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About Us
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Howdy! After reviewing the comments that we received after my newsletter of last Friday, I want to address a question that came up about our potentially moving our Jason St. Mega-Store. I will begin by stating that we currently have no intention of moving, and that the City of Denver planners who are rezoning our area for very high density mixed use buildings have asked us to stay in the area, and to "anchor" the north end of the redevelopment. The primary difficulty we're experiencing in just staying put is the gawdawful rise in property taxes, a burden that has become increasingly difficult for us to bear.
All of the above having been said, I want you to know that I have relocated retail stores many times during my 53-year career in comics retailing, mostly with negative results. The case that most easily comes to mind is our much beloved Southern California Mega-Store, which was founded by me in 1993 in a 10,000 square foot Pier One Imports store at the top of the Katella exit ramp of the I-5 freeway in Anaheim. This really was my "dream" location, as it was positioned halfway between Disneyland and the Anaheim Stadium/Mighty Ducks Arena sports complex, benefitting from huge traffic from both. While that store was an instant success ($200,000 in sales during the very first month!), our joy was remarkably short-lived. After only four months of fantastic public response, I received word that the City of Anaheim (which had welcomed us with open arms) had decided to unilaterally take our building away from us in order to relocate a city-owned power substation on to our site. Sigh.
Upon hearing that we had to move, I flew to Orange County to undertake a search for a new site. The only similar-sized building that I could find was at the corner of Harbor and Chapman, in Garden Grove. This new building was just as close to Disneyland (one mile) as our Katella location, but had nothing else of note nearby, except for the massive Crystal Cathedral, whose evangelical patrons were not exactly our core demographic. Nonetheless, I signed a long-term lease on that previously abandoned building, and then spruced up the exterior with some truly awesome superhero murals. Sales after we opened were only about 60% of the Katella location, but still enough to keep us open. Ten years later, the City of Garden Grove decided to take away our Harbor/Chapman location as part of a huge city-inspired project to build two luxury hotels. They were very nice about it, and after all was said and done gave us about $300,000 to move. That may sound like a lot, but it turned out to be a pittance as compared to the financial hit that we experienced by agreeing to move into yet another barn of an older building, this time located six blocks further away from Disneyland. While still on Harbor Blvd., our third (and final) Southern California Mega-Store location was an unmitigated disaster. Our gross sales dropped by another 50% the month after we moved, immediately plunging us into negative cash flow.
We mainly covered our losses with what was left of the $300,000 after paying for our actual moving costs, but it was to no avail. Within a year all of that compensation money was piddled away, and we were having to cover the operating losses of our Southern California location out of our online business. When that online cash flow began severely constricting in advance of the 2007/2008 Great Recession, my management team informed me that we had no choice but to shutter my beautiful California dream. A more bitter pill I have seldom had to swallow, as I truly loved that store. The harsh lesson that I learned from that awful experience is that not all retail locations are anywhere close equal. Our two Garden Grove locations were only six blocks apart (on the same street!), yet they might just as well have been in two totally different cities. Half of our clients from Harbor/Chapman abandoned us after we moved from that very busy arterial corner, and we could just never recover.
To illustrate just how negative that six-block move turned out to be, I visited our 2nd Garden Grove location in about early 2007, and noticed ten long boxes sitting on their ends in the office area, each filled with weekly N.I.C.E. new comics subscriptions packs. When I asked why they were sitting in the back, I was informed that these were comics from several months prior that subscribers had refused to come and pick up, even though they had already been charged against their credit cards. Of the approximately 500 new comics subscribers that we had at Harbor/Chapman, only 250 moved with us. Many of the rest let us keep charging their credit cards, but just never found the time (or the inclination) to follow us to our new store. That's the exact moment when I realized that our previously wonderful Garden Grove location was a dead store, walking. A couple of other quick notes about Garden Grove. First, the management team that ran the store for us toward the end was absolutely fantastic. Heather and Orion complemented each other's skills quite well, and those clients who did follow us down the street to the new location expressed endless admiration for them. Second, the comics industry was going through a lot of travails during those years, so not all of Garden Grove's declines were due entirely to shifting locations. Third, there were those among our Denver management team who felt that we had overextended by opening in Southern California, and who sometimes made financial decisions (without consulting me) that starved Garden Grove of working capital. Not often, but enough to make a difference.
