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Any one hear of Passaic Book Center?
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66 posts in this topic

I picked up an old comic book with a store stamp on the back (Actually thats the reason I wanted it) It reads

 

Passaic Book Center

Books, Comics, Paperbacks

Bought Sold & Traded

594 Main Ave Passaic

Tel 778-6646

 

 

What I found so far is that they did mail order back in the 70's (at least) and were based in NJ. Does anyone know anymore about the store? Have done business with them?

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So was it common practice for them to stamp comic books? I know different times etc. it seems odd a large mail order company would stamp back issues.

 

And thanks guys for the additional info. I enjoy store stamped books and seeing if I can find out about the store the comic was sold at once.

Edited by BrianR
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So was it common practice for them to stamp comic books? I know different times etc. it seems odd a large mail order company would stamp back issues.

 

And thanks guys for the additional info. I enjoy store stamped books and seeing if I can find out about the store the comic was sold at once.

 

I know at one time they did do quite a few stamps, especially in the 70s, on later collections they acquired, I think they stopped this.

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I use to get back issues at a Used Book Store behind Fordham Road and just up 2 blocks from Webster Avenue in the Bronx in the 1960s. It was owned by a nice elderly couple. They got their back issues from Passaic Book Store. I started getting Warren back issues there too. I probably have some of those comics I bought still in my collection.

 

I also had 2 catalogs they use to send out if you requested it. They had ads in the marvel comics classifieds with Robert Bell and Howard Rogofsky.

 

I visited the store years later and they had sold all their back issue stock. Not sure who they sold it to.

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They didn't stamp the books they wholesaled, as far as I remember.I never bought anything from them retail. Store stamps are kind of rare on Bronze Age books, much more common on SA stuff.

 

Yeah, this is a Kid Colt 108 so it fits with the SA stuff.

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They were awesome inthe 70s - you'd buy a "mystery lot" of 100 books for $20, something like that, and you'd get just cool, cool, cool stuff. They would just send you the first 100 on the pile.

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I used to go out there years ago...in the 90s. I do remember them having the coolest back issues. I bought alot of stuff there. I also remember that they have like cloths lines strung in the store...With back issues on them being supported by..of course cloths pins.... :o My friends and i always thought that was going to mess up the books. lol

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This is my reply from an old thread from '07. What a great place!:

My first comicbook shop was the Passaic Book Store right on Main Ave. in Passaic New Jersey.

It was a short bus ride away to an old building but once you entered...WOW! No bags or boards on 90% of all the boxes and boxes of the comic books and magazines that were all over the store. The only bagged items were pinned to the walls that streched to a 12 foot high ceiling. There were even books "clothespinned" to lines that strung across from one side of the room to the other. At the age of 12 or 13 this was a wonderland to me! This shop also had its section for adult books sectioned off by two swinging boards reminisent of saloon doors (you had to pay a dollar to get in there). But the best memory of this shop was an old basement trap door that was held open by an old rusty chain where they kept even more back issues. If for some reason I could not find what I was looking for upstairs, one of the staff would ask what title I was looking for and ALWAYS found what was on my want list in that magical cellar! Before the shop closed for good I got to go down in there once and it was just like I imagined it would be...a dark comic catacomb filled with books, I remember looking at the dirt floor and seeing it covered with loose covers and pages from old books!

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This is my reply from an old thread from '07. What a great place!:

My first comicbook shop was the Passaic Book Store right on Main Ave. in Passaic New Jersey.

It was a short bus ride away to an old building but once you entered...WOW! No bags or boards on 90% of all the boxes and boxes of the comic books and magazines that were all over the store. The only bagged items were pinned to the walls that streched to a 12 foot high ceiling. There were even books "clothespinned" to lines that strung across from one side of the room to the other. At the age of 12 or 13 this was a wonderland to me! This shop also had its section for adult books sectioned off by two swinging boards reminisent of saloon doors (you had to pay a dollar to get in there). But the best memory of this shop was an old basement trap door that was held open by an old rusty chain where they kept even more back issues. If for some reason I could not find what I was looking for upstairs, one of the staff would ask what title I was looking for and ALWAYS found what was on my want list in that magical cellar! Before the shop closed for good I got to go down in there once and it was just like I imagined it would be...a dark comic catacomb filled with books, I remember looking at the dirt floor and seeing it covered with loose covers and pages from old books!

 

 

Glad to know i am not cracking up about the comics from clothspins...lol. Yeah, I remember the adult section also! And they always had what you were looking for in the cellar! Only bad part of that store was alot of the books were BEAT! But still a great store!

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I used clothspins in my store for awhile, and stole the idea from a place in Queens called The Memory Bank. Back then, hardly anyone used boards and you'd just tape the bag so there was enough space above the book to pinch the pin. Key was having high ceilings.

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