Let's Talk Shop with Vault of Midnight

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey Al, how's it hanging? Hi, I'm looking for something that my 13-year-old daughter would be interested in. They're really into like Lumberjanes and some of the female Marvel superheroes. Do you have anything that you could recommend? Hey, what's up man? It's new comic book day. You know the drill. I'm looking for some new books to read. What's hot on the shelf this week? Hey, I was wondering if you happen to have any Bloomberg Precons in stock? Hi, I really like science fiction.

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a big fan of Doctor Who and the television show Lost. Are there any comics you'd recommend?

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's Talk Shop.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: You ever been to a martial arts tournament like this?

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_06]: When I was a kid, there was a used bookstore in town. I begged my mom to drop me off all the time. They had a loose stack of comics that I used to thumb through searching for secret gold.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_06]: One day, I came across Daredevil 189. That's that Frank Miller cover that's iconic with DD flying through the air and a hail of arrows.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_06]: The book was a complete snobber knocker throwdown with the hand and Stick sacrifices himself to save Matt at the end.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_06]: Ever since that moment, I have loved martial arts comic book.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_06]: So when fellow Yeti Alex Green reached out about his Kickstarter project from within, I was excited to find out more about it.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_06]: It's a 240 page martial arts revenge graphic novel about a slave fighting his way through a deadly tournament where the rules shift according to the whims of, you guessed it, a tyrannical emperor.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_06]: Full of high impact fight sequences. It's sure to delight any fan of action focused fiction.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Artist Renzo Podesta kills the genre. See what I did there? And the whole project is already complete.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_06]: So the hardest part, the one that makes you wait is already done.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_06]: Bounce on over to Kickstarter and search for from within.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll drop a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. Make sure to check it out.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_06]: Y'all, Jimmy the Chaos Goblin strikes again. I should have known better than to mention I was working on my DC Universe meets Ravenloft hybrid D&D campaign on social media. My bad.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_06]: He goes and tags a bunch of comics creators we know and now I have to get it in gear and whip this campaign into shape so we can start playing.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Another friend chimes in, are you gonna make maps? It's fair to say it's been a while since I put something together so I guess question mark?

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_06]: It was then that I discovered Arkham Forge. If you don't know who Arkham Forge is, they have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_06]: Allowing you to build, play and export animated maps including in-person Fog of War capability that lets your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM, get the full picture.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_06]: Now I'm set to easily build high-res animated maps saving myself precious time and significantly adding nuance to our campaign.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_06]: That's a win every day in my book. Check them out at arkhamforge.com and use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll drop a link in the show notes for you and big thanks to Arkham Forge for partnering with our show.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_06]: I think I'm gonna make Jimmy play a goblin warlock just to get even.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_06]: Hello everybody and welcome to Let's Talk Shop, my sidecar companion to the cryptic creator corner where we chat with the folks who are going to be able to get even.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_06]: Folks in the trenches selling you the books that you love.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_06]: As the format goes, each episode features a favorite shot from comics creators I've talked to on the podcast.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_06]: This one is brought to you courtesy of a friend of the show and Michigan State University comic art and graphic novel professor Ryan Claytor.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_06]: Ryan said there was only one place to start and that's Vault of Midnight who have been a feature in the area since 1996 if my info is correct.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_06]: I have three store locations in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Detroit.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_06]: And despite having quite a few Eisner winners on the show, you're my first one that's actually gotten a retailer word.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_06]: So it's a pleasure to introduce Curtis Sullivan on the show with me today. How you doing?

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate the invite.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and he nailed all that info. That's all.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_06]: So that's all. We're off to a good start. That's good.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. Well, it was a big day there yesterday as I understand Saladin Ahmed stopped by to do a signing and to promote his new Wolverine book.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_06]: I haven't seen it yet myself. How'd the signing go?

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So I was actually at our Grand Rapids location, so I didn't get to attend, unfortunately.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, no.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_03]: But him being a huge name and also from the area, you know, we always get a good turnout for Saladin.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, he's been to the shop over the years a few different times because he's launched so many giant books.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_03]: It's Marvel and his creator-owned series Abbott has always been like one of our best-selling comics.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah. Yeah. We were lucky to have him.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_03]: It's cool that he's around and somebody we can collaborate with, you know, every year or two when they have their next giant project.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm an old-school Logan fan myself.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_06]: I got in the ongoing series with issue one in 88, and I'm excited to see where this goes.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_06]: I'm pretty heavily invested in the From the Ashes storyline stuff.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_06]: Did you get a chance to read it yet yourself, even though you weren't there?

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_03]: I haven't.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_03]: So, my pull is at the Ann Arbor shop.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_03]: So, I typically don't get to pick up my books till Saturday.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_03]: I flipped through it.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I got to see it.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I, you know, unpacked it when I was working in Grand Rapids this week.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_03]: So, I got to see it.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_03]: It looks cool.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_03]: The art looks nice.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I've heard good things.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm always excited for a new Wolverine book.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_03]: One of my favorite characters.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, y'all are a regular hotspot in 2024.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_06]: There was a Good Morning America thing going around like July 4th, I believe.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_06]: That had to be kind of a wild exposure extravaganza.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_06]: How did that all come about?

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not exactly sure how our name got drawn out of the hat, as it were.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, there's so many great Ann Arbor businesses.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, hopefully it's because we're awesome and we've been around for a long time.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I'm not sure how we ended up in the mix.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, it was super exciting.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and they shot a whole bunch of footage.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_03]: And then ultimately, you know, when we saw it on TV, it was just a tiny little fraction.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_03]: They did this big, long interview and I think they maybe pulled one line from me, but it was incredible.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_03]: And we actually got calls from like three states away where people, you know, saw it and they were,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to drive to your store because we saw you on GMA.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_03]: So it was really exciting.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_03]: My mom was super proud and our parents, my wife's parents called us and were like, you know, speaker call, you know, giddy.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, we made the parents proud.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's really at the end, all of it was the most, that was the coolest factor.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_06]: I imagine that's pretty cool.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, let's take it back to the beginning because you were, if I understand this correctly, you were in the food service business working for Ruby Tuesdays, I think, who originated in my hometown, actually in Knoxville, Tennessee.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_06]: Not that I have any allegiance to Ruby Tuesdays.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_06]: That's just happenstance.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_06]: Right on.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_06]: But what made, what made you decide to embark on the journey of owning a comic book shop?

