How to Open a Comic Bookstore

For comic book fans, nothing sounds better than opening a comic book store of your very own. It can be a fun and rewarding line of work, but like any other career, it takes savvy and know-how to run it properly. If you just assume you'll get to sit around and read comics all day, your shop won't last very long. The key to opening a successful comic book shop is currying a reliable customer base, then ensuring that they receive the goods they want.

Instructions

1. Familiarize yourself with different brands of comics, popular lines and auxiliary products such as action figures and graphic novel compilations. Check resources such as the Comics Buyers' Guide and talk to fans and fellow store owners about which comics sell the most. It's important to thoroughly steep yourself in the trends of the business before you enter into it.

2. Find a good location to open your store. It should be in an area frequented by comic book fans if possible. It should also offer a friendly, inviting space with windows, room for display cases and lots of shelf space for browsing.

3. Prepare a website where people can order comics from your store. Websites help expand your business by catering to customers out of your area, which also makes you less dependent upon walk-in customers for profits.

4. Work up contacts in your area: potential customers, convention operators and other people who know the local industry. It lets them get to know you better and helps generate word of mouth for your store, as well as helping to determine how many potential customers you have to start with.

5. Determine how many comic books of each title you'd like to carry, as well as any auxiliary products like graphic novels. Then contact Diamond Comics Distributors--the primary comic book shipper in the United States--and ask them about wholesale prices for comic books. It should give you a ballpark figure of how much you need to spend on stock every month.

6. Prepare a detailed list of other expenses you require, including rent, insurance, wages for employees, utility costs, advertising costs and miscellaneous expenses such as cash registers and display cases.

7. Prepare a similar list of anticipated sales based on the comic books you carry and the amount of money you need to show a profit. If you're starting small, you should chart expected growth from month to month, so you know the sales goals you need to reach in order to keep the doors open.

8. Apply for a small business loan from a local bank. You'll need to show them your expense figures and anticipated sales figures as well as presenting a proper plan to expand you business and pay back the loan in a timely fashion. You should ask for enough to keep your business operating for at least one year.

9. Rent your store space, prepare the floor, stock the shelves with comics and open your store.

Tips & Warnings

• Generally speaking, you should keep extra copies of a given comic book line to a minimum. While you never want to run out, back copies of comics rarely make their initial investment back. A good rule of thumb is to purchase one extra copy of a given comic for every ten copies you expect to sell.

• Advertise your comic book shop as often as you can. Take out ads in trade mags, post flyers in local areas and speak to local conventions about purchasing booth space. Don't stop once you open your store; people won't come to your shop unless they know it exists.

References

• StartUpBizHub: Opening a Comic Book Store
• Tom Heroes: Comc Store Owners' Biggest Mistakes

Resources

• Diamond Comics Distributors