Finally, a gigantic enterprise called Frank & Sons opened in Southern California at just about the same time as we did, just 15 miles away from Garden Grove. Frank's is an amazing place for comics, cards, and toy collectors as it features over 300 independent vendors crammed together in a giant warehouse, each competing desperately to survive. I visited there often as it was rapidly growing during the 1990's and early 2000's, and was increasingly amazed at the breadth of products offered, and at the savagely low prices. Not surprisingly, toward the end we heard from a lot of our Garden Grove clients that they were only coming to visit us after first stopping by Frank & Sons. Frank's was most certainly not the only reason that our sales declined, but it's rampant success surely did not help us. While my Southern California experience is a case study in how changing locations can cause great harm, it is far (far!) from my only relocation failure. As real estate agents frequently express: "it's all about location, location, location!" That is a harsh lesson that I have learned the very hard way, so when I received numerous messages on Friday about how we should just sell our Jason St. building and move on to a bigger (and better!) new location, I just had to shake my head. Truthfully, hitting a staggering home run like we did with Jason St. is incredibly rare, requiring a congruence of amorphous factors that are not at all immediately obvious. Call it Feng Shui, or whatever you will, but some retail locations just work incredibly well, while others (which seem to be even better) do not. Taking those factors into consideration, it is going to take one hell of a great alternative for me to even consider moving out of Jason St. For now, we are staying put. 'Nuff said.
I'll close today with a quick reminder that our half price BARGAINS! sale on all of the back issue comics and magazines listed on our website continues. Only new issues, a few variants and restored comics, and our professionally-graded items are exempt. This half price sale includes most of the new arrivals listed at the end of this newsletter. Happy collecting!
Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages,
MARVEL
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2018) (#1-93) (MARVEL) #49 YOUNG BABY Near Mint/Mint
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2018) (#1-93) (MARVEL) #64 Near Mint/Mint
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2022) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #2 2ND PRINT Near Mint/Mint
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (2018) #2 Near Mint/Mint
AVENGERS (2017) (#672-690) (MARVEL LEGACY) #690 LEE Near Mint/Mint
AVENGERS (2018) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #2 4TH PRINT Very Fine
AVENGERS: CURSE OF THE MAN-THING (2021) #1 GLEASON Very Fine
BETA RAY BILL (2021) #3 Near Mint/Mint
BLACK CAT (2020) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #2 2ND PRINT Very Good
BLACK CAT ANNUAL (2021) #1 Fine
BLACK CAT ANNUAL (2021) #1 Very Fine
BLACK PANTHER (2018) (#1-25) (MARVEL) #25 SPRATT Near Mint/Mint
BLACK PANTHER (2021) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #1 Near Mint/Mint
CABLE (2020) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #4 Very Good
CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) (#100-454) (MARVEL) #105 Fair
CAPTAIN MARVEL (1968) (#1-62) (MARVEL) #7 Fair
CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #21 FRISON Very Fine
CHAMPIONS (2020) (#1-10) (MARVEL) #2 Near Mint/Mint
CHAMPIONS (2020) (#1-10) (MARVEL) #4 Very Fine
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) (#1-416) (MARVEL) #170 Good
HULK (1962) (#1-6, #102-474, #600-635)(INCREDIBLE)(MV) #172 Fair
JUNGLE ACTION (1972) (#1-24) (MARVEL) #7 Good
MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) (#1-150) (MARVEL) #18 Good
MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION (1972) #16 Good
MORBIUS (1992) (#1-32) (MARVEL) #1 UNBAGGED Very Good
MORBIUS REVISITED (1993) #1 Very Good
POWER MAN/IRON FIST (LUKE CAGE, POWER MAN #1-49) (1972) #4 Fair
PUNISHER: PLATOON (2017) #4 Very Fine
RUNAWAYS (2017) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #3 Fine
