Who wants to talk about their LCS? What are some stories you've got or experiences you want to share?
My current LCS is still open thankfully. Their hours changed with the whole COVID situation to be shorter. For the most part customers have been cool about it. Except the "that guy" customer. Heard about it from the owner when picking up weeklies. Apparently the guy went into a tirade because the store changed it's hours to open later from 10:30 to Noon and just lost it >Disservice to customers Fewer people shopping overall. Passersby usually make up some revenue normally. They'll stay open but why stay open at time you know no one will be coming >Where are my titles I should have gotten Distributors and warehouses are all kinds of messed up >I'm a regular you should treat me better The guy asks for titles in his pull-box and then says he doesn't want them when he comes to pick up, almost regularly
My comicshop as a lgbt section, it lets me know what comics I should avoid. Took my step dad there when they had a african american section, it didn't last long as they replaced it a couple of months later.
Lucas Hernandez
>african american section Sounds racist as shit.
So stores I go to have a glass, plastic, or something between the cashier and costumer. Do LCS have those?
Jose Cook
>In my LCS browsing some back issues >Someone rough comes in >Like, real rough; Jeans, no shirt, constantly scratching at his shoulder >Store owner behind the counter asks if he can help him >Nawmanjust takinga look >Walks around the store looking at the walls, everyone in the store just being aware of where he is at all times >Blatanly just asks, >"Which of this is the expensive stuff?" >Owner ain't gonna even entertain this >You need to leave >Swearing_Junkie_Sob_Story.webm >You need to leave now >The guy yells and swears all the way out the store and down the street to one of the city funded safe opiod centers before probably returning to his makeshift tent city erected in the local park.
Bought my copy of Outer Darkness and talked about Usagi Yojimbo with the owner. Good Wednesday.
I'm lucky enough to live in a big city with several local comic shops to choose from. There's one in walking distance from me that has a pretty good selection and a friendly owner. Downside is it's pretty small and really can't accomodate more than one or two customers at a time without things getting cramped. There are two more comic shops that are a short subway ride away from my house. The first one is attached to a library and is pretty family oriented, they have lots of books for young children like Dog Man and Bone prominently on display. But they also have a good selection of mainstream cape comics, indie comics and even manga. The last comic shop I go to regularly has a lot of selection and friendly staff. Plus it has a coffee shop attached to it. They're also doing online deliveries right now so that's a plus for me.
Joshua Cooper
NYC burbs here. LCS closed nearly 15 years ago and anything in the city is closed atm.
Justin Cook
oh LCS? You mean the Local Funko Pop Shop? They took the Gamestop strategy and started selling more misc bullshit than actual comics.
Jeremiah Green
Every time I go to my LCS I never see anyone buy the toys is the weird thing.
Nicholas Reyes
Dude can you just talk a little bit about your NYC experience during the quarantine? Did the Staten island ferry run?
Grayson Ward
We had the dusty old cluttered shop run by a pushy asshole that I used to go buy the One Piece volumes and Invincible hardcovers. He would always message me on Facebook when he knew something I was buying came in which was nice, but I always felt guilty when I went in to browse and didn't find something, because he was so pushy. I ONLY went when I knew I was buying.
That place closed, now we've got the trendy funko pop store that started as a comic shop, then became a tabletop store / comic shop and is now like 3 / 4 tabletop 1/4 comics it's not great, sad to admit Books-A-Million has a better selection of trades and since I don't buy floppies I tend to take my business there these days.
Owen Wright
I have 2 LCS in my area. The one in my town is pretty cool just because its convenient and is maybe a 5 minute drive from my place, it's close to coffee shops, taprooms, it's in the outskirts of downtown so you dont have drive through downtown to get there, the down side is that it's mostly big 2 comics. The LCS in the next town i like more and have started making the drive instead of going to the one in my town, they are smaller but have way more non big 2 stuff. Bags and boards are always included, the owner is a super chill guy, the shop just seems cleaner and well lit even though its underground, the owner brings his dogs but it's cool because they are well groomed and smell good. Pic related is one of the dogs
There used to be a good one in my hometown but it closed after the owner got arrested. Another store opened in 2006 and it’s a fucking nightmare, they have these bright white lights on all the time and it always smells too clean. There’s easily 20-30 people in there and I hate it, I just want to get my pull list and leave now. I used to spend half a day at my old place talking with the owner, sometimes he even let me come over to his house and drink beer. These new owners are some weird hippy couple.
Blake Howard
Why did the owner get arrested? Do you still drink with him?
Anthony Ross
I hope all comic shops die permanently due to CoronaVirus. Digital Comics are the future baby.
