So You Want To Run a Comic Book Store

I had a mom come in a little while ago, telling me her son wanted to do what I do and said he'd come and work for free. I told her that wasn't the best idea for many reasons, #1 for me was that I really didn't need to have someone hanging around the store all day. But I will pass along the advice I gave her.

Let me start by giving you the brief rundown of my illustrious career in retail. After graduating college, I bounced around many jobs. After leaving a job selling Chevy's, I ended up working at a Radio Shack. Someone I had worked with told me he made good money there during the holidays, so when I found myself unemployed in November, I decided to give it a shot. It wasn't bad, certainly better than selling cars in January, so I stuck it out. Eventually, I would run 2 stores on my own, before moving to Chicago.

While it certainly wasn't glamorous, it taught me a lot about merchandising, ordering, dealing with employees and dealing with customers. And all of this has been invaluable in running my Comic Book store.

Think about your typical comic book shop. Most of them are organized so that the employees can find stuff easily, not necessarily the customers. Half full boxes laying around. Stacks of stuff lying around. 2 employees arguing about who would win a fight between Spawn and Impossible Man. I told the mom to have her son get a job as an assistant manager in some national chain retail store. The reason for this is the job will have training and structure. Corporate will have requirements, created through years of trial and error. Corporate will tell you exactly how to do your job. And this is really crucial.

The single greatest thing that comic book store employees are missing is customer service. I cringe in fear thinking about my mom going into my old comic shop to get me something. If they bothered to talk to her, it would probably have been just to point in a general direction. All that lady is doing is interrupting their really cool day. They are better than their comic reading friends because they actually work in a comic shop. How cool is that! I get to read comics all day. And talk about comics all day. I'm king of the world!

And I think that this is what the lady's son was looking for. Wouldn't that be a cool job? Well, come by and ask Jason, my helper, who is sorting and bagging 90 long boxes, how glamorous it is. Or counting all the books on the shelf or all of the trades so I can figure out what I am out of. It is a job just like any other. Does it have its own unique perks? Sure. But the store won't be around long if people don't come back.

What Radio Shack taught me was how to deal with the person who didn't know exactly what they needed. Anyone can ring up a person who brings their stuff to the counter. It takes customer service to help someone find what they want or to give them purchase options. It takes asking questions and listening to the answer. Or how about add-on sales? When was the last time someone suggested something to you at the register?

Now can I teach someone how to do it the way I do? Maybe. But I don't really have time to teach. I just do it. I try to make attractive displays with like products so that someone looking for one thing may find another. I try to make sure everything is clearly priced. I try to make thinks as easy to find as I can (Space is becoming a factor in this one right now). Go work for a big box store (or a Radio Shack) for a summer and learn about dealing with customers. That will put you head and shoulders above many comic books shops out there right now.