After reading some twitter feeds recently, and for the record there are twitter people and twitter feeds. You follow a person and you can enter into a conversation with them, a feed doesn’t have conversations, they’re just semi-human-shaped billboards that yark. Anyways, following the twitter feed there was a discussion over whether or not a classical bookstore that carried comic books would upset a local comic book store, assuming that if the huge chain sold comic books that it would muscle out the smaller comic book stores the same way that Walmart kills off mom-and-pop stores in towns they occupy. This whole thing got me thinking about the loyalty many have to comic book stores. It’s a feeling I’ve wrestled with as well and for me personally it’s right smack dab in the center of the digital comic book debate. If you roll out day-and-date comic book releases digitally you are essentially removing the impetus for customers to go to a comic book store. I wonder where this sensation of misgiving is coming from, if a comic book store dies, does it threaten comic books? Is it really a bad thing? It’s almost as if comic book stores have established themselves as an habitual destination and when you upset a habit it causes a great deal of discomfort for people who are principally embedded into that particular habit.
Specifically I am writing about DC’s coming overhaul in September. They are going to day-and-date digitally deliver their comic books so technically I would never again have to visit my local comic book store. For clarities sake I don’t read Marvel comic books, so I wouldn’t be drawn in by those books, so why go? Do I feel bad about not patronizing my local comic book store? I don’t know to tell the truth. I’m quite betwixt over it. Life goes on, losing a very small customer like me certainly won’t hurt their bottom line – but what if it does and they can’t make ends meet. Do I feel responsible? Do I feel like I’d be missing out or somehow or guilty even? I feel like I should, but I don’t. When September comes I can just carry my iPad with me and enjoy Comixlunch on Wednesdays without having to carry around a stack of comic books I’ll read once and then pile up somewhere. They’ll pile up on some storage device instead.
This is an ongoing issue, brick and mortar vs. online/virtual retailers. There's a brick and mortar board/cardgaming store about 20 minutes from me that has quite a selection and has always been well-run, and I've shopped there for years. However, now pricewise they just can't compete with online retailers
Obviously I don't want to see them go out of business, so I find a happy medium. The markup gets bigger as the item price increases, so I will occasionally still patronize the brick and mortar store for smaller items like CCG boosters and the like. For bigger items, or when I have enough friends that are interested in putting together a large order (with free shipping), I'll go after the onliners.
In my experience comic book store owners don't get into the business in order to get filthy rich, its something they tend to be passionate about. That said, it's always kinda sad when one has to close its doors, because they are one of the few types of shops I like to nose around in – if not for the comics, then for the collectible figures, t-shirts, odd magazines and other eclectic collectibles I might not otherwise be aware of.