Many Long Boxes
Many Long Boxes
Jan 08Tom Spurgeon has an interesting roundup and analysis of some recent articles about the decline of the comic book back issue market, at least as a fixture in local direct market comic shops.
One small item I’d add is the issue of storage space. Not only is the shop’s real estate occupied by back issues in the front of the store, but if they all won’t fit there, there’s got to be someplace to put all the overflow. I know one local shop here in Orlando where there’s a storage unit someplace dedicated to just back issue storage; another one has probably forty to fifty long boxes in their massive front shop area, and then a large “back” with even more long boxes.
At some point, buying and selling back issues must become a zero-sum proposition; you’re eating valuable retail space, and you’re carrying some kind of expense in maintaining a back stock, whether it’s paying on a storage unit or the man hours required to get the damn things out the door to customers. This is probably why so many shops are moving their back issue inventory onto eBay, which I think any smart thinking comics shop should be devoting at least some energy to at this point; those bagged and boarded issues gathering the most dust can usually fetch at least SOMETHING on eBay.
And yet…one of the major ways I personally judge a comic shop is on their back issues, specifically their back issue PRICING. In fact, come to think of it, it’s maybe the major defining factor in how much I like a store. I still fantasize about a place called Geoffrey’s Comics in Gardena, CA where they had the best dollar bins I’ve ever seen and some great deals on old trade paperbacks. I’d try to get back there every chance I could to fill in recent holes in my collection and catch up on stuff I may have missed.
In that sense, Tom’s spot on (as usual); it’s the pricing that’s hurting these back issue sales, in the sense that pricing them to sell may help them move, which would at least provide an easier method for maintaining a stock that doesn’t overflow into chaos.
Two other thoughts:
1) I’ve often wondered why shops haven’t devoted more thought to the sale of used trade paperbacks. I guess maybe because it would jeopardize the sale of new trade paperbacks? And yet, used CD stores often sell new discs right in amongst their used offerings. I think there’s a much higher potential for turnaround and resale value on trade paperbacks than back issues.
2) One clever workaround would be to maintain a stock of back issues in the shop’s storeroom (or even off-site) and then provide a computer interface for exploring and finding back issues. I would guess a piece of consumer comics collection tracking software would even do the trick here–ComicBase or some such. Anything that gives you a cover photo and some kind of pricing field. I would think the novelty alone would drive some traffic, in addition to the ease of use.
(Hell, if a shop already has their back issue inventory on the web, just hook a computer up to the damn website in the store itself…)
