>"Comic book store" chain that is spreading to malls all across the east coast of the united states
>Only about 20% of the store is comics books or manga
>the rest is shitty merch, vinyl records and music CDs, Spencer/Hop Top-tier "geek" clothing and other miscellaneous trash.
Is this the future of brick and mortar local comic book stores?
>"waaaah, other people are into my UNIQUE hobby!"
This. Fuck off OP.
Majority of LCS are also table top game hubs. Even before that LCS also sold sports cards and merch. I haven’t seen a purely comic store since the early 90s.
What the problem though? If selling other merch keeps the doors open and exposes more people to the hobby everyone wins.
Go to other comic books stores. Boston has like three on its own.
Newbury Comics is terrible nowadays, but it was never only a comic book store. It used to be mostly music and dvds.
These stores at lease sell comics though. This new chain seems more interested in selling the hipster appeal of geek culture and has comics stuck in some dark corner on three measly racks as some kind of afterthought. If you're going to sell your chain as a comic book store you should at least have a decent supply of it
Sounds like the customers aren’t there for selling more. If those three racks start disappearing you’d see more inventory.
But another user already pointed out that the store in question didn’t start as a LCS.
>Flash shirt right outside the store
It's like they WANT to lose money
Yes? Floppies are a terrible deal and if I wanted trades I'd just buy it online for a lower price.
Most comic stores get most of their profit through that nerd card game and merch.
I could have bought Big Damn Sin City at the original but I put it off and now it's gone forever!
Shitposting aside, we are witnessing the death of comic books themselves. Soon superheroes will be a exclusive TV and Film thing.
>into
The issue sounds more like they're not.
But what'd you expect OP? Few people actually like comics, and even if they do it's not really entertainment worth buying at the prices they're giving you.
andy went back to school
he got sick of newbury comics
Probably, yea. Being 'nerdy' is popular fashion now, and with more and more media going digital you've gotta fill that shelf space with something. Why not put out more junk for people to show other people how hip and nerdy they are for having watched the latest Avengers movie, while still selling all your old comics and merch? That said I've never been to one of those newbury stores but it looks like Spencers and GameStop had a baby and colonized a Barnes & Noble.
My LCS is actually a Trading card store. You couldn't tell by going in and seeing nothing but comics books.
I'm ok with this. Even the Barnes and Noble here moved the comics section into the Movies and music section for some reason. Completely away from all the other books in the store.
All the stores that sold neat shit in my area died. Hastings, Books a Million, FYE/Sam Goody. Media Stores.
I worked at Books A Million when it was a regular bookstore, and then I watched my store go from selling a whole bunch of books to selling more and more "nerd culture" stuff like vinyl records, DVDs and toys
I also watched as the local 2nd and Charles went from being a nice place to browse for used books and DVDs and games to a place that mostly sold the same things as BAM since they became sister companies
I understand they gotta keep up with the times, but damn was that a let down
Willing to bet 20% is a lot more than most LCS' these days.
>Hurricane Maria damaged my only LCS, drove them out of business
>only other Comic shop is 4 hours away
>local bookstore is really small with a practically non-existent trades shelf
I wish I had that 20%
My local Books a Million stands at about 25% not books, which is fine by me.
But 2nd & Charles ratio is a bit depressing, even if their inventory isn't.
So it's just an FYE?
I like Newbury Comics. They give me 20% my comic purchases.
Newbury Comics used to be my favorite store. They didn't start looking like your pic until around 2010. Before that, they were these dimly lit, black carpeted, grimy record shops in the greater Boston area that always reeked of incense. They used to blast punk and metal music and the whole place had a big punk/DIY vibe to it. Store was mostly cd's and dvd's, but they always had a room off to the side with all the comics. They had some clothes, but nothing that had to do with "LMAO NERD" culture. Once they switched over to their current business model, that's when new stores started popping up in malls all over New England. I fucking hate it.
>new chain
>Boston has like three on its own
Besides Harrison's and NEC, what else? All I can think of are smaller places.
The one I went to in Boston was pretty cool. The record store half was actually a decent record store which helped.
There's Comicopia, Million Year Picnic, and New England Comics.
Comics aren't exactly a profitable business on their own. Specialty stores have ALWAYS carried tons of merch and especially trading cards to offset the cost. I don't know where you got the idea this is a brand new thing, every comic store I've ever been to carried cards and games, figures, novelty shit, lots of merch for scifi and horror movies, even masks and costumes for LARPers
yes because nobody buys comics anymore and most superhero comics suck shit and are mediocre regardless of sjws
What toys are in it?
ENOUGH FUNKO POPS TO CHOKE A HERD OF ELEPHANTS!
>tfw used to go to the actual Newbury Comics in Boston all the time in the early 2000's
really didn't know why they bothered with the "comics" part, it was only one or two shelves of comic related stuff even back then, 90% of the store was CDs and curios
did you enjoy black panther with your gf
>tripfag having an opinion
so that is a yes you liked it very much but thought it needed work in some areas by having even more references and interconnection with the other mcu movies
Next you'll tell me you don't like walking to that cramped LCS to rub yp against the sweaty asses of fat unwashed nerds
Comicopia is the GOAT
Huh. But music stores are closing down, why would they switch from one dying medium to another dying medium?
