How to Open a Comic Book Store
Starting a comic book store needs the following: a great background and an even greater passion for comic books; deciding on what kind of store you would like to open, whether it is web-based or not; deciding on what exactly do you wish to sell in your comic book shop; approaching publishing houses and order comic books by the bulk; and finally, keeping up a network of contacts, of like-minded entrepreneurs.
For the unlearned in the ways of caped crusaders and masked villains, starting a comic book business may be a childish endeavor.
Nevertheless, starting a comic book store business is a great way of making money, especially if you have a passion for collecting these magazine-type narratives. This is hardly a childish endeavor, and serious-minded entrepreneurs that sell comic books can be rightfully compared to book dealers of any caliber.
When opening a comic book shop, you must seriously love comics. Nothing can be worse than going to a comic book store that carries nothing that is remotely attractive to customers, or a store proprietor who doesn’t know a thing about the comic collection. Needless to say, comic book enthusiasts and earnest collectors belong to a breed of their own, with their own usable jargon and their own fancies. Great background and an even greater passion for comic books is, therefore, a must.
Perhaps, after careful consultation with your business finances, you may want to decide what kind of store you would like to open. The Internet is a great way of selling online books reaching a global market, especially since comic book enthusiasts range far and wide. Still, if you are intent on setting up a brick-and-mortar store, you need to find a suitable place that can accommodate your overhead business expenses. As a rule, a comic book store is a very low maintenance, with your utility bills at a minimum. Certainly, you won’t need a lot of glitzy lights and movable window displays to attract your potential customers. Also, foot traffic won’t be a huge concern because your potential customers are bound to find you even if you have a store deep in the Himalayas.
Your next agenda is to think of what exactly do you wish to sell. There are many types of comic books, and selling new editions of popular titles is always the very foundation of your money gig. However, more specialized stores are selling collector item pieces, and these are certainly worth much more than selling one or two pieces of the most popular titles. There are also comic book stores that sell every conceivable paraphernalia for the protection and care of rare comic books, so if you have big enough of a workspace, you may want to include that in your list of saleable items.
Once you have decided as to what exactly you wish to sell, you now have to approach publishing houses and order comic books by the bulk. Usually, when you get comic books direct from the publishing houses, you are entitled to great discounts. You can also sort out business if you can find reliable web-based comic book suppliers. If, however, some titles have to go through middlemen, (for example, importing comic books from different parts of the world like Japan, the UK, and Italy, etc.) you can expect your starting prices to be higher than the norm. Keeping your business afloat means you know exactly what the current trends are, and what the most competitive prices you can offer without going broke yourself. Try to keep a wide range and variety of comic books, keeping one or two pieces of comic graphic novels, spiderman comic, superman comic, wolverine comic or an x man comic is of no work, customers need a huge catalog.
Try to keep up a network of contacts: like-minded entrepreneurs selling the same things as you. These contacts are invaluable because they can point you in the right direction especially when it comes to comic book conventions or upcoming sales of rare and out of print comic books.
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Josh - You do not need a degree of any kind to start a comic book store however if you are looking to get a loan from a bank a degree in business can go a long way.
1.Average cost to open a brick & mortar store
A.Strip mall $60,000 -$125,000 (first 6 months)
B.Stand alone $45,000 -$140,000(first 6 months)
C Mall Store $75,000 - $250,000(first 6 months)
2.Special Permits :
A .Business permit (city /county)
B.Name of business registered with State & federal tax agencies 3.Special training :Examples are,
A.retail sales( 2 -15 years)
B.College level business classes in bookkeeping/retail management
4.Cost of inventory :New versus old ?
A.New inventory sold to dealers has a variable discount
structure the more you buy the cheaper per item it costs The lowest discount commonly offered is %15 ,the highest on a very few orders can be %65 (be warned to get that high discount you might be spending $500,000 per Year for product from one vendor B.Old stock,sources exist but for every good deal on 10,000 comics bought for $1,800 ,you might still spend $1,000 on shipping. In simple terms cost of comics 10,000 @ $.18 per comic at time of sale ,Sold at $1.00 each the profit was .82 cents per comic ,... After shipping is added the numbers are as follows:
10,000 comics @ $.28 per issue ,sold at $1.00 each the profit is now $.72 per issue.
The Cost of sales most dealers forget is 1 out of 20 back issues sell on average in 1 week,the other 19 may be in stock for 1 to 10 years even at $1.00..
So to wind it up there might be 500 salable issues out of 10,000 comics ,those 500 might net you $360.00 in profit
if......
Inventory $4,500 per month
Rent $800 per month
Utilities 500 per month.
(no help you can't afford it)
a total of $5,800 in expenses your first month and you're netting $200.00 whole dollars. So the next month you buy less, say 8 books per title and you spend less, but you still are never going to sell 100% of your inventory. The math just seems way off. Not nearly enough room for the shops to make money. I need to go give my local comic book dealer a hug. He is stressed and I can see why.
