Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Bud Planet, diamond

Bud Plant Retires In 2026, Honest This Time, Well Mostly

Bud Plant Retires in 2026, Honest This Time, Well Mostly... anyone fancy buying him out?

One of the earliest comic book retailers was the Californian comic book store Comics & Comix Store #1 near UC-Berkeley campus with Bud Plant, Bob Beerbohm and John Barrett, which went on to host comic conventions, and become the first comic book chain store. Since then, Bud Plant has staying selling comic books, with Bud Plant Inc. a wholesale comics distributor active in the 1970s and 1980s during the growth of the direct market, as well as published its own comics and zines. He sold to Diamond Comics Distributors in 1988, but as Bud Plant's Art Books, still sells comics, reprints and graphic novels… but is planning to bring it all to an end next. Year. Again. As he says;

"Ok, I threatened to do this back in 2012 but I couldn't quite pull the trigger. We downsized from 11 people to just a couple of us, then we changed our minds and kept things going! Today, 75 catalogs later, it's time to get serious again. I turned 73 this last May and I'd like to have more options in my future.
"The staff here already knows it's time to make a change; at least two of them plan to retire when I do. My other guys are great and will land on their feet. Anne and I plan to keep the Rare Books portion of the business going; we'll probably move all the books over to her website (our current website is quite costly). We still have thousands of books to catalog from the various collections we've acquired, such as Jim Vadeboncoeur's and Bob Foster's.
"But, I am officially putting Bud Plant Comic Art, aka Bud's Art Books, up for sale. I've already been in talks with Buddy Saunders at MyComicShop.com and that is one possibility. If you can help me get the word out, maybe another buyer or two will step up who would like to carry on what I've done over the past 55 years.
"Meanwhile, please rest assured that it's business as usual for the rest of 2025. We'll keep bringing in new items as we always have, right into December. But we currently plan to stop ordering new items slated for 2026. We'll also begin dropping more older items than we normally would, so we'll have less backstock available by the end of the year. That is something you should be aware of. I already discontinue items regularly, as you know.
"So this will only be a partial retirement—I'll step back from doing printed catalogs, newsletters and weekly emails and such for new items. I hope we'll find someone to take the business forward.
"Anne and I will continue to exhibit at book shows and the occasional comics show, we'll continue to sell out-of-print books on her website and in occasional emails . If we find a buyer, I'll work with them into 2026 to make a transition as smooth as possible for everyone. Get the word out for us, okay?"

Will do, Bud, will do!

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