>tfw I used to go to the original newbury comics
>tfw I saw its death and hipster resurrection
It’s happening to most large hobbies. I went to an out of the way comic shop and the front was rammed with t-shirts, statues, DVDs and other nik knacks. The actual comics were deep in the back of the store. Truth be told the owner makes more money selling bazinga!!! T-shirts and cheap fotm Marvel/DC memerobilia than actual comics.
The reason these stores are trying to provide a different shopping experience is because the old comic shop experience is something you can now get from your home basement. If you dislike warm lighting, feel anxiety in the presence of normal people, and believe comics should be organized in cardboard boxes, just shop online like any sensible shut-in.
Wow, all I see is that anything small and can fit into the palm of someone's hand will get nicked. Fast.
Comicopia and NEC were my go tos before I left after college. Million Year is also great. NEC is a bit more like Newbury.
Sadly looks like my old LCS back home is closing in few months.
and Funko Pop!s!!
Rows and rows and rows and rows of Pop!s!!!
That's honestly the only way i can see comic stores surviving. Most Yurop stores have been mixed RPG/Comics/TG/Merch stores for a long time.
A friend worked managing the comics section at one. It was alright. They had some events and decent sales.
I still prefer glorious nippon nendoroids.
Thry have some of those. Sometimes they are overpriced, even on domestic figures. It is rather hit or miss. Sometimes I van't find em online for decent prices so it can be worthbit. Also sales sometimes equal it out.
Comicbook stores are forced to rely on superficial geek merch to be their main source of revenue, the general populace are more interested in shitty Pop figurines of Game of Thrones characters than good comics like The Goon or whatever.
You can’t just blame them for trying to survive when demand for physical comics are low, mate.
>my LCS relies almost entirely on trade sales
>but they're the only LCS in my entire city that stocks every trade on release day and has a wide selection of trades
>so successful they opened a second location in the hot new neighborhood
>secondary nerd shit is off in a corner away from the main area piled high with comics
So it's an On Cue/Sam Goody's with comics? I'd love to have one of those around here.
Clothing and nerd culture are a dying medium?
Their music/movie selection is almost an afterthought at this point.
I work in a brick and mortar comic book store and even we have to sell other things in order to get by man.
Yeah, Comicopia (especially the owner) is based. Million Year is great as an old-school type of shop, but at least one of the staff is legit insane. Dude started having this crazy conversation about geopolitics with someone while I was in line and kept it up while he rung me up.
Vinyl still sells apparently.
>man, this shitty chain is just for normies!
You can still make special orders and open a pull list with them, just like a legit comic shop. Some locations even go out of their way to order enough for incentive covers for collectors. You'd know this if you simply walked to the counter and asked about their comic business, but it's clear that you have crippling anxiety around other human beings.
>Is this the future of brick and mortar local comic book stores?
Yes. Newbury evolved as the market changed, and they implemented a business model that will keep them on top while the smaller places stagnate and die off. You should be applauding them for finding a way to preserve your hobby. Instead, you'd rather ignore the comics and bitch and moan about the other merchandise.
Two posts above you is exactly why
I'm uncomfortable with the fact that generic pop-culture geek shit subsidizes my access to comics, but I've made peace with that considering the alternative of not having a place where I can waltz in on wednesdays and pick up my pulls.
Still probrably one of the more sane conversations around Harvard Square. Guess I am used to the People's Republik.
Comics haven't been profitable enough to fund a storefront fucking ever
But that's most comic stores already? Comic stores have prioritized merch, tabletop, and Magic (and more recently Pokemon) for a long time now. Trying to sustain a business on comics alone is shooting yourself in the foot.
If you can stomach all the casuals and hipsters with gauged ears who work at the front desk, it's not so bad. Newbury is well lit, air conditioned, and they carry bags/boards for your floppies. And although it doesn't have much in the way of back issues, they have a decent trade collection.
>Is this the future of brick and mortar local comic book stores?
Yes
Stores that tried to stay open based only on new floppy sales are a long gone and there is no way at all to keep a store open selling only new monthly floppies, the numbers are simply not there.
Flash shirt is from Big Bang Theory, silly. That's what Shelldon wears. Gosh are you new or something?
>Before that, they were these dimly lit, black carpeted, grimy record shops in the greater Boston area that always reeked of incense. They used to blast punk and metal music and the whole place had a big punk/DIY vibe to it.
That sounds fucking awful, user.
>Comics haven't been profitable enough to fund a storefront fucking ever
You're an actual idiot
No, it's the present of comic book stores.
Jesus fuck who even actually buys these things?
Look at Japan. Most of their comics now are shit tier and only serve to sell swag
I'll admit, I have a couple. They're cute, go good on a desk or something.
Problem is they make them for every fucking property on the planet now. And I mean every single fucking one. They're making one of Mister Rogers for fuck's sake. There are some lines you shouldn't cross.
spot the Newbury employee
I think I have to get this.
Half-Price Books is a better comic shop nowadays than most "nerd" stores are, let's be real here.
OTOH, at least there is a small LCS in my town.