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Comic Book Buyer’s Guide #5 - Every Comic Shop is Different - Part 1

Feb 6, 2009 Comic Book Buyer's Guide, Comics

Do you remember the first time you walked into your Local Comic Shop?  The VERY first time.  How everything seemed brand new and fresh?  Maybe you needed to ask where the New Releases were or inquired about their Pull List policy once you had made your way inside the door.  Or maybe you just wandered around until you found what you were looking for.  Either way, chances are you were also experiencing excitement at the possibilities this new store held.  The shop you just entered could actually be carrying all those back issues you have been searching high and low for or the person behind the counter may know every answer to every question you could ever come up with.  The point being, that excitement can be felt again and again with very little effort (especially if you have a GPS).  All you need is a free Saturday and the willingness to get in your car (or take the bus) and drive a bit…

Below is a short list of methods we’ll be going over to help you find some comic book buried treasure:

Google is Your Friend.  Ask them Nicely…
“What Have You Got”? - Phone Ahead.

I want to give you some tips on finding “Diamond in the Rough” comic shops.    We’re not talking about abandoning your Local Comic Shop and finding a new location to pick up your weekly books, although a lot of the same tips will apply if that is your goal.  This entry is centered more around the idea of finding comic shops that you didn’t know existed in your surrounding area and checking them out to find items that your Local Comic Shop may not stock.  Every shop is different, so why not try them all (or as many as possible)?  I’m a big collector of trade paperbacks, so whenever I can find a shop that stocks used TPBs, I’m thrilled!  As used stock changes so frequently, there is almost always going to be something “new to you”.  You just need to know how to locate this hidden gems.

Google is Your Friend.  Ask them Nicely…
One of the quickest and easiest ways to find a comic shop near you is to head over to www.google.com and type in your city (or a major city near you) + “comic shop”.  I literally just did this and a HUGE list of shops was returned to me in seconds.  Thank you Google!  Just be sure that you give Google as much information as possible.  You can get pretty specific by using search terms like “comics”, “comic shop”, “collectables” and the exact city you want to use as home base for your comics excursion.  If you’re willing to drive longer distances, type in your State or Province and see what happens.  The limit to how far you want to travel is up to you.  For the extremely motivated, you could plan a full weekend of hitting random comic shops across your home area.  A quick phone call to book a hotel and a visit to Mapquest or the programming of your GPS and you’re all set.  Oh yeah, don’t forget the Doritos and fruit roll-ups!

“What Have You Got”? - Phone Ahead.
I can’t stress this point enough.  CALL AHEAD!  Like any other business, comic shops have been known to close or move locations.  If this has happened, the last thing you want after driving for 3 hours is to roll up to what you thought was “Crazy Randall’s Comics” only to find “Maddy’s Poodle Salon and Spa” in its place…  Not cool.  There is an easy solution for this; when you are looking up addresses online, be sure to take down the phone number as well.  Write it down, add it to your cell phone, whatever.  Just make sure you have it and call it before you depart.  This helps even for little things like finding out their hours of operation.  Some comic shops close on random days of the week.  I’ve been to a shop that closes on Tuesdays because they are a notoriously slow business days.  Also, when you call, ask who ever picks up the phone what they specialize in.  If you’re looking for back issues and they don’t stock anything more than a year old, you’re going to be pretty disappointed upon your arrival.  Phone ahead and ask the questions that will give you the answers to ensure that your trip will be worth the effort.

That ends Part 1 of  Comic Book Buyer’s Guide 5 - Every Comic Shop is Different.  Please come back tomorrow for Part 2 when we will go over the following methods:

Punch it into your GPS and Head out for an Adventure!
Leave a Message, Get a Message.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your day!

Tags: comic books, comic shop, Comics, google, gps, new