With much of the comics world’s attention focuesed on New York for the Comicon, another mainstream media report about comics shops has appeared on the other side of the continent. Only this one, from the Seattle Times, involves the chain Comic Stop and presents a more hopeful outlook. Obama did indeed save January, according to … Read more
I had mentioned earlier the piece where a California newspaper built interviews with a comics shop owner into part of a series on the recession — making, the retailer said, a year of sales growth seem like a year of declines. Which brings us to California’s biggest paper, the Los Angeles Times — and today’s … Read more
Under the heading of secondary market activity you just can’t track by watching eBay… Bakersfield, Calif. station KGET reports a local man holding a yard sale for 175,000 comics this weekend. Scott Hudlow is described as history professor who’s worked as a dealer for 15 years, including as a mail-order dealer out of his home … Read more
Random notes of note: • Darcey McLaughlin‘s Geek World blog in the Miracmichi Leader continues to delve into the 1990s boom and bust, getting this time into the comic shop glut and its factors. The numbers back then are of course enormous, although I was heartened (and a little surprised) to read that Moncton, New … Read more
In the vein of a similar report from California earlier, a report of a comics and games store citing the overall recession as its reason for closure. Torrance, Calif. store Third Planet Comics & Games closes Monday, according to the Contra Costa Times. “The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to … Read more
A micro-level market indicator we don’t see too much these days in the mainstream press: the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports on the closure this week of Comic Bookie in Claremont, Calif. According to the report, the store has been open since Nov. 1, 1990, aptly characterized as the boom period for new shop openings. … Read more