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, just a lifelong comic book fan.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_03]: So I kind of struggled with reading when I was a very young kid.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_03]: So I had an uncle who bequeathed me a box of comic books and it really got me rolling.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_03]: I was reading a lot of Conan the Barbarian and the Freak Brothers were sort of my first two comic books that I read.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_03]: When I was like seven or eight years old.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So probably not the first pick for a lot of parents out there for their seven year old.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_03]: But nobody was paying attention.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Luckily for me, Conan's still my all time favorite.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_03]: But it just put me on a, well, you know, lifelong, you know, love of the medium.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I've been buying comics ever since and collecting comics ever since.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_03]: But it also taught me to read.

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, comics will always be a daily ritual for me.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_03]: And it started at a very young age.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, that's how I got started reading comics.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_03]: But I love food and I hope to get back to food someday.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_03]: When I retire, my joke is that I'm going to open a restaurant.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, wow.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Doesn't sound like much of retirement to most folks, but I love being in a kitchen.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I love being in a really high volume commercial kitchen.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_03]: It's one of my favorite places to be.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_03]: I know it sounds crazy.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_03]: But having said all that, yeah, I was working in restaurants and I was having a good go of it.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_03]: And I hadn't read comics for a year or two.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I was a young dad in Florida.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And another family relative sent me a copy of Spawn number one in the mail.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And from Image Comics, they said, have you seen this?

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and I hadn't.

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know about Image Comics.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know it had Image Comics had just started, you know, the breakaway, you know, youngsters from Marvel Comics firing up their own company, you know, shaking up the biz.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_03]: So I read Spawn immediately where I was at a comic shop within a day or two, you know, in Florida.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_03]: And then.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_03]: So then, yeah, we packed up the wagon, moved back to Michigan.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I started hanging out with another childhood friend who's my business partner, Steve Fodali, who I've known since I was a tiny boy.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_03]: So it's like first grade is when we met and we just started yakking.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, what do you think about a comic book store?

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Some bong rips and some Led Zeppelin.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_03]: And then that's that's sort of the genesis.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_03]: We also had friends who always said that you should, you know, you're.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Have you ever thought of doing a comic store because you have so many comics and we would always this I would display him in this beautiful kind of.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Comic room that I would have in whatever apartment of me and my wife found ourselves in.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_03]: And so, yeah, we just one day.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I did.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. One toke too many.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_03]: And we're like, let's go find a lease in this.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_03]: And once you sign a lease, then it's like there's nothing.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_03]: You're in it.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_03]: You can't go back.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Right. It's all right.

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we've we've crossed the uncrossable line and here we go.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's very young.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_06]: I'm picturing like when the levy breaks and the levy broke.

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_06]: That's that was the.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_06]: That's the catalyst, right?

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_06]: Indeed. Indeed it was.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, it's kind of a unique thing you've got going on there with your wife as part of the business, as I understand it.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_06]: I love my wife to death.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_06]: She's my best friend, but we just celebrated 20 years of marriage in June.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_06]: But I don't think she'd ever want to put up with me in a business setting.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, part of our secret is that, you know, divide and conquer mentality.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_06]: Take the ego out of it.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_06]: Let the person best suited to task handle it.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, but that that's just a partnership, not a business.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_06]: So how do you go about divvying up, you know, kind of the responsibility of keeping the doors open in this, you know, notoriously difficult retail environment and still get along at the end of the day?

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Right. I mean, it's definitely, you know, so we're we're coming up.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_03]: We're just over 28 years doing it.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's it's definitely a challenge.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Like as a as a hiring practice, I can't really necessarily necessarily recommend to folks hiring friends and family as employees.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_03]: That's a very tough thing to do and a tough space to navigate.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'm not sure how we pull it off.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_03]: To be honest, it's it's it works great.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_03]: She's the manager of the Ann Arbor store.

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_03]: So they're, you know, fully running the the, you know.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_03]: The original Vault of Midnight and doing it so well, and I'm sort of now in this different position, you know, I'm kind of the guy who drives around to the stores and and, you know, I don't know what you would call my actual job now office guy or, you know, operator.

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Operations guy or something.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_03]: So we interface a lot, but we, you know, over the years have built some really strong systems of how we run the business.

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And Elizabeth Liz is just awesome at.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, running that shop.

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, and they have an outsized influence on the company, of course, because they're just they've been here the whole time.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_03]: So they're so good at everything, you know.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, even as the founder of the company, I call on her to help me with things every day, almost, you know, how do I do this?

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_03]: So how does this process work?

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Because they're just plugged into it.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So good.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_03]: But, yeah, no, it's we really lucked out.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know what to say.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_03]: We got married right out of high school.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_03]: So we've been married, you know, 35 years or something.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much to kids, you know, so through all of this crazy life stuff, you know, very young parents, very young business owners, business partners.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_03]: We've somehow been able to kind of navigate it.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_03]: And here we are still going strong.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think it just gets better every day.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_03]: We just get a better appreciation for each other's style as we go.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And we've really adopted, you know, a strong communication technique where we're really letting each other know what's going on as much as possible.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_03]: So I think that if anything is the key, that might be it.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, lots of stores started to include some sort of curbside service or alternative delivery system during COVID.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_06]: I noticed you still have your curbside going on.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_06]: And thank you, by the way, as somebody who's got an autoimmune condition myself, I'm not personally immunocompromised, but it can be really helpful for those that are, you know, it was a good time to reevaluate what you were doing.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_06]: So when things opened back up, were there any significant changes either you implemented or just noticed with sales patterns coming out of it?

