Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic store, rodman comics

So You Want To Open A Comic Store In Your Future?

So You Want to Open A Comic Store In Your Future? Rod Lamberti of Rodman Comics in Ankeny, Iowa takes us through the ups and downs.

For some, the dream of owning a comic store becomes a reality. And for some of them, that dream becomes a nightmare. As I stress to people, after opening up their own business, they can do everything "right" but still have to close. I opened up Rodman Comics in Ankeny, Iowa, thinking I could more easily control my destiny. My favorite job I ever had (yes, even more than owning my own store) was when my job title was warehouse coordinator. Basically, I was the company's supply guy. I was young; the future looked bright, I was not married yet (I wish I had picked differently), and I managed to get along with many of my coworkers. I had my favorite boss of all time, Pat, who also considered me a friend. What happened?

Things change. Pat got a job at another company and even apologized to me about it. I told Pat I could never be upset over someone doing something I would do, such as getting a better job. The company does payroll for various companies. When the other companies would give money to process their payroll, it was a lot of money. They would make money off the "float"; they earn interest off the money they receive to do the payroll. But then interest rates fell – this was decades ago. Lower interest rates resulted in less money, so things no longer looked so great. The group I was a part of started shrinking. I had gotten married and thought that as much fun as it was to play "survivor" at my job, I should best try and get another with hopefully a better future. Ironically, I lost my job at the new job, which was the complete opposite of my previous job; I went from fitting into being an outsider, though I did make one big mistake that I never dreamed would be held against me. I introduced a coworker to a friend who started dating.

It ended badly. I remember suggesting a meeting, and the supervisor said we all saw how your last suggestion of introducing your coworker to your friend went. I was speechless. No good deed goes unpunished. After losing my job, the Great Recession hit. While I might have been able to stay longer at the previous job, it was only a matter of time. Eventually, the whole company ended its presence in Des Moines, where I worked.

Why do I bring all that up? I wanted control of my own destiny. I was jobless for six months, and it sucked. I did manage to get a job again with much better benefits, though it was nothing as close to fulfilling as when I had the warehouse coordinator title. It was a government job; sadly, the stereotypes fit all too well. I started researching about opening up a comic store. I made up budgets. I crunched numbers and read up on opening a new business, but I found very little about opening up a comic store online. I decided to try it. I would never be jobless again, and I wanted to put my energy into something positive and control my destiny. I opened my store and learned the hard way about opening a business. It was also an expensive education.

What Did I Go Through That Might Help Others Consider Opening a Comic or Game Store?

Some of the research I did was very helpful. Two to three years is the estimation for a business to become profitable. I wanted it to be sooner, so I ran advertisements on TV when I first opened. I learned that it drove in some traffic, though the people it brought in would, on average, only buy a few comic books, and the amount they spent did not come close to covering the costs of running the ads. Now, if I were bigger and selling, say, something much more expensive, such as cars, then it would be more feasible. I learned that Facebook advertising was much more bang for your buck when the store was newer. One could set up a radius outside of a store's location and set it to notify Facebook users who liked comics. Back then, users of Facebook could list their hobbies, and Facebook would target those with advertisements. It was much more effective than TV advertising for us. New people were coming in, and every time there was a sale, money was spent on Facebook to advertise.

Then, of course, Facebook changed, and people who were interested in comics or games were no longer getting Facebook advertisements. We were receiving angry complaints from people about receiving our advertisements. They were threatening to hurt us even. The advertisements were the same; they were nothing edgy, just basic: "We are having a sale" and when. I would check out these people's Facebook pages and wonder why Facebook sent it to them. They obliviously had no interest in what the store offered and were people I would stay clear of just by looking at their Facebook page. I would learn things would change, not always for the better.

What did I have the most difficulty with after opening? Spending. I had never bounced a check in my life and was used to a budget before opening. With a business, it was much bigger than paying rent or a mortgage and normal everyday expenses. I would see over ten grand leave the store account in one week, and I was not used to that. I felt like Al Bundy from Married With Children with Pepto Bismol next to him when he had to pay his bills. It stressed me out. I discovered that, now that I own a store, it is not a simple "I control my own destiny." The economy and other factors that I am unable to control affect business.

I also learned a lot about human nature. The Men In Black quote, "Individuals are smart, people are dumb", is very true. People are pack animals. Most people are followers. If the person they follow is doing something they would not normally do, they will often copy it. During Magic The Gathering game nights, new individuals would come in and buy packs of Magic during gaming, but once they saw veteran Magic players not buying packs and only buying offline because it is cheaper, they figured out they were just playing to get as many prizes out of a store as possible, the new players would come back and do the same and take the store for everything they could. Playing the game for fun? Heck no, it too often was all about getting as many prizes as possible. I coined the phrase Prize Sharks for such people.

What a person says and does is often two separate things. When I first opened, I was surprised how many people said other stores would not hold anything for them. I often learned that someone would put something on hold and never pick it up. I had a former comic store owner come in and tell me how he hated it when people did that to him. He said he forgot his card and asked us to hold something for him. Guess what? He never came back.

People Who Steal From the Store Don't See Themselves as Bad People or Actually Do Anything Bad

They just somehow justify it. Years after opening, I finally found someone who runs a gaming store in California, Gary Ray. He has written plenty about his experiences that I wish I had known about when I first opened. As I read his past blogs, I thought, "too true." My store is much smaller and carries comics, though I have learned and agreed with a lot. He has even written his own book, Friendly Local Game Store: A Five-Year Path to a Middle-Class Income.

Dealing with people at times made me wonder how humanity has survived all this time. There are plenty of good people out there. Human nature often dwells on negative things over positive things. I keep a few things at the store to help remind me of why I do this and that there are good people out there. When Geoff Johns sent the store a signed Doomsday Clock poster, he did not have to do that. I have it framed and hanging in the store. We may be moving to a new location this year, and if that happens, people who care about the store will hopefully be willing to lend a hand. One of my earliest thoughts was that I would be purely professional and not make friends with customers when I opened up. That was foolish. I have made plenty of friends through the store over the years.

There will be good days, bad days, days wondering if it is worth it, days wondering how I could never have done this, just like there will be good people to deal with and not-so-good people to deal with. To the customers of comic stores, I hope if you want your favorite comic store to continue, let them know. A simple thanks may help more than you ever know. To those who want to own their own store, I stress researching and saving money. Be ready for that dream to hit reality… there will be some surprising downsides to actually living the dream.

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