Jacob Nelson
I have no idea except it was federal charges supposedly because the FBI raided his store and no, he’s still in jail.
Thomas Long
I love that dog.
Josiah Brown
Are you going to drink with a felon after he gets out?
Jack Adams
Have you met it? It's great. Are you from the area?
Justin Sullivan
I mean if he ever gets out yeah. It’s been over 15 years now so I have a feeling it might not happen and he probably doesn’t even remember me since I was a kid at the time.
John Hughes
Ours has managed to survive all these years, has a bunch of collectables and game stuff, even a couple arcade cabinets, and is always running movies for customers. It's a chill place even if the owner gives me a weird vibe. I give him the benefit of the doubt since he's let my wife sell a bunch of crocheted baby Yoda dolls she made.
Chase Brown
probably selling weed. i can't tell you how many comic book store owners i've seen get arrested for selling weed under the table.
Isaac Morales
Do you ever feel sad some times?
Austin Foster
Does Mythic Games count as a local comic shop?
Dylan Miller
Only that one time my old LCS but America Chavez on their recommended reading list.
Aiden Edwards
3rd planet houston. tiny short haired girl worked there with thicc thighs and nice round ass. very cute. 'alva' was her name. always wore denim short shorts and loved wearing booster gold tshirt.
Brody Reyes
My LCS is always pushing random indy shit and "progressive" books. No one the works their has remotely any knowledge of comics published before this decade. Its thr exact sort of store that thinks Saga is the greatest comic ever. On the rare chance they do buy back issues they are idiots at grading and I've gotten a ton of great classic key issues way cheaper then I should have so they are good to take advantage of that way.
Levi Hernandez
>Driving to my LCS >See obvious vagrant on his bike around the corner, think nothing of it >Walk in to looking for some back issues >Few minutes go by >Suddenly Vagrant comes in, starts looking around >ohshit >Shop owner is very quiet man >Vagrant asks him "yuh got any a' those underground comics?" >owner "ummm what specifically?" >"like any uhhhh adult comics?" >"oh no we don't really carry any of those anymore" >"oh ok,.............. you got any japanese comics? >owner shows him over to the manga section "these are some of our manga we have" >vagrant glances over them "which of these are the the, you know, adult manga?" >"oh we don't have any of those" >vagrant keeps walking around >notices room off to the side of the store >"oh is that a back section?" >owner tell hims it's the bathroom and back stock section of the shop >que uncomfortable silence >vagrant leaves >mfw this guy was just looking for some porn
>walk into my LCS >doesn't have a mask on >YOU NEED TO LEAVE, SIR. NEW GUIDELINES >leaves
fucking hell. Wednesday is going to suck.
Landon Diaz
>15 years
He ain't in for selling weed under the counter then.
Selling weed only becomes a federal problem if you're doing it outside the state or you're doing enough to attract federal attention. Otherwise it's just a local law enforcement thing; it is a federal felony to possess, buy or sell weed, but it's not something the FBI gives a shit about unless you're making a lot of money doing it (and therefore selling a lot of weed). It's only been banned federally since 1970; it was taxed from the 1930s onwards; the Western states began legalizing it again in the mid 1990s (Arizona and California, then Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada). So it's been fairly widespread as "medicinal" since then and by 15 years ago? Not that big of a deal. Again, he'd have to have been making a lot of money at it - which doesn't explain why he was running a comic book store unless he was propping his failing business up with a lot of drug money. But even then, LCS were still going kind of OK in 2005, so... maybe if that were true he was just shit at business.
15 years (and counting) is also well over the federal mandatory sentencing for a second offense trafficking marijuana, and that requires a court to find beyond reasonable doubt that the offense committed deserves that sentence. Some dude selling weed under the table? Nope. They've been letting small-timers out for years anyway, just because the prisons are overcrowded. The only way he'd get more than 10 years is if he had more than 1000 kilos of marijuana, which is a hell of an operation to be running alongside a comic book store.
Best guess would be either sex offender or small-time weed dealer who shot someone while dealing weed and got caught. Both of those go over 15 years easily. Or maybe he pissed off someone, they called the FBI with a tip (whether it was true or not) and the agents got threatened with a gun when they arrived. It does happen.
Logan Walker
My first thought was sex offender too, because comic shop owners getting busted on "obscenity" charges isn't unknown. It happened a few times back in the 90's. But then user said 15 years, and let's be real, the system is a fucking joke when it comes to sexual offenses.
Sounds like dude probably got caught pushing a lot of weed or something and had priors, or shot someone like you said.