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, we had to shut down, you know, for almost three months for in-store stuff when COVID hit.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_03]: So we never had an online store ever because we just believe in brick and mortar.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_03]: That's why we do brick and mortar.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of folks like kind of assume that like the reason we're still around is because we must, you know, sell a lot online.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_03]: That's actually not the case.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_05]: Okay.

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Because we just dedicate all our energies to being a really, really great, you know, retail spot.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, it sounds cheesy, but that third space idea is still always in my mind.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_03]: The coffee shop, the record store, even the public library, pick a place like that where people obviously we sell things, but we want people to gather there and feel comfortable there.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's just a place where people connect in a, you know, a social way in addition to, you know, buying stuff, you know, obviously.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, I don't know where I was going with that, but yeah, well, we, so, oh, that's why we never really dedicated much time or energy to online sales.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_03]: That's okay.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_03]: So, but during the pandemic, we had to figure out a way to get revenue because we didn't lay off any of our staff and didn't want to.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_03]: So we retained everybody full time, paid them full time, like they were there for the entire time that they were, you know, furloughed, triage, whatever the word is, you know, not working.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_03]: And so we had to generate some revenue because we, you know, the runway was not very long on being able to do that financially.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Sure.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_03]: We got to get a web store together.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So that was the first thing.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And then maybe a week or two into it, we developed a really robust mail order system.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_03]: We just started mailing out.

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, actually that probably was within a day or two.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_03]: We're just, everyone who was a subscriber, we're mailing stuff out.

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_03]: We just had to build this whole background apparatus.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And then we just never turned that stuff off after we kind of slowly emerged and we were able to open some.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_03]: We just kept the mail order going.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_03]: We kept the web store going.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_03]: We kept the website going.

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, it was, it was, it was crazy.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, man.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm, you know, anyone who went through this in any sort of a professional business capacity, restaurant or retail.

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it was so wild.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_03]: We were making decisions just like this.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_03]: And the pace of it was, I would never do anything at that pace.

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_03]: I would never recommend building a web store in, you know, nine days.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, we have a hundred thousand items, you know, it's just like an absurd task.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but luckily we have a really loyal client base and everybody was so cool.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_03]: And everybody immediately jumped onto like auto pays and like regular shipments.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_03]: And, um, so we, you know, we have our Ann Arbor store maybe has a thousand subscribers that get, you know, kind of read, you know, comic books that when they come out.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_03]: So, um, and they pick them up in the store, but immediately we were able to transition just such a, I mean, 70% of them went to like an auto pay, uh, procedure where when their new books come out, we would just, you know, they would get a credit card and file and we'd charge them up.

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_03]: And so we weren't just sitting on, you know, on, on, on purchase product building up.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_03]: And then a huge portion of people, we were mailing, you know, a hundred packages, you know, on a good day.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_03]: It was just so cool.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's a very long way of saying people really supported us.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_03]: And when we communicated kind of what we were trying to do and change, like people were like, yup.

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_03]: And just signed up and mass and, and yeah.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know if that answered your question.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't even know where.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_06]: No, it definitely did.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, that's fantastic to hear that you were able to retain employees and it sounds like they kept busy.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, I was just curious how your roles change.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_06]: Right.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_06]: I didn't know if somebody, it gives you that opportunity to look and somebody's like, oh yeah, I really want to start a podcast.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_06]: I, you know, I think this would help.

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_06]: I really want to do a bunch of social media videos.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, TikTok is now, you know, everybody's paying attention to TikTok because everybody's just stuck there.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_06]: Right.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_06]: So it just gives you that opportunity to do some different things that you just never had time to do and things that you thought you'd never end up having to do.

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_06]: So, yeah.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_03]: We didn't, we haven't done TikTok yet.

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_03]: We're still TikTok list, but you know, someday.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_03]: We do all the other ones.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Where all the kids are at.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_06]: I know.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_05]: I know.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, one of the things that I've consistently seen with successful comic shops is some kind of community integration, you know, creating a larger footprint outside of the shop walls because small businesses stay on the island most of the time fail.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_06]: So what's worked for you?

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I mean, I think we try to do lots and lots of events and we try to keep them as low cost or no cost as possible.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, the big one, obviously free comic book day.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_03]: We do another version called spooky free comic book day and, you know, right around Halloween where it's more free comics and candy and costume contests and stuff.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_03]: But we also do game nights at all the stores and we keep them very cheap, five bucks.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_03]: For like a three hour event.

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_03]: We teach people how to play games.

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and then we do like these things called blind box swaps.

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, people are really into these, uh, you know, mystery toys.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Sunny angels is the, is the craze at the moment.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and there's so many others.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, but yeah, we do these big community events, uh, where people come and trade toys and, um, stuff like that.

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Totally free event again.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so yeah, we try to, and as a retail store, it's tough to dedicate space to events because obviously, you know, rent is very, very high and you need, you need all your square footage for, you know, product to sell.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so we're always trying to team up with other, uh, businesses.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_03]: We do our game events at, you know, art galleries right next door or restaurants right next door or coffee shops right next door.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_03]: So we're trying to not only, you know, get people to come check us out, but also, um, highlight, you know, other businesses nearby that, that we really like and want to support too.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_03]: So it kind of, you know, if you're going downtown where all our stores are, or we're, you know, or any downtown, like you're doing a few things.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Usually you're getting coffee and going to the bookstore and going, you know, you're, if you're parking your car, you're doing three, four things.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So, um, always trying to highlight that the vault is in a space where you can do three, four things.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_03]: It's, you know, it's cool.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, you know, some folks are downtown adverse.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_03]: I am a downtown person, but you know, I'm sure we all have people in our lives who are like, where did he even park?

