done accurately? Always double check for the first few months... make your changes then a week or two later go by or call and ask them to read off or print a list for you. Go to the Diamond website every week and note what should have shipped and check it against what got pulled for you. Granted, there can be delays and changes... so if there isn't something, you can just ask "did "X" ship? And likely if it was Diamond's fault, you'll get the "Yeah, it was supposed to, but it got delayed, etc.." If it was the shop's fault, they likely will say "Yeah, it did... you didn't get one?Is it on your sub? etc". Another subtle way to check is when you go in to get your sub, don't get it right away... go to the new comics area and see for yourself what came out the current week and before. If you've looked at Diamond and/or examined their shelves/tables, you should already have an idea what should be in your sub.

I've only gotten my regular comics thru stores... I've been lucky enough so far to find places that I can work with. If I couldn't, then I'd go the online route.

Good luck!

Answer 2

My favourite comic book shop is a japanese book store and the owner is always very nice and has a lot of cool stuff. I really enyoi to buy comics, artbooks, magazines and whatever else there.

Before I found that shop I bought in another one, but I didn't like the employees there. They were rude in every way, had no knowledge about what they were selling and sometimes looked at my like I could try to steal something every minute. I am glad I don't need to go that place anymore.

In another store the employees were hoarding stuff that was wanted. When they got the Pokemon sticker albums they were hiding them in the office. When a little boy came in, telling he was looking already in sooo many shops and no one had these albums and asked if they might have one left, he just got a snotty "No, we don't!". A bit later when, a sexy blondine came in and asked for that album, too, they went "Oh, yes! We have it! No problem!" that disgusted me.

But well, I am happy with my japanese bookstore now ^-^.

Answer 3

The local comic shop I go to "Don's Atomic Comics" in Buffalo, NY (Cheektowaga to be more precise) is wonderful! The owner is friendly, makes suggestions, keeps promises, is helpful, is easygoing, and is cool.
When I first walked in there I had just started reading comics again. I was into some pretty pathetic ones (compared to more serious readers). He didn't laugh or seem cynical at all. He was helpful with my current likes and even suggested a few more serious ones that he thought I would like as well (he was right). That was how I discovered "Blankets" and "Promethea."

Answer 4

Well, I've had several good comic stores. One is on-line run by a guy I've known for 7 years (contact me for his info if you are interested).

Other stores were Dragons Hoard in El Paso and Brad's Comics, also in El Paso. One was run by an old High School buddy of mine, the other by a guy I used to supply with comics and business from the military base.

B-Cool

Answer 5

Yes, they do. At my old school, I saw this first grader reading a Dragon Ball Z manga whih was rated up for 13 and up. I was kind of suprisd to see him with that though, but I was in the 7th Grade at that time. Now I'm in the 8th.

Answer 6

I've enjoyed two comic shops in my area-one in Raleigh, and one in Durham. The other two in Raleigh: one is kind of elitist and one is run by a creepy conservative full of hate.

Answer 7

I love mine. 1 000 000 Comics on Pierce st. just off Ste. Catherine in downtown Montreal. Check it out if you're in the area.

Answer 8

I like my comic book store. It's pretty good.

Answer 9

I love my local comicbook store. They also have an online store. Link is in source.

Answer 10

I have only bought them in shops and usually they were neutral.