Comic shops need to up their game now more than ever. The average comic shop for most readers is a store located in a strip mall or in a counterculture region of a metro area and that’s if your lucky enough to have a comic shop in your state (north Dakota has none). In most cases the comic shop is just a store that carries comics and comic related material that fosters a environment that is unfriendly (some times hostile) to new, female or younger readers with little or no positive personality. The Shop sells comics to comic book readers nothing more nothing less.
The current comic shop can broken down into Five sub-categories each with both pros and cons
1.The gaming shop: a store that sells tabletop games, D&D materials, host many gaming tournaments and has a large amount of gamers hanging out and playing daily. The pros for this shop are hordes of potential buyers constantly in the store and a lot of like mind people to hang out and share your passion with. The con for this store is that the gamers are in some cases anti social to non gamers as well as each other. The gamer tends to be usually whining about rule interpretations or gloating in nerd speak about they’re big win. Also as any shop owner will tell you the gamers just loiter gaming for hours buying little and scare away new potential customers.
2.The Indie/outsider shop: a store that carries a wide variety of hand made Xeroxed mini comics, outsider/adult magazines, out of print materials, and some porn. The pro for this store is that they carry many hard to find non main stream material as well as foster a more independent spirit for outsider artists to show case their work. The cons for this store are their selection is a eclectic mix of work ranging from the obscene (i.e. porn) to the ridiculous (poorly written/drawn sub par work). Also the shop just due to what it has on its shelves does not foster a friendly enviroment for all, basically the vibe is we are Indie, if you’re indie come on in if you’re not indie get the F@#K out.
3.The toy/merchandise shop: a store that carries action figures, 12 inch character sculpts, t-shirts, drinking glasses, and other assorted merchandise. The pros for this shop are they carry a wide array of merchandise and cater to the toy collector market. Also this type of store is a warehouse of all things comic,movie,and tv. The cons for this type of shop are they are usually very crowded with the merchandise organized similar to a closet full of stuff one, wrong move and you have knocked the limited edition sculpt of batman on the floor. This type of shop usually is good for getting a holiday/birthday gift but not worth a weekly visit and again is difficult to get around in during the slowest of days.
4.The big box chain store: Not really a true comic store but usually has a large section of graphic novels, manga, and comic art books. The pro’s for this store are many, a clean friendly environment, a convenient family friendly location, a place to sit a read your purchases, discounts and sales. The cons are many as well, they have a limited selection of graphic novels, little to no new weekly comics, no sense of community or personal relation with the store, They only carry mainstream graphic novels or books related to the most recent movie to be released, and the staff as a very limited knowledge of the material.
5.The evil comic shop: This is the worst kind of store it has no pro’s only cons such as it is usually in a rundown area, The store looks as if it condemned(which it just may be), The staff or owner is unknowledgeable and unfriendly/mean (he doesn’t want any one in his store). The store is dark ,dirty and disorganized as well as has a limited selection of comics. The store is not family or girl friendly full of adult material that is easily accessible to anyone in the shop.
Living in a large area such as Chicago one can find examples of each of these sub categories all over Chicago area. Most comic shops fall into one or two of these categories and cater to what their regular customers want or desire which is both a blessing and a curse. The comic shop keeps their regulars happy and thus makes money but becomes dangerously inbred and fails to reach new customers due to their specialization. Comic shops in general need to up their game or they may fall victim to changing times. One store in Chicago that is working to up their game is Challengers Comics+Conversation which is located in Bucktown across the street from the Western blue line. Challengers is a clean friendly comics shop, they have a friendly knowledgeable staff, they carry a wide variety of new weekly comics as well as graphic novels and merchandise. What Challengers excels in is community building by making the shop a destination for events. Challengers has a strong online presence they are on myspace, facebook, twitter, utube, yelp and have a informative, user friendly web page which showcases their upcoming and past events. Just a few weeks ago challengers hosted a pre-party for the windy city comic con a fun event that was attended by over 100 fans and pros. Challengers has events going on every month from their in store comic book club and discussion group to their in store signings such as Jill Thompson’s (the artist of Scary Godmother, Beast of Burden, and Magic Trixie) in store event on oct24th or the pumpkin carving event on the 25th
Challengers Comics+Conversation focus’s on making the shop the place to be for not only comics but also comic events. Whether it’s a signing of a favorite artist or writer, a fun community based event like a hosting a party, or a family fun time activity like pumpkin carving Challengers has you come for event and return for more. Challengers gets you coming back for more events and has you buying comics or merchandise on a subconscious level you get the material cause your in the shop, plus by having family based events the shop gets a toe hold on the younger generation of potential customers. Challengers as raised its game to be more than just a store front which in this day of digital delivery is more important than ever.
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