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, what, how do you even, what's even down there?

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_06]: You know?

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_06]: For sure.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_06]: It was funny.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_06]: Cause I was in the, uh, the LCS like two weeks ago and I'm not one of those people who does the, the mystery pack thing, but I watched somebody do it.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_06]: And it was absolutely fascinating to somebody who it just doesn't appeal to at all, but they, they had the little, uh, Marvel key chains, you know, that are mystery.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_06]: And, oh, I want this one.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_06]: So they bought one and they opened it right there.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, I didn't get the one I want.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_06]: I've already got this.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_06]: I got to buy another one.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_06]: So they ended up buying four or five and that's a retail.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_06]: I know that's gotta be great.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_06]: But from somebody on the outset who just doesn't get it, it's a little weird to me.

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, it's a phenomenon and it's been going on for like years and years.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Like we've sold blind boxes for, I mean, probably 20 years.

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a thing.

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's maybe, um, outside of the United States.

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_03]: It's been more of a thing for a really long time to maybe.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but as you mentioned, TikTok earlier, Sunny Angels hit TikTok about a year and a half ago.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, it is outrageous.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_03]: It is gone from, it's always been a thing.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_03]: It's been a really cool thing for us to like, um, from a sales perspective, I will, I'll say this.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_03]: We just did our numbers for July.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_03]: It was our biggest curios is what we call all toys and all, but mostly blind boxes was our, uh, tied for number one sales for the company.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_03]: So, which is absolutely bizarre.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_03]: That's like a thousand percent increase, uh, from a year ago.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Wow.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the weirdest windfall.

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_03]: It's so cool.

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_03]: And we're uniquely positioned.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm so proud of us because we've been doing it for so long that kind of ramping up with demand has just been a pretty effortless thing to do.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, where, you know, a lot of times you get caught flat footed, you know, we, we've never done Funko pops, for example.

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_03]: We just never did them.

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And then it kind of kept going and kept going.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_03]: And then they kept going and kept going and kept going.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_03]: We've never, you know, we sell 10 Funko pops a year, you know?

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, yeah.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_03]: So we just missed it.

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, to those stores that were on board and they were already kind of, you know, ramping up when it, when, you know, the wave.

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't know if the, I don't know.

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I, my Funko knowledge isn't as good.

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if the waves crest or if it is.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_03]: It still, do you know anything about Funkos?

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Are they still going gangbusters?

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_06]: I know enough to know that there's a surplus of those damn things that, uh, they can't move.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, so, and I have one, I own one.

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_06]: It's the little Bane one, the, uh, Dia over my, my shoulder.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, that's the only one because I just, I'm a big Bane fan and that's it.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_06]: That's all I'll do.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, so it's another one of those things I just don't get personally.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_06]: No, I mean, no disrespect to people who are into them.

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Of course, people love them.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_06]: Right.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_06]: But, but yeah, I just never personally gotten the whole collectible, tons and tons and tons of collectible figure thing.

[00:23:16] But, you know.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Yep.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Whatever.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_03]: To each their own.

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_03]: A hundred percent.

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm excited with people giving more of a shit.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, because yeah, trend hopping is dangerous.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, to some degree, you know, you kind of have to a little bit if people are coming and asking for Spider-Man because the latest Spider-Man's, you know, the biggest thing ever.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_03]: You want to have some Spider-Man for them.

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_03]: So.

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:23:53] Yeah.

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, I know you have a local creator showcase that started in 2015.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, I was a visual artist hustling away for over a decade myself and supporting that wider artistic community can really help redefine what a comic book shop quote, right.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Can be.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_06]: So how'd all that start?

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I mean, it's just really important to us to be all the things.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm an avid, um, comic book fiend, but I will go into shops and I'll notice, you know, they'll be really strong in one area, you know, and we want to be a lot of people.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_03]: We want to be really, really strong in graphic novels.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_03]: We think that's a great format and jumped on as soon as the graphic novel swing happened.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_03]: We immediately built bookshelves and went all in on graphic novels.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And as a comic book retailer, I know there was some consternation.

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_03]: My retailers pretty broadly thought graphic novels would kill comics.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_03]: And there was this weird, they compete against each other.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, you know, mentality that I just didn't agree with then.

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_03]: And I, and the proof is in the pudding now.

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_03]: It's just not true.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, our periodical sales and our graphic novel sales have grown in tandem every single year, um, as a retailer.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_03]: And, and I think the numbers, you know, industry wide bear that out.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but, um, we want to have good graphic novels.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_03]: We want to have great single issues.

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_03]: We want to have mainstream comics because star Wars and Batman really, really bring people into the store.

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Cause they're, they're big and well-known.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, people know who, you know, Superman and wonder woman are.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_03]: So they come in for that.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_03]: But then we also want to have a big small press section and small presses like smaller, but still mainstream comic publishers.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Your IDWs or your dark horses or image, but I guess images, you know, they're pretty giant now, I guess.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_03]: But anyways, but then we also want to be really, really strong in the micro press and the self-published, uh, stuff as well, because we think that represents like all of comic books.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think if you leave any one of those things out, then you're kind of, you're not showing the whole medium, uh, as well as you could as a retailer.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_03]: So for us, I mean, that's just like 100%.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_03]: We want to check all those boxes as best we can, um, for all the reasons, right?

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Obviously.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's sell a whole bunch of Spider-Man, the new issue or the new Wolverine.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_03]: People are going to go, but then they're going to come in and they're going to see, you know, magical beat down or pee pee poo poo from Carolyn Cash.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And they're going to, you know, what's this?

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't, you know, yeah.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_03]: I've never heard of this thing.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_03]: I was just here for Wolverine and now I'm experiencing the whole breadth and width of the glorious medium of comic books.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_06]: So getting into how you get people to notice that, you know, the way my brain works, I love thinking about retail layouts, which is probably not your standard daydreaming, but you know, I gotta, I gotta look at the Yelp photos from the Detroit store.

