Just a quick request to comic shop owners: if your hours are posted on the internet, and they match the hours posted on the door of your shop, you might do your best to be open during those hours. Because someone might have taken a half-hour subway ride to try and spend money at your shop, been disappointed and annoyed at his inability to do so, and ended up spending that money at a big chain bookstore instead.
I mean, that can’t be the preferred outcome for you, can it?
Been there — well, to a spiritual cousin, anyway. I sympathize.
Comment by Tom Spurgeon — January 20, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
I always think about leaving a note — “I withdrew 200 dollars specifically to spend at your store today, sorry you missed me” but I doubt they’d believe it. Which is funny, because if I travel any distance to get to a comic book store, especially one I haven’t visited before, I tend to drop a lot of coin. I think I spend about $150.00 the first time I visited Modern Myths in Northampton, Massachusetts (which was open on time), and over $300.00 at The Beguiling in Toronto (thank God they’re 8 hours away, or I’d be bankrupt all year long).
Comment by ADD — January 21, 2008 @ 3:50 am
[...] David Welsh has a less-than-pleasant experience with a local comics [...]
Pingback by Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Jan. 21, 2008: Do the floppy flop — January 21, 2008 @ 4:00 am
Quick, start a consumer rights organization and issue a position paper about this!
Comment by Simon Jones — January 21, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
But I’d rather whine about it on my blog!
Comment by davidpwelsh — January 21, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
That has always been my biggest pet peeve with comic shops, or any shops for that matter. I make damn sure we’re always open during our posted hours.
Once someone complained that he couldn’t get in (for months) to pick up a special order because we were never open when we were supposed to be. I nearly laughed in his face.
Comment by Mikester — January 21, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
See, if I’d dragged myself in with the flu to make sure the shop opened at 10 a.m. on the dot on a Tuesday, I wouldn’t have been able to resist laughing in his face. But I’m pretty sure I’m meaner than you.
Comment by davidpwelsh — January 21, 2008 @ 5:48 pm