The death of the LCS??

[thunderbolt]

My city used to have two comic shops, one went out a few months ago, now the other is going out on the 31st. I tried the online thing for a bit thru megogeek, great service and all, but I didn't like the hands off part of it. I liked being able to go to the shop and look at what's new. Maybe I'd find something different to catch my interest. Now I am going to have to go back that route since the closest local shop is in Lakeland which is 30 miles or so away. Or I am going to have to go the wait for trades route and shop amazon. Is it going this way in the rest of the country, or just smaller cities?

[MegoSteve]

My local shop is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. He's had competitors... one's been open a little bit longer than he is, and there have been a few others coming in and going out, but, for the most part, things are quite stable in this area.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to not have a comic store I could browse... there are six or more within an hour's driving distance.

[The Toyroom]

We don't have a comic shop in my town so I drive 20 minutes every Saturday to the comic store by the mall...if that one closed, I'd have to drive about an hour to get to the next closest one.

The one I go to has been open at least as far back as '83, so I think they're in it for the long haul....

[Airdave817]

Things here are pretty good. Two stores in town. One's been in business ten years or more. The other maybe three or four. That's Rochester. The newer of the two has another store in Winona. There's at least two or three up in The Cities. The Source I think is the big name store. Plus there are a lot of big names that live up that way - Christopher Jones (The Batman Strikes, JLU), Terry Beatty, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen. I know I'm probably forgetting a bunch of names...

I used to live in Evergreen Park, IL - home of All-American Comics - right outside the city - home of Graham Crackers. There was a chain that had one store go out of business since I left - Comic Relief.

There's just something about walking into a comic book store that is calming. I can walk into a comic store or Barnes and Noble and just spend hours in there. Plus, I like talking with the guys behind the counter at the comic book store about what's going on in comics. As much news as there is online, it has a completely different perspective from the retailer.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I've had bad luck with comic stores in the last few years. My small town had a "comic shop" very briefly while I was in high school. A baseball card shop ran by a father of one of my friends. He decided to get into comics. This was during the early 90s, right before the big speculator boom. He closed up shop before it even hit.

So for me, its always meant at least an hour's drive to Lexington. I think there are 3 shops there now. At one point there were at least 6 in operation. I eventually realized it wasn't worth the gas and time for the service I was getting at these shops. The last one I tried gave me a real good first impression, but the guy who ran it was real insincere I felt. He'd act like he was you best bud one time, and not even remember you the next.

I guess I was spoiled by college. I got to work in the local comic shop/office supply store (I know, weird combo, but it was a small college town) and I LOVED being the comic guy folks loved to talk to. I got paid to talk, stock and read comics. It was minimum wage heaven. And my boss was one of the nicest guys on the planet. I still miss that job, and that town.

Chris

[BlackKnight]

I drive about 40 minutes away to get to mine. There was another in my area yrs ago, co-owned by McFarlane with the guy that Married his sister,.. or did he marry that guys sister ?.. But they closed down about 7to10 yrs ago, because there was more money in Spawn toys than books, & you can sell those outta your house. This area is different now, very populated, I would very much like to attempt to open a comicbook Store, but rental Space has got to kill.

[tothebat-tricycle!]

A couple years ago a comic shop near my home went out of business as well.
fortunately, there's still about three more standing, two of which are about 15 minutes away and are next door from each other, the second I could walk to.

[davidb]

I forget how many stores used to be around here. Now there's a grand total of 1 I go to, and it's about 20 min away. The closest others are Louisville or Bowling Green, both about an hour away.

[bobbait]

nearest for me is 45 min. I got about once in every 3 months, just dont have the time to go, thinking about quiting because of this.... and the money.

[BlackKnight]

^^^ Are you sure it's not because they Killed Captain America ?

[The Toyroom]

^ Cap's not dead....he's just on vacation in Bermuda.

[BlackKnight]

Yeah, & When he comes back, he will blind all his enemies with his new shinny suit, then Shoot'em to death. Just like the Cap I remember & Love,.. I can't wait !

[BlackKnight]

Spiderman Won't remember him either, then he will get shot to death as well.

Man, Make mine Marvel, with thier "House" of Ideas.

If they Did this crap to the Bat, or that new Gods pitch I wouldn't go back to the comicbook store either.

[bobbait]

cap AND spiderman AND hulk AND ironman (director of shield?? please!!) and ect!!

actually the Cap story is really good.

[thunderbolt]

the odd part about this happening here is that this area is supposed to be one of the fastest growing in the country. So there should be more of an audience to support the stores.