SECRET WARRIORS (2017) (#1-UP) (MARVEL) #11 Very Fine
SPIDER-MAN (1963) (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN) (#1-441) #101 FACSIMILE Very Fine
STAR WARS: RISE OF KYLO REN (2019) #3 Near Mint/Mint
STARBLAST (1994) #1 Fine
STARJAMMERS (1995) #4 Near Mint/Mint
STARLORD (1981) (#1) (SPECIAL EDITION) #1 Very Good
TOMB OF DRACULA (1972) (#1-70) (MARVEL) #25 Good
UNCANNY AVENGERS (2012) (#1-25) #18 Very Fine
WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS (1970) #7 Good
DC
ACTION COMICS (2011) (#0-52) (DC NEW52) #49 NEAL ADAMS Very Fine
ACTION COMICS (2016) (#957-UP) (DC REBIRTH) #1037 Near Mint/Mint
BATMAN (2011) (#0-52) (DC NEW52) #27 VARIANT Very Fine
BATMAN (2011) (#0-52) (DC NEW52) #31 VARIANT Very Fine
BATMAN (2016) (#1-UP) (DC REBIRTH) #50 LEE Very Fine
BATMAN ANNUAL (2021) (#1) (DC) #1 VARIANT Near Mint/Mint
BATMAN ANNUAL (2022) (#1) (DC) #1 Near Mint/Mint
BATMAN: THE DETECTIVE (2021) #1 VARIANT Very Fine
DC COMICS PRESENTS: SHAZAM (2011) #1 Fine
HARLEY QUINN (2016) (#1-75) (DC REBIRTH) #52 VARIANT Fine
LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE (1998) #4 Very Fine
LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 80-PAGE GIANT (1998) #1 Very Fine
ROBIN (1993) (#0-183) (DC) #4 Fine
ROBIN (1993) (#0-183) (DC) #8 NEWSSTAND Very Good
ROBIN (1993) (#0-183) (DC) #67 Fine
STARCRAFT (2009) #6 Very Fine
STARFIRE (1976) #2 Good
STARFIRE (2015) #9 NEAL ADAMS Very Fine
SUPERGIRL (1982) (#1-23) (DC) #20 NEWSSTAND Fine
SUPERMAN: HEROES (2020) #1 Near Mint/Mint
INDEPENDENTS
MARTIANS VS. UNICORNS (2017) #1 (Solid Arts And Science) Near Mint/Mint
MISERABLE AMERICANS (2012) #1 (Evan Derian) Very Fine
MORE THAN MORTAL (1999) (#1-4) (Liar Comics) #4 VARIANT (Liar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
MORE THAN MORTAL (2007) #0 (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
MORE THAN MORTAL: LEGEND REBORN (2006) #1 (Avatar Comics) Fine
PALOOKA (2017) #2 SIGNED (PERSON OF MERIT COMICS) Very Fine
PARADOX GIRL (2014) #1 (Hana Comics) Very Fine
PRIMUS VITA (2017) #1 DEMERS SGN (Epsilon Games) Very Fine
PUBLIC RELATIONS (2015) #1 (Devil's Due) Near Mint/Mint
QUANTUM & WOODY (2017) (#1-12) (VALIANT) #2 A TEDESCO (Valiant Comics) Near Mint/Mint
REPLACEMENT GOD (1998) (VOL. 2) (#6) (ZANDER CANNON) #6 CANNON SGN (Zander Cannon) Very Good
ROBOCOPPER ONE-SHOT (2015) #1 (Antarctic Press) Very Fine
SCARLET HUNTRESS (2014) #1 3RD SIGNED (Savage Mind Comic Studio) Near Mint/Mint
SCARLET HUNTRESS: TALES THROUGH TIME (2014) #1 FORNEY SGN (Savage Mind Comic Studio) Very Fine
SCARLET'S FIELD GUIDE TO CRYPTIDS (2011) #1 FORNEY SGN (Savage Mind Comic Studio) Very Fine
SECOND COMING (2019) #2 (Ahoy Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY AFTERMATH (2019) #1 A HERNANDE (IDW Publishing) Near Mint/Mint
STAR TREK: PICARD - COUNTDOWN (2019) #3 A DUROCHER (IDW Publishing) Very Fine
STAR TREK: Q CONFLICT (2019) #2 A MESSINA (IDW Publishing) Very Fine
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - TERRA INCOGNITA (2018) #3 A SHASTEEN (IDW Publishing) Very Fine
STAR TREK: WAYPOINT (2016) #4 (IDW Publishing) Near Mint/Mint
STAR TREK: WAYPOINT SPECIAL (2018) #1 (IDW Publishing) Near Mint/Mint
STAR WARS ADVENTURES: CLONE WARS - BATTLE TALES (2020) #2 A CHARM (IDW Publishing) Near Mint/Mint
STARBORN (2010) #4 B (Boom Studios Publishing) Fine
STARGATE ATLANTIS: HEARTS & MINDS (2017) #2 PHOTO (American Mythology) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE ATLANTIS: WRAITHFALL (2006) #1 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE SG1 2006 CONVENTION SPECIAL (2006) #1 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE SG1: ARIS BOCH (2004) #1 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE SG1: FALL OF ROME (2004) #1 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE SG1: P.O.W. (2004) #3 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
STARGATE SG1: RA REBORN PREQUEL (2005) #1 PLATINUM (Avatar Comics) Near Mint/Mint
SUPER SIKH (2015) #1 2X SIGNED (Formless Media) Fine
TKO SHORTS: THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS (2020) #2 (TKO Studios) Very Fine
VIKINGS VS. UNICORNS (2016) #1 (Solid Arts And Science) Near Mint/Mint
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