VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

[ignition365]

He sounds like a dick to me.

He is also missing most of his teeth.

But yes, that's my main concern, the guy seems to be that comic store owner dickbag.  He was also telling me how he has a bunch of mint golden age comics in a display case, and folks always ask to buy them and he always tells them no.  He told me he tells them no, because he knows they are going up in value and he can get more money if he waits.

I wanna say year or so ago he told me how he went out and bought a bunch of mint infinity war comics because he knew they were going to make the infinity war movie, basically a gamble I guess, and that he was going to hold onto them until the infinity war movie is about to come out so he can make a ton of money.

He told me that if there is anything I'm looking for, if it comes in he will call me and sell it to me instead of throwing it in the back to waste space.  I think that's a pretty scummy tactic in my opinion.  I'll only sell stuff if it's a quick flip with no effort, otherwise I'm just gonna wait for the market to blow up.  I almost hope the market crashes like Atari did a few years ago.

[kashell]

@ctracy: Yeah, don't bother with that jack-wagon. I would have put my chewing gum in his business card and asked him to throw it away. I would say offer him a piece, but he doesn't have any teeth so...yeah.

@gf78: That first guy sounds like scum personified. He actually threatened to sue you? I can't with that one. I'm sure that at some point he'll say the wrong thing to the wrong person and his business will crumble.

I've never worked in retail. However, I can imagine that it's not fun dealing with bitchy customers or screaming children or anything in-between. But, on the other hand, the workers shouldn't act like such buffoons. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, especially in this era of social media.

[gf78]

@ctracy: Yeah, don't bother with that jack-wagon. I would have put my chewing gum in his business card and asked him to throw it away. I would say offer him a piece, but he doesn't have any teeth so...yeah.

@gf78: That first guy sounds like scum personified. He actually threatened to sue you? I can't with that one. I'm sure that at some point he'll say the wrong thing to the wrong person and his business will crumble.

I've never worked in retail. However, I can imagine that it's not fun dealing with bitchy customers or screaming children or anything in-between. But, on the other hand, the workers shouldn't act like such buffoons. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, especially in this era of social media.

The comic store owner in question is also the mayor of that town.      His store is also the only one even close.  The next closest store south is over 70 miles away and 30 miles north.  So he's had a monopoly for years since the only other comic store that was ever open around here closed fifteen years ago. 

[ignition365]

I have 2 mindsets with this guy.  A) He sold me that blue and pink justifier set for less than $15, so sometimes he does it wrong and it's great.  B) If I convince him to let me kind of run his game section, it won't be nearly as depressing.

I think he tried to word it in a manner that makes sense.  Something along the lines that he has the time to do only so much, so he has to choose between spending a solid week or so pricing and testing all of the game stuff, or run the store.  I think he worded it like, either I deal with stuff that can wait and appreciate in value, or I deal with the stuff that can't wait and will only depreciate in value.  He seems to have control issues and doesn't trust anyone to do much of anything. 

I had asked about some of the controllers and the employees said "Oh, those aren't priced, they must be broken or not for sale", then they sent me the owner and he said anything you can see has been tested and is for sale, if it hasn't been tested, it's in the back room.  I don't know, it's a pretty broken set up.

Realistically, I'm not going to do anything for that guy.  He'd probably pay me minimum wage, give me no discount, and not even let me have first dibs.  So why bother?

[kashell]

The comic store owner in question is also the mayor of that town.      His store is also the only one even close.  The next closest store south is over 70 miles away and 30 miles north.  So he's had a monopoly for years since the only other comic store that was ever open around here closed fifteen years ago. 

This story gets better and better. Yikes.

I have 2 mindsets with this guy.  A) He sold me that blue and pink justifier set for less than $15, so sometimes he does it wrong and it's great.  B) If I convince him to let me kind of run his game section, it won't be nearly as depressing.

I think he tried to word it in a manner that makes sense.  Something along the lines that he has the time to do only so much, so he has to choose between spending a solid week or so pricing and testing all of the game stuff, or run the store.  I think he worded it like, either I deal with stuff that can wait and appreciate in value, or I deal with the stuff that can't wait and will only depreciate in value.  He seems to have control issues and doesn't trust anyone to do much of anything. 

I had asked about some of the controllers and the employees said "Oh, those aren't priced, they must be broken or not for sale", then they sent me the owner and he said anything you can see has been tested and is for sale, if it hasn't been tested, it's in the back room.  I don't know, it's a pretty broken set up.

Realistically, I'm not going to do anything for that guy.  He'd probably pay me minimum wage, give me no discount, and not even let me have first dibs.  So why bother?

I wouldn't have bothered in the first place based on his character, but that's just me. It sounds like you two know each other so why would he act like a jerk to you?