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_06]: And that, that design really blew me away in terms of architecture for a comic book shop, custom shelves and fixtures.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_06]: Everything's very open and inviting for, you know, a retail, any retail shop.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_06]: It certainly doesn't scream, you know, traditional comic book store.

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_06]: So how did changing the expectations of how you look, you know, in people's heads, change your sales numbers, you know, like, did that help people get from Wolverine to that other book?

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_06]: Because it was so much easier to see it.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_06]: You could have, you know, employees yourselves point to it so much easier.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_06]: Aggregating things in a certain way, you know, like, how does, how did that work?

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, well, it's funny.

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_03]: You should say that I'm like obsessed with like kind of the, the art of retail or whatever, you know, 30 years later, I am absolutely obsessed with layouts and designs and lighting and just everything.

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_03]: The presentation of the product, if you, you can take it and we've, we see it and we do these things, we call it remerching, which I'm sure we don't, everybody probably calls it.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_03]: We, we remerch and we fluff on a constant basis at the store.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_03]: It's like what, what's, you know, the bulk of our goods, you know, it's customer service and then it's remerching and fluffing or like in the look of the store or what we just do all day.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_03]: And I mean, you take a book that's fine out and kind of hiding over here and you present it and boom, here it is.

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we, and we just talk to staff, we do staff meetings.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_03]: We talk about, Hey, we moved this book and we sold four of them.

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and it, the book was awesome in the both spots, but it's where it's at and how it's presented that, that, you know, gets it into somebody's field of vision and then gets them to buy it.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So to your point, Detroit is our, like, that's the pinnacle of our design, right?

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the most recent shop we built.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_03]: So we've just, every time we iterate and are able to do it again, we just adapt and change and, you know, we've angled the shelves.

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_03]: So like the lower they are, the more they tilt and, you know, just every little detail is very important to us.

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think it's so crucial.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, we do, we get less than we used to, but we would have people kind of poo-poo that.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_03]: They thought we were too clean.

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_03]: We've had, you know, if we've gotten a few negative reviews over the years, they'd be like, they're the H&M of comic stores or, you know, it doesn't smell right in there.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Or, um.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_06]: I've been in a lot of shops.

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_06]: If it doesn't smell like a comic book shop in general, that's a good thing.

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_03]: No offense to everybody.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_03]: That's what I'm saying, right?

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_03]: There's no dead bugs in the window.

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_03]: And so we, and I get it.

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm a old head.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Every shop I went into was kind of like, you know, packed with stuff, you know, and that, you know.

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but, uh, yeah, so we, you know, we get less pushback on that now and pushback doesn't matter to me because the other side of that is we get just these full families that come in and every single member of the family is about it.

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, if you've got grandma all the way down to the four-year-old, everyone in the posse is having a nice time and there's something that for there for them.

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And, um, you know, and that's the goal too, right?

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_03]: The other, the flip side of having like an open store that's kind of clean and organized and presents everything well is that, um, you just open it up to people who aren't on the team.

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, of course we love the comic regulars, our subscribers, our Wednesday warriors, those people are, you know, the heart and soul of it.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_03]: But we just need somebody to wander in and be like, what, you know, and, and now we've got a new convert to the cult, you know?

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so that's just, man, that's all that has got to be a part of all of it.

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, we want every single customer, every kind of person, because we feel that strongly about comics that goes back to sort of the product mixes.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_03]: We feel that strongly about the medium is like, if you're not reading comics, you're missing out.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_03]: You should be reading comics.

[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, that's like, if somebody said, I don't watch movies or I don't read books or I don't watch TV shows, I don't listen to music.

[00:30:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, to me, comics should be in that exact same, you know, list of entertainment that you're consuming at some level.

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_03]: No matter who you are, cause the, it's that broad and that cool.

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Look, look the way it does.

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_03]: That's a super long answer.

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_06]: I get it.

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_06]: Cause if you have that, the old school mentality, then it's that thing where the, uh, the Ben chasers, you know, people, you walk into a store, it's a little bit dingy, a little down.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_06]: You still think you're going to find gold in the long box.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_05]: Sure.

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_05]: Sure.

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_06]: But that doesn't necessarily appeal to the girlfriend, you know, who gets drug in that first time.

[00:31:18] [SPEAKER_06]: And they're like, Oh God.

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_06]: There's nothing for me to do.

[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_06]: There's nothing to, to, to basically just appeal to them.

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_06]: But if you do have things laid out in a way that's open, it feels warm and inviting and bright.

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_06]: Then, you know, you're, you're hitting other segments aside from the traditional demographic, I guess.

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm a crate digger.

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_03]: So people who are coming in and going straight for the long boxes downstairs and yes, hell yes.

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm here for that.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_03]: But I also, like you said, to your point, I want the girlfriends and the boyfriends or the moms or the dads to also not be like, feel like a hostage situation.

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, like they're standing by the door with their arms crossed, you know, like, yeah, we don't.

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's take a quick break.

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_06]: After a string of unexplained disappearances in the southern parts of the United States, retired Detective Clint searches for his white trash brother.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_06]: While searching for him, he ends up being abducted by aliens.

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_06]: He is now in the arena for Big Gun's Stupid Rednecks, an intergalactic cable's newest hit show, which puts him and other humans in laser gun gladiatorial combat.

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_06]: And his brother is the reigning champion with 27 kills.

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_06]: That's the premise for a new book from Band of Bards, Big Gun's Stupid Rednecks.

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_06]: I got a chance to see an advanced preview of this book.

[00:32:48] [SPEAKER_06]: And being from the south, honestly, I was a bit skeptical going in.

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_06]: But they won me over and nothing is more powerful than an initially skeptic convert in my book.

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_06]: In Jimmy's words, Big Gun's Stupid Rednecks is many things, but it isn't subtle.

