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A place to say good things about your LCS, incl. memories
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29 posts in this topic

We appreciate you, local comics stores !!

 

Growing up, I was fortunate to have nearby Flying Colors in Concord, CA... that was the place I bought my Venom #1, my Sinister Six ASMs and vintage Thor (1st Beta Ray Bill!), and Jim Lee's X-Men. Good ol' Copper Age. Even took a pic with Ren & Stimpy outside once; I was young enough to wonder if they were real or not.

 

Since returning to the Bay Area from a 10+ year sojourn in NYC, I've been more apt to hit up Fantastic Comics in Berkeley via a quick BART ride. Love it ! Jeff makes CGC subbing easy, they always have the latest + greatest Modern selection, with down-to-earth and knowledgeable staff to boot. Most of my pickups there in the past year have been Afterlife with Archie and All-New Wolverine.

 

 

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Shinders on 7th and Hennipen in downtown Minneapolis MN was heaven to me as a kid.(1977-80)

I'd ride the city bus there and spend hours going through the boxes and starring at the wall books.

I still like to look at old photos of downtown so I can see shinders and the other old stores

 

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I used to go to West Side Comics in Manhattan as a kid and hit their 4/$1 and 3/$1 box. It seemed like a great shop at the time, although in hindsight not so much. My "fond" memory is of a guy standing outside the store distressed because the owner would only pay him 5 cents a book for his stuff, and he actually had some good stuff. He decided just to give it away he was so pizzed. So I took home a bunch of Byrne X-Men and some other goodies. This was in like 1983 or 1984. I didn't want to get too greedy because the guy seemed a bit unstable, so I didn't delve deeper into the Spideys he had and what not, just wanted to get out of there before he changed his mind an went postal on the owner.

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Joe's Books and Things - Manassas, Virginia. He eventually moved to Burke, Virginia (near Fairfax).

 

Marie's Books in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

 

And really getting old-school, Bill's Books and Things in Manassas in the late 70s. As a kid, saw a Superman #12 hanging by a clothes pin on a string draped across the room.

 

Anybody from Virginia know what happen to Joe?

 

I believe one of the Fantagraphics guys started his career selling those metal spinning comic racks to drugs stores around Northern Virginia in the early 70s. At least that is what I've heard.

Edited by NoMan
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blob, that's hilarious... welcome to the dark side. And NoMan, would've loved to Bill's face today when told how much $$$ of damage that ol' clothes pin did. lol

 

The Manassas Drive-In was across the street from Bill's shop. On Friday and Saturday nights they played "adult movies." Bill was usually gazing out the window looking across the street those nights. I don't think he cared about comic books on a clothes line.

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The Book Broker- started as a shop across the street from the University of Evansville. Grew into a massive comic shop that also handles video games, movies, and cards.

 

A guy named Chuck ran the place ever since I was a kid. When I first started going there in the early, maybe mid '70s, Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes was pretty popular. Chuck gave me my first line of credit which I used on old X-men, Daredevil ( Miller's ), and other really great backs from the time period. My brother had a line too but he went after more valuable stuff like multiples of IH #102, 105, 162, 180, and 181. He also collected a run of Captain America #100 and up.

 

My personal favorite book I remember buying there is a tie between The Authority #1 and Planetary #1

 

I can say with certainty that without the friendship of Chuck and him making us feel like family, we probably would have done something different with our money and our time. Instead, by the time I was 15, I had a letter published in an Avengers book. Won a NoPrize and our Comic Collector's Club of which I was president, was mentioned. That doesn't happen without the Book Broker. The Broker has had 3 great locations.

 

My first experience with speculating was with the Wolverine #1-4 miniseries. I've never had so much fun as I did when I could barely afford to buy one book, much less multiples.

 

Comicquest - opened across for the University of Evansville too. Where Book Broker was the old school traditional comics card shop, CQ was more progressive. My friend Jim is the owner and he opened this place in the early '90s. Magic the Gathering battled Image and Valiant comics for prime real estate. The guys at Book Broker would have fit in at a bike shop or a construction site where CQ's staff were younger and nerdier. Like the Broker, CQ was a huge success. In fact, he had 2 stores open at 1 time. Both sold a lot of books and cards though it seemed that 2 were too much for one guy to handle. A nice real estate let this LCS be able to move into about a 1/4 of an old K-Mart building.

 

Today CQ, does everything from comics, to MTG, to AD&D, and board games. Shirts and Funko pops are everywhere. Its a really nice place but they have a lot of people and only 1 reads comics.