[gf78]

This story gets better and better. Yikes.

http://www.parkhillsmo.net/welcome/mayor

[ignition365]

I wouldn't have bothered in the first place based on his character, but that's just me. It sounds like you two know each other so why would he act like a jerk to you?

Nope, I don't recall ever meeting him before, but it was the owner who told me about infinity war a year or so ago, so I figure it's the same guy.

I used to deal with their "video game guy", my understanding was the the video game guy rented out a corner of the shop and ran a little video game business.  Nobody was allowed to haggle or buy unpriced things unless you were talking with the video game guy.  But the owner said he fired the video game guy.  I think one of the employees said he was let go because he let someone buy games from the boxes behind the counter.  I actually did that a year ago and got a great deal on some stuff, but I definitely wouldn't say I got such a great deal that someone deserves to lose their job.  It is kind of ridiculous, I know for a fact this guy isn't paying good for these games as trade ins, and he has been sitting on these games for years, so he probably got most of them before the collecting boom started a few years back.

But, as part of this whole ordeal, my wife and I went to a game store one town over, probably 30-40 minute drive.  We've been there before, I don't recall the prices being very good, but I wanna say I almost bought a few things last time, but it was weird things that folks don't normally buy, like the Dreamcast keyboard.  We went in and they had tons of uncommon crap cheap games and they were marked as such.  Normally I go to game stores and they have the cheap games marked up to above $10 regardless, like a minimum selling threshold.  This store had games marked at $2.99 and such, so I grabbed a whole bunch.  I'm getting pretty close to considering going for a full set of N64 games, I've got more than half the library.

[ignition365]

This story gets better and better. Yikes.

http://www.parkhillsmo.net/welcome/mayor

He looks like that kind of guy.  But at least I don't see any blatant advertising for his store.  So there's that.

Though, expect him to mention how successful Free Comic Book day was at his store in the monthly Council Meeting this month.

[gf78]

I wouldn't have bothered in the first place based on his character, but that's just me. It sounds like you two know each other so why would he act like a jerk to you?

Nope, I don't recall ever meeting him before, but it was the owner who told me about infinity war a year or so ago, so I figure it's the same guy.

I used to deal with their "video game guy", my understanding was the the video game guy rented out a corner of the shop and ran a little video game business.  Nobody was allowed to haggle or buy unpriced things unless you were talking with the video game guy.  But the owner said he fired the video game guy.  I think one of the employees said he was let go because he let someone buy games from the boxes behind the counter.  I actually did that a year ago and got a great deal on some stuff, but I definitely wouldn't say I got such a great deal that someone deserves to lose their job.  It is kind of ridiculous, I know for a fact this guy isn't paying good for these games as trade ins, and he has been sitting on these games for years, so he probably got most of them before the collecting boom started a few years back.

But, as part of this whole ordeal, my wife and I went to a game store one town over, probably 30-40 minute drive.  We've been there before, I don't recall the prices being very good, but I wanna say I almost bought a few things last time, but it was weird things that folks don't normally buy, like the Dreamcast keyboard.  We went in and they had tons of uncommon crap cheap games and they were marked as such.  Normally I go to game stores and they have the cheap games marked up to above $10 regardless, like a minimum selling threshold.  This store had games marked at $2.99 and such, so I grabbed a whole bunch.  I'm getting pretty close to considering going for a full set of N64 games, I've got more than half the library.

It's funny you mention Infinity comics.  Because I was contemplating getting some of the old issues like the original Infinity War mini series by Ron Lim.  I went to eBay and those jackasses are trying to get $60 for the mini series.  I remember when I was still collecting, you could find hundreds of issue #1 and all the others in various amounts in the $1 boxes.  Not quite as low priced, but Civil War mini series was dirt cheap.  A couple bucks each.  Now it's going for nearly $80??   

[ignition365]

I wouldn't have bothered in the first place based on his character, but that's just me. It sounds like you two know each other so why would he act like a jerk to you?

Nope, I don't recall ever meeting him before, but it was the owner who told me about infinity war a year or so ago, so I figure it's the same guy.

I used to deal with their "video game guy", my understanding was the the video game guy rented out a corner of the shop and ran a little video game business.  Nobody was allowed to haggle or buy unpriced things unless you were talking with the video game guy.  But the owner said he fired the video game guy.  I think one of the employees said he was let go because he let someone buy games from the boxes behind the counter.  I actually did that a year ago and got a great deal on some stuff, but I definitely wouldn't say I got such a great deal that someone deserves to lose their job.  It is kind of ridiculous, I know for a fact this guy isn't paying good for these games as trade ins, and he has been sitting on these games for years, so he probably got most of them before the collecting boom started a few years back.