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_06]: It tells you exactly what it is up front, then it delivers with a great premise, fantastic art, and a whole mess of fun.

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_06]: I had a great time reading Big Gun's Stupid Rednecks, and what I thought was going to be an indictment of redneck culture quickly showed it was actually a love letter.

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_06]: A family mystery, brother pitted against brother, aliens, fighting for profit in a big arena.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_06]: This truly has it all.

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_06]: Issue 1 is out already, but you can still pick up a copy on the Band of Bards website.

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_06]: And current issues are available via your previews or lunar order form.

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_06]: Or just ask your LCS.

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_06]: Don't miss it.

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Let's get back to the show.

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_06]: So what is the bread and butter then of the business?

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, you talked about the angel.

[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_06]: You'll have to forgive me because that's not something I pay a lot of attention to.

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_06]: It's like angels.

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, blind boxes.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_06]: So what's the bread and butter?

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_06]: Is it graphic novels?

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_06]: The weekly big two drops?

[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, our top four departments in this order are comic books, graphic novels are essentially tied, which is fantastic.

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_03]: And this year we've had a huge resurgence in single issue sales.

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_03]: New and back issues both have just been killing it this year.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Just wild.

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_03]: So comic books, graphic novels are essentially tied for number one.

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_03]: There are two biggest departments, followed by board games and then curios.

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Curios.

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And curios kind of encapsulates a lot of stuff.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's blind boxes, it's toys, it's statues, it's action figures.

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, so it's, you know, not just blind boxes, but it's all sort of, you know, tchotchkes, if you will.

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_06]: So is manga also in graphic novels?

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_06]: I'm just curious.

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_03]: It is.

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:34:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Manga in all ages.

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_03]: We actually break them out into three categories.

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_03]: But our all ages sales are humongous.

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_03]: We have a whole dedicated section in every store and it's super important to us.

[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_03]: And manga is just out of control.

[00:34:59] [SPEAKER_03]: It is such an awesome segment of the store and it's just been growing, growing, growing for years.

[00:35:05] [SPEAKER_06]: Did you have that point where you were just realizing, I need somebody who is manga focused as part of the team?

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well, this was a long time ago, but we have department, we call them department heads at every store for every major category that we do.

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_03]: So absolutely.

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_03]: And that was probably something we implemented, you know, when we moved to our main street location.

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_03]: So that was maybe 2006 is when we kind of went to the department.

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_06]: The online pictures, I saw a pic of a Japanese candy section, which strikes me as like an absolutely brilliant idea.

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_06]: So where'd that come from?

[00:35:41] [SPEAKER_03]: That's just, so Liz, you know, to go back to my kick-ass wife, you know.

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_03]: What's that?

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Smart man.

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah.

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, they really brought, grew the Curio stuff.

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_03]: That's their bread and butter.

[00:35:58] [SPEAKER_03]: And that expanded into like plush.

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_03]: We have like goofy, crazy, small batch plush at every store.

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_03]: That's all Liz making that happen.

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, she's the jump off of that.

[00:36:09] [SPEAKER_03]: There's department heads at all those stores, but collaborating with Liz ultimately on all the stuff.

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_03]: But then the candy is an outgrowth of that.

[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, that's really, yeah.

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Liz is a brainchild.

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's just consistently grown for years.

[00:36:25] [SPEAKER_03]: They're like a plush.

[00:36:27] [SPEAKER_03]: We saw a lot of plush, which is, you know, really, really cool.

[00:36:31] [SPEAKER_03]: And maybe not something you would immediately think about when you are thinking about a comic book store.

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER_06]: How do you, is that an upsell item?

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_06]: Do people just come in looking for them?

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_06]: Again, I'm not the demographic, you know, to buy a plush.

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I think we've been around for a long time.

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think my feeling is, is people make our stores a trip.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_03]: If they're coming into the area, it's kind of known that if, you know, Susie and Timmy and mom and dad and even Uncle Ray and Grandma Chris are all in a posse and they're going to get lunch.

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, there's a Vault of Midnight.

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_03]: In that one transaction, we're going to sell a board game, a couple of back issue comics, a graphic novel, an all ages book, a plushie and two blind boxes and some Pocky.

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Wow.

[00:37:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you know what I'm saying?

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_03]: It's just checking every, that whole family is coming in.

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_03]: They're vibing.

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_03]: The energy's good.

[00:37:28] [SPEAKER_03]: The stores are bright and clean.

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a fun day.

[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody got a cool little thing that, that appeals to them.

[00:37:35] [SPEAKER_03]: And I still think all of that counts as what a comic shop should be doing.

[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_03]: That, to me, is a cartoon.

[00:37:43] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a living comic book, right?

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_03]: All those things, right?

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, we're trying to check a lot of boxes.

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_03]: I think we're doing it.

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, long answer.

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_03]: But I think that's what it is.

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Like folks come in and maybe they're not expecting to get a plush or they're not expecting to see something there for them.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Or the whole family's like, let's go to Vault today.

[00:38:05] [SPEAKER_03]: So it's making the store a destination, basically.

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I think so.

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I think so.

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Yep.

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, at what point did it make sense to take that leap of faith and start stretching beyond a single store?

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_06]: Because that's, in my mind, that is, that's hard.

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_03]: It's so hard.

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_03]: And we went all the way across the state.

[00:38:22] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, Grand Rapids is like two and a half hours away from Ann Arbor.

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So it's a commute.

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_03]: And for the build, we rented an apartment and lived in another city, me and my business partner, for six months in a tiny little crappy apartment.

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_03]: So we left our families and, you know, yeah, hunkered down in a little shitty apartment for six months.

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_03]: So it was wild.

[00:38:47] [SPEAKER_03]: And that doubling is really scary, right?

[00:38:49] [SPEAKER_03]: And everybody we talked to in advance is like, oh, one to two is the hardest.

[00:38:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Three to four, five to six, ten to eleven.