 

My best recent deal there was a Preacher #1 which was $18 and at 20% off cost a little over $15 after tax. I got it graded a week after I bought it and sold it for $360 a couple of months later....then again, I bought TWD #1, Runaways #1, and Y the Last Man #1 from this place. Sold all of my TWD #1s wheel before the TV show and sold Y before they hit $100. This place was also the source of a huge amount of Ultimate Spider-man #1s, Ultimates, and Ultimate X-men #1s. A speculators paradise. Sadly, the staff changed over time and they worried about what I was going to do with my books after I bought so I quit going there.

 

Comics Unlimited - my buddy Matt owned this place and it was considerably smaller than the other 2 shops. He majored in selling $1 books. I mean thousands upon thousands of them. Not that he didn't carry big books like oh, AF 15, but I loved digging through the dollar boxes. Great deals and great reads.

 

He eventually decided to close down after 18 or 19 years at the same location. He has since reopened, and is dominating space, in a local flea market. Still has dollar boxes and 50% off sales occasionally. Still a fun place to get comics.

 

Lastly, Grandpa's Swap Shop - not a traditional comic shop but when he gets a truckload or so, an absolute joy to deal with. A different, older Jim owns this place and I've literally bought everything from him. Bought a collection of 10,000 books one time. Bought the com plate Star Wars original 12 backs in unbelievably great condition. Traded him those 12 backs back for a '65 Mustang and traded an $1100 ( my cost ) box of football cards for a '73 Mustang in perfect condition and 50,000 miles. Also bought 2200 count of the '90s StarWars figures for 50 cents each.

 

This was and is a hit and miss place but I love going there. The owner threw me out the first time I went there because he thought I was too pushy. lol I kept going back until we became close friends. Hahaha

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Oh man I love these......

 

Red Food Store- 1985 10 year old Haint was just a small spook haunting the spinner rack.

 

Walden books - 1987 12 year old Haint loved spooking this place too. Got into more headier books and comics.

 

?- Can not recall but I had 2 local shops around the mid 80s as well. Kinda seedy places but a kids dream to visit. Got me a joker watch (swatch style) there.

 

Dead guy comics- not really the name but great local comic shop during 90s image boom. The owner passed and the card guy that was partners kept the comics going a while. Gave us regulars great deals on silver bronze books after the dude passed to show appreciation for us being loyal. Friend got a first Juggernaut there for like 20 bucks.

 

B&M Amusement - great store still around, owner treats everyone with utmost respect. Us hardened vets to the new guys coming in that barely reach the counter. Class act, Buddy and his employees.

 

I now have 3 full time shops and 3 book stores with large comic presence within driving distance . Truly blessed, each store has there own reason to go there and none are dregs.

 

 

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Images Illustrated - Flagstaff, Arizona

 

When I was in college, this comic book shop operated in downtown Flaggstaff. Great selection of back issues. Just down the street from McGaugh's Bookstore which also carried comics and was frequented by Carrie Fisher who lived in Sedona.

 

Whenever I visit Flagstaff these days, I'm amazed there is no comic shop near the NAU campus.

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There was one in Hyannis MA in the 1990's

Alley Cat comics.

They took a lot of consignments and then blew town.

Bob then set up shop in Falmouth and screwed over everyone there too.

 

 

To be on theme, it was nice this A-Hole left town

 

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I remember cutting school in the early 90s and heading down to Big Apple comics around 96th st in Manhattan.

 

One memory that stands out is waiting in a packed store for them to hand out Robin #1 - they were going to put it on the shelves and then decided to just pass around the stacks right out of the box lol

 

 

6353A054-08F6-4D9D-8081-501883B2215E.jpg

 

 

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The Book Stop in Grand Rapids, MI. (1970's)

John used to save any back issues of DD he got in & let me have first shot at buying them.

.

 

I think I only went in there once but IIRC, around 1983 they would have big price stickers which they used to seal the bag in the back, is that right?

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The Book Stop in Grand Rapids, MI. (1970's)

John used to save any back issues of DD he got in & let me have first shot at buying them.

.

 

I think I only went in there once but IIRC, around 1983 they would have big price stickers which they used to seal the bag in the back, is that right?

 

Correct.

 

A few years ago, I found some old comics up in mom's garage. When I went to rebag them, some still had those old stickers (that said The Book Stop) on the back.

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I've been going to Bender's Books for over 35 years. Dave had the first LCS in Hampton Virginia and the store is incredibly cool. If you're ever in the area, you should check him out. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

 

aubsoft.jpg

 

j1v2Wpr.jpg

 

.......this is quite a "honey hole" if you have the time to look around....

 

Edited by jimjum12
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I'm having trouble with many of these photos..... oh, well.... my first real complaint with the "new boards". GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

Edited by jimjum12
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