But, as part of this whole ordeal, my wife and I went to a game store one town over, probably 30-40 minute drive.  We've been there before, I don't recall the prices being very good, but I wanna say I almost bought a few things last time, but it was weird things that folks don't normally buy, like the Dreamcast keyboard.  We went in and they had tons of uncommon crap cheap games and they were marked as such.  Normally I go to game stores and they have the cheap games marked up to above $10 regardless, like a minimum selling threshold.  This store had games marked at $2.99 and such, so I grabbed a whole bunch.  I'm getting pretty close to considering going for a full set of N64 games, I've got more than half the library.

It's funny you mention Infinity comics.  Because I was contemplating getting some of the old issues like the original Infinity War mini series by Ron Lim.  I went to eBay and those jackasses are trying to get $60 for the mini series.  I remember when I was still collecting, you could find hundreds of issue #1 and all the others in various amounts in the $1 boxes.  Not quite as low priced, but Civil War mini series was dirt cheap.  A couple bucks each.  Now it's going for nearly $80??   

Yup.  Guys like him help drive up the prices.  Absolutely glad to buy up every cheap copy they can get their grubby hands on, just to hold on to them until they think it's the right time to gouge.

[kashell]

I don't buy comics, so I'm wondering something: do you think they will "crash" in the same way the Atari did all those years ago?

[gf78]

This story gets better and better. Yikes.

http://www.parkhillsmo.net/welcome/mayor

He looks like that kind of guy.  But at least I don't see any blatant advertising for his store.  So there's that.

Though, expect him to mention how successful Free Comic Book day was at his store in the monthly Council Meeting this month.

LOL.  I'm sure.  I made my Free Comic Book Day run to All the Rage in Festus.  Even though I've only been there less than a dozen times so far, the guys that own and run the store remembered that I'm into Marvel comics.  Later in the day after I had already went, my nephew wanted to go get some free comics.  So we headed up there.  Almost all of the good stuff was gone by that point in the day, but one of the guys remembered my name and said "Hey Steve, I held onto these for you."  And he had a copy of the Civil War II and Captain America books.  Since I already got them, my nephew took those two.  But my point is that that is how you get and keep customers.  By being good to them and paying attention to what they like and making suggestions on things you enjoy.  They've earned my business by being great people, adding the comics I want to the "pull list" for the two months until my order form comics are shipped and just actually caring and not being asshats. 

[gf78]

I don't buy comics, so I'm wondering something: do you think they will "crash" in the same way the Atari did all those years ago?

Ah...comics crashed back in the early 90's already.  There was a huge boom where "superstar" artists like Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld (I have no idea how) and Tood McFarlane had new Marvel comics like X-Men, X-Force and Spider-Man selling millions of copies.  Better than they ever had before.  Stores like Wal-Mart even started carrying tons of comics.  It was the "big thing."  Then more and more, special edition "chromium" covers and other gimmicks with multiple variants  flooded the market.  Valiant comics came out with crap like Turok which coincided with the N64 games.  Marvel's big stars left and formed Image comics.  Their egos so large, that their new comic series came out sporadically at best.  Sometimes up to six months or occasionally more went by between issues.  Within 3 years, it all collapsed in on itself.  Marvel - as crazy and unbelievable as this sounds - was on the verge of bankruptcy for many years leading into, through and after the comics collapse.  Yeah...the same Marvel that makes X-Men, Spider-Man and Avengers.  Crazy.

Where you had this huge number of new comic stores open up in the early 90's, less than 30% were left standing when it was over.  Comics have slowly regained their footing, in large part by Disney buying Marvel and DC actually putting some effort into their characters and universe. 

[gf78]

Good reading here about the comic speculator crash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book_collecting#The_speculator_boom

[ignition365]

This story gets better and better. Yikes.

http://www.parkhillsmo.net/welcome/mayor

He looks like that kind of guy.  But at least I don't see any blatant advertising for his store.  So there's that.

Though, expect him to mention how successful Free Comic Book day was at his store in the monthly Council Meeting this month.

LOL.  I'm sure.  I made my Free Comic Book Day run to All the Rage in Festus.  Even though I've only been there less than a dozen times so far, the guys that own and run the store remembered that I'm into Marvel comics.  Later in the day after I had already went, my nephew wanted to go get some free comics.  So we headed up there.  Almost all of the good stuff was gone by that point in the day, but one of the guys remembered my name and said "Hey Steve, I held onto these for you."  And he had a copy of the Civil War II and Captain America books.  Since I already got them, my nephew took those two.  But my point is that that is how you get and keep customers.  By being good to them and paying attention to what they like and making suggestions on things you enjoy.  They've earned my business by being great people, adding the comics I want to the "pull list" for the two months until my order form comics are shipped and just actually caring and not being asshats.

Okay, question regarding Free Comic Book day for you.  Did your store do a limit of any kind?  I went to that comic book store and they did a limit of 2 comics per person total.  3 if you were dressed up.  I went to Hastings later that day and they had a sign that said 1 of each comic per person, that way everybody can have 1 of each if they have them available.