[00:38:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Those are much easier to absorb if anything goes wrong.

[00:38:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, financially, right?

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, one to two is scary.

[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_03]: So we just did a lot of look and we did a lot of research.

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, the store was going so good.

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_03]: We were like, we think we got a model here.

[00:39:10] [SPEAKER_03]: That was the jump off.

[00:39:11] [SPEAKER_03]: We're like, man, everything's going really, really good.

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_03]: And we also were a little bit of the mindset, like, you know, could we be like a borders of comic books someday?

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think I have that in me anymore.

[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm too old.

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, I really thought about all the things that had come before us in the comic book industry.

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_03]: The birth of the direct market, it grew and grew and grew and then it collapsed in the 90s because of the speculator boom.

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And then it's never really rebounded.

[00:39:38] [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, we have 2,500 comic shops in America left.

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_03]: And so there's all this fantasy of like, man, could we be that shop that puts a comic shop in every downtown or, you know, a lot of downtowns?

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Because, one, hey, let's get crazy rich and we'll start launching spaceships into space, too.

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh-huh.

[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_03]: No, not that part.

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Just kidding.

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know what I mean?

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, can we present comics like this kind of universally kick-ass medium to more people, right?

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_03]: We think it's an underappreciated art form, you know?

[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_03]: And so that was part of the kind of goal, too, is like, hey, can we, you know, have a lot of stores and be, you know, financially successful?

[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_03]: But can we turn everybody on to comics, right?

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_03]: So, and we think we got a model, right?

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, that was GR in 2013.

[00:40:29] [SPEAKER_03]: We opened there after a lot of research.

[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_03]: And it just hit the ground running.

[00:40:33] [SPEAKER_03]: We were profitable year one.

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_03]: So, really, all worked out.

[00:40:36] [SPEAKER_03]: The research paid off.

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_03]: It was really cool.

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_03]: People were excited when we came to town.

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Local news covered us.

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_03]: They were like, you know, Ann Arbor Institution opens a second store.

[00:40:47] [SPEAKER_03]: We were blown away because we never received any of that sort of stuff initially.

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_03]: When we opened on Main Street in Ann Arbor, people were like, oh, is Main Street dead?

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, like a comic shop on Main Street?

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, uh-oh, you know.

[00:41:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Start boarding up windows, you know what I mean?

[00:41:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And not really, but you know what I'm saying?

[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Comic shops are typically found in strip malls.

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_03]: They're not, and again, I am a comic shop maniac since I was a little kid.

[00:41:15] [SPEAKER_03]: So, I'm not poo-pooing on any shop.

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_03]: But our idea was can we put them right in people's, right front and center next to galleries and fine dining

[00:41:24] [SPEAKER_03]: and whatever other downtown stuff that's right in people's faces, you know?

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Because you don't really see that as much, you know?

[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_03]: You might, you're big ones.

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe, you know, there's some shops in Chicago that are kind of, you know, boom, front and center or New York City, right?

[00:41:42] [SPEAKER_03]: But, so yeah, and in Grand Rapids, we were like, we found another Main Street right next to the art museum,

[00:41:48] [SPEAKER_03]: right next to, you know, some restaurants and stuff and plunked down and it went well.

[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_03]: And it went so well that we were like, shit, we got to go to D.

[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's do another one.

[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_03]: And then Detroit was the next choice.

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_03]: And a lot of people thought we were crazy because Detroit, you know, has a very storied history.

[00:42:06] [SPEAKER_03]: It was just post-bankruptcy or middle of bankruptcy.

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_03]: That would be 2016.

[00:42:13] [SPEAKER_03]: So, but man, I've always, I'm a Michigan person.

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_03]: I've lived around Detroit my whole life and Detroit's like my favorite city in the whole world.

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_03]: And so we just had to make it happen, but it took a long time to do it.

[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_03]: It took three years to get that project together.

[00:42:32] [SPEAKER_03]: It was very tough finding real estate in Detroit.

[00:42:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Everything was changing and moving.

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, it was just a funky environment.

[00:42:40] [SPEAKER_03]: It was different.

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Every other spot we'd looked at, you know, it's like, hey, can we rent your place?

[00:42:44] [SPEAKER_03]: And they'd be like, yeah, sign the papers.

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_03]: See you in 30 days.

[00:42:47] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, this was just very drawn out, crazy process.

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, but then Detroit was going great.

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_03]: And then of course we had COVID a couple of years and, you know, kind of derailed us.

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And we haven't really got back on track as far as opening more stores.

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_03]: And now I'm 51 years old, almost 52 years old.

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah.

[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_03]: No, no.

[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I want to open a restaurant maybe instead of more comic shops, but we'll see.

[00:43:12] [SPEAKER_06]: All right.

[00:43:13] [SPEAKER_06]: What's the dream with the restaurant?

[00:43:14] [SPEAKER_06]: You got a specific food you want to offer?

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I just got a bunch of ideas, so nothing fleshed out.

[00:43:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Years and years ago, I wrote some like full menu type things.

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, I want to talk about that was 1996.

[00:43:26] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, those are dead.

[00:43:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_06]: Fusion is everything now.

[00:43:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe.

[00:43:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_03]: We'll see.

[00:43:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I think I'm going to go back to culinary school first, just as a fun thing to do is

[00:43:39] [SPEAKER_03]: my next major life goal.

[00:43:41] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to try to see if I can make that happen.

[00:43:43] [SPEAKER_06]: That's awesome.

[00:43:44] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, as somebody who just turned 50 myself.

[00:43:46] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:43:47] [SPEAKER_06]: Engaging yourself in new things, new exciting.

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_06]: These things that excite you are, it's huge.

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, it just makes you young.

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:43:54] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and if you know anybody who's got a couple of, you know, I mean, we probably

[00:43:58] [SPEAKER_03]: each store probably we could do for about a half a million bucks.