Jestin James
Startup Biz Hub - Senior Advisor (Staff)
We have diversified what we do to bring in more capital. We offer classes/tutoring in PhotoShop as well as getting into running Magic the Gathering and probably other forms of gaming. We also sell higher end books online through ebay (this is where the real money is, compared to effort put in) and Craigslist. Including gaming/events seems to be a must as a way to keep customers in the store and revenue coming in on top of comic sales. Selling new books would of course generate a regular set of clients...but it also ties you into Diamond which has minimum orders. It's easy to get upside down on your comic orders if sales drop off more than you expected. So I guess the long and short of it in my opinion is...you cannot focus your store solely on comic books. There must be several revenue streams if you want to keep the doors open.
I had an idea that i was wondering if anyone had any input as to how they think it would work. There is a shop in one of the neighboring towns that expanded to 2 shops and then bought out another one. I was thinking of going to this owner and proposing that i open a shop of my own under his name and banner... so, basically, i would own, operate and run this individual shop, but my shop would be affiliated with his and we would include each other in store events, etc. This would also give me someone that has a vested interest in my success that would help me get rolling and give me advice along the way. Does this seem like an unrealistic idea? How should I approach the owner with this idea? Should I have an entire business plan and already be approved for the loan? Should i just run the idea by him to make sure that he is open to it and let him know that it is a few years out and that i wanted to gauge his interest? Or is this a crazy idea and i should just move forward on my own? Scott Mans, 25 years old, Collinsville, IL
Other advice:
1) If you are going to go into the comics business as a retailer, look to areas that are un-served or under-served when it comes to comic specialty stores.
2) Make your operation something special, unique and a service to your community.
3) Be sure to have some money behind your operation and some money put into the opening and stocking of your new store.
4) Have a plan!
For those interested in more, the retailer trade association ComicsPRO (.org) has a Mentoring Forum just for new and "pre-retailers" planning to open physical storefronts. It'll be the best investment you can make in getting your new store of the ground.
joe@flyingcolorscomics.com || Comic Book Store Consultant
@AbbyCat: It seems like you are limiting your potential revenue by having what seems like a fairly static inventory. New comics bring in customers every week.
@FarGalaxyK: no special pricing on Omnibuses. As a fellow ComicsPRO board member, I echo Joe's suggestion to look into joining our mentoring program.
@Jason: You have the right idea. It's pretty hard to survive on comics/books alone and gaming (ie Magic) is HUGE right now. MTG (and Yugioh, pokemon) represents maybe 35% of our store revenue. Comics/books 40%. Board games, anime videos, apparel, and toys (ie action figures, statues) the other 30%. Stay away from video games the margins are horrible (like 10% horrible as opposed to normal store margins of 40%).
@Andy the minimum purchase from Diamond Comics is $425 a month. This price is calculated at the MSRP, so the price you actually pay will be less than that for the wholesale discount. The loan you will need really depends on your own ambitions, location, and all the red tape and furniture that comes with running a retail store.
It might also be a good idea not to worry about having a stock of older comics when you open because once you do open, you will be offered collections of comics from private parties. One other suggestion to plan for opening your store: Join ComicsPRO (at ComicsPRO.org). That will put you in touch with many retailers all over North America. You'll learn a lot, you'll also likely have access to buying bulk from other long-time retailers. I hope this helps!
joe@flyingcolorscomics.com || Comic Book Store Consultant
Rent: $800
Utilities: $385
Insurance: $185
That comes to $1,370 per month in expenses.
Your Average Margin for all products is 43.8%.
This means you will need to sell $3,127.85 worth of merchandise to cover your expenses for the month. ($1,370 divided by 43.8%)
How many transactions will that require?
The average item count for comic shop purchases is 6. The average retail per item is $2.84. That gives us an average ticket of $17.04. When you divide our break even goal of $3,127.85 by $17.04 you get 183.56 transactions. That is the magic number to break even for the month. Every transaction after 184 builds your net profit.
Keep in mind that these numbers are for a sole proprietorship. If you hire employees your expenses will go up as will your break even goal.
If I'm to open a comic shop that also supports local business what are my obstacles? I want a shop in a small dead town that is filled with a lot of troubled kids and young adults. I want to bring in local businesses to support each other: like the coffee shop down the road bringing their coffee and fresh pastries to my shop to sell, we both make money and both get the foot traffic. Also, the deli making sandwiches for game night or special events. Plus we shut down the town every year for things like the Hartley's chip drop, we have town day, kids connection day, three fairs within a 10-mile radius. Would bringing in the local business help my foot traffic? We also have the Happy Valley PSU college tow only 20 minutes away, they only have 1 shop that only sells modern comics. To me that's my only competition, other comic shops are 45 minutes away in either direction. So if i'm to open a shop what is my biggest threat other than the foot traffic?