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Georgia Comic Store Rock Shop To Close, Move On-Line Only

Brad Owens, the owner of comic store Rock Shop: Music & Comics in Buford, Georgia, writes,

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

After 8 years at the Mall of Georgia, I've decided not to renew our lease and we will be moving to online only. For our Comic Club/Pull Box Customers, we WILL maintain our Diamond account and can ship your books to you. We'll contact each customer and offer that as an option (and we'll try to keep the pricing the same, even with shipping, as it is in the store.) We will also continue with pull box comics, and shelf copies, up until our closing date.

Our last day is Sept 26. Starting today, most items in the store are 30-50% OFF. There are great deals to be had! We will be selling our fixtures and they can be picked up from Sept 27-29. We will not be totally liquidating our comic inventory (we will be transferring our comics to our online inventory, so no $10 long boxes to other shop owners..)

There are multiple reasons why I made this decision, both business and personal. I did look at moving to a different location, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't be able to provide the store that I want to provide, and really need to focus 100% on our online stores..What made this decision so hard was our amazing employees and customers. It's been a great ride, and we'll see what the future holds, because you never know… brad

Georgia Comic Store Rock Shop To Close, Move On-Line Only

He tells Bleeding Cool,

We're not going out of business, we're just closing our B&M and going online only for now. Our store has been in the Mall of Georgia for 8 years, this October. Our lease is due and I elected not to renew, for both business and personal reasons. Mall foot traffic has been down each year, so our operating costs have been really high compared to the sales in the store. This summer has been brutal. Although comic sales have been flat to slightly down, the rest of the store is WAY down (we're like a Hot Topic mixed with a comic shop.) When we opened, there was one other local comic shop, and the Hot Topic in the Mall sold mostly Hello Kitty and Scene band merch. Now they're like a comic shop without comics, we have a Think Geek which WILL be selling comics, 2nd and Charles across the street, a few new local comic shops. Just a lot more competition that stretches the nerd dollar. I did look at a few spaces as far as moving, but honestly, I'm at a point where my daughter is in high school, will be going off to college in a few years, and I'd rather spend more of my time with my family instead of in the store. I'm also frustrated with Marvel mostly. Did Fantastic Four really require 40+ variant covers?? Too many titles from all publishers, IMO. Anyway, that's my two cents. The hardest thing, and what made the decision difficult, will be missing our amazing customers and employees.

Good luck with the new business plan, Brad…


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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