Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic shop, comic store in your future, pull box

Comic Store In Your Future And Who Could End Rodman Comics?

Comic Store In Your Future... and who could end Rodman Comics?

As I have stated before, I thought that by opening Rodman Comics, I would control my "destiny" more than if I were to work for someone else. My naive thought process was that hard work and a strong will (or, as others call it, hardheadedness) would be more rewarding and count for more than working for someone else. But I've learned that even if someone does everything "right" with a business, it may still close.

What do I see as the most likely reason Rodman Comics would close? It's all down to the customers. Over the years, we have seen many new customers and lost many customers. When I say 'lost,' that usually means due to a life change, such as a new job, which causes them to move away. The most depressing reason is, of course, death.

I have learned that what someone says is often very different from what they actually do. Comic store owners are unhappy when customers order something or put it on hold and never pick it up. I had a former comic store owner as a customer who put a shirt on hold because he claimed to have forgotten his wallet. He also told me he hated it when he was still open, when people would not pick up what they had on hold. Of course, he ended up doing the same thing.

Years ago, I ran into a former customer of Dragonfire Comics, a comic store that had since closed. He joked that they tried calling him to get him to pick up his pull list of comics, but he never did, and then joked that he helped put them out of business. I did not find that funny.  He stopped in once, wanting to start a comic pull list with us, but I said no.

I see pull boxes as a mistake. Every comic store has pull boxes because their competition does, so the fear of missing out on customers is why they have them. Collectibles are about getting people excited about wanting to buy them. When I started driving, I was so excited about getting comics that I made sure to make it to the comics store on Wednesday, new comic day, every week I could. The threat of missing out on the latest issue was real!

Pull boxes remove that feeling of missing out. The reason to get to a comic store on a timely basis takes a hit. People who used to make it in a timely manner start slipping to later and, as time goes on, even later. In today's age of entitlement, many believe there is no need to follow rules or consider the needs of others. Often, people do not care. Pull boxes often fill up over time. Instead of being on the shelf, available for sale, they are in a back room or behind a counter, being saved for someone who may say they will be in, but never shows up again. As a lot of past comic store owners state, abandoned pull boxes hurt them big time.

Customers who repeatedly delay picking up their pull boxes with comics, or barely make it in, add up to the costs. People who show up less and less abandon their pull box. None of the people who start getting slow about getting their comics get better, just worse.

This is a quick example with rounded math to show why it is a problem. Rod is two months behind on picking up comics at his local comic shop. We will say the store's cost is $50 a month. Two months later, that means the store has $100 at their cost of comics on "hold", still hoping that bum Rod will pick up his comics. $100 isn't that bad, some will say. Then you get nine others that do the same, and to keep it simple, we will say they also have $100 at cost to the store in comics on hold. Comics are paid for before those two months are up, and they are most likely non-returnable. Those ten "customers" now have $1000 worth of products that haven't been paid for, and they are just sitting around. A store's bills, like rent and utilities, are still due in a timely manner, just like everyone else who deals with rented property. Let us turn those ten people into twenty. Now that is $2000 in material that has been paid for, tying up funds. The more people who fail to come in monthly, the greater the costs to the store.

Why would people do that to a small business? Some people don't care; it isn't their problem, they may have money hardships, and they do not want to tell the store what happened. They may be losing interest in comics, but are still mentally in the habit of thinking they need to get the comics. They think they have spent plenty at their local comic store over the years, so the store owner can now wait a little longer. The store owner is now a jerk in their mind. The jerk did not say hi to me last time I came in, so now I hate him (lots of people with thin skin nowadays).

Maybe Rod has taken up a new hobby and keeps thinking he can afford both. Maybe he is dating and paying for it all. Maybe the store owner did not hold the door open for him when he was waiting for the store owner to open, and now will not tell the store owner he never plans on getting his comic from them again, while getting comics elsewhere. Rod is upset to find out the store owner is a bigger Marvel fan than a DC fan, so now he does not like him. The possibilities are endless.

Yes, we have been fortunate to have great customers over the years. However, we are open to the public, so some people will hurt business in the future, ranging from shoplifting to not picking up their pull boxes. But it is the customers who keep us going and will decide the store's future. The moral of this story is, don't be like Rod, be sure to pick up comic holds in a timely manner.

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