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_03]: So I know any angel investors with 10 million, we can just start popping these things up.

[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, let's go.

[00:44:08] [SPEAKER_03]: All I got to do is win the lottery.

[00:44:10] [SPEAKER_06]: Then you're hooked up.

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Right on.

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll call you.

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, I know there's a lot of gloom and doom in the kind of the inside baseball of comics

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_06]: right now.

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER_06]: Right.

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER_06]: A lot of an impending project prognostication of an imminent demise.

[00:44:22] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, I'm, I'm convinced despite the current economic climate that we're all weathering

[00:44:26] [SPEAKER_06]: that the inevitable drop after, you know, high lockdown sales numbers and when people

[00:44:31] [SPEAKER_06]: had more disposable incomes and time on their hands that we're, we're in this golden

[00:44:35] [SPEAKER_06]: age though, there's so much good stuff out there right now.

[00:44:38] [SPEAKER_06]: So how are you feeling personally about the status of the media?

[00:44:43] [SPEAKER_03]: I feel, I feel great.

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_03]: I think as far as quality of product, there's no complaints.

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we just got Marvel's got 20, 15 books right now that you should be reading.

[00:44:57] [SPEAKER_03]: BC has got 10 books right now.

[00:44:59] [SPEAKER_03]: You should be reading the images.

[00:45:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Got 10, 15 books.

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_03]: You should be reading.

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Dark horse has got, you know, five to 10, you know.

[00:45:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So already I've said more comics than anybody can read.

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Any one sane person, right?

[00:45:12] [SPEAKER_03]: And as a shop, I think you can pick your battles a little bit.

[00:45:15] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I hear a lot of talk about how overordering is the, is the, is the beast.

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_03]: I would speculate underordering is the, is the killer.

[00:45:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Not knowing your base slash what, what is in the pipeline and not ordering correctly up or down, but maybe up.

[00:45:36] [SPEAKER_03]: We're doing this thing at our shops where if we hit zero on a product on a certain time frame, we bump the par by one until we don't hit zero between orders on like evergreen stuff.

[00:45:49] [SPEAKER_03]: If that makes sense, right?

[00:45:50] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_03]: We just never want to lose that opportunity to sell that, that product.

[00:45:55] [SPEAKER_03]: So we're having our best year ever.

[00:45:59] [SPEAKER_03]: And we, and we have never had a down year except for the two COVID years in the history of the company.

[00:46:05] [SPEAKER_03]: So 28 years, it's always been better than the last year.

[00:46:07] [SPEAKER_03]: And I just love comics.

[00:46:10] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think if you love comics, that's the starting point.

[00:46:14] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I don't share those, those opinions.

[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I do not know.

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm like the opposite.

[00:46:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I am.

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_03]: I have a huge list and it's always growing and I'm reading so much good shit that it's crazy.

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Like as a recent example, I've been having to try to talk people into reading and it's a really mainstream book and forgive me, but this is, I'm, this is why I'm using it.

[00:46:37] [SPEAKER_03]: And as an example, it's aliens versus Avengers, right?

[00:46:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, sure.

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And at your first glance, you'd be like, I don't want to, why would I want to read that?

[00:46:44] [SPEAKER_03]: It's just the cash grab of like Avengers versus aliens, right?

[00:46:47] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's got a great artist on it.

[00:46:48] [SPEAKER_03]: A great artist.

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's written by one of modern comics, greatest writers, John Hickman.

[00:46:55] [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, Asad Rabish is the artist.

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER_03]: He's very, very talented and gorgeous maker of art.

[00:47:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And first issue is just an absolute killer.

[00:47:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Just so much fun.

[00:47:06] [SPEAKER_03]: High stakes shit happening.

[00:47:07] [SPEAKER_03]: People dying.

[00:47:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Worlds exploding.

[00:47:09] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's just an absolute barn burner, right?

[00:47:13] [SPEAKER_03]: But I think a lot of people might instinctively put their nose up at a product like that.

[00:47:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't, I haven't seen sales numbers for that.

[00:47:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know if that's true or not.

[00:47:21] [SPEAKER_03]: But we got all our staff to read it.

[00:47:24] [SPEAKER_03]: We ordered a whole bunch.

[00:47:25] [SPEAKER_03]: It's selling like gangbusters, right?

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:47:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So, and I don't know why I'm saying this.

[00:47:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe this is an example of like picking your battles and going, I like this thing.

[00:47:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm confident about the creative team.

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to make this something we're going to put some weight behind in the store.

[00:47:44] [SPEAKER_03]: And this is easier than some other things, right?

[00:47:46] [SPEAKER_03]: It has the Avengers in it.

[00:47:47] [SPEAKER_03]: It has marquee talent, right?

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_03]: So it's not like you're, you know, paying for gold or something.

[00:47:53] [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, but yeah, I think anything like that.

[00:47:57] [SPEAKER_03]: We are real big Daniel Warren Johnson sellers.

[00:48:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:48:01] [SPEAKER_03]: So one of last year's biggest selling books for Vaults a Minute was Do a Powerbomb from Image Comics.

[00:48:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's a great book.

[00:48:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Great book, right?

[00:48:10] [SPEAKER_03]: But I mean, it was consistently in our top five.

[00:48:12] [SPEAKER_03]: It's right there with pick a book, X-Men, Batman, all the, you know, titans of the comic industry.

[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Because the shop got behind it, we ordered enough copies.

[00:48:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Staff was juiced about it.

[00:48:24] [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, so yeah, I don't know what I'm saying here.

[00:48:28] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't, your question was pessimism about the industry.

[00:48:32] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't, I don't see it.

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_03]: I think the quality of stuff is so, so strong.

[00:48:37] [SPEAKER_03]: And there's so much good stuff that you just don't even need to talk about the bad stuff.

[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't have enough bandwidth for something that's not good because there's plenty of good for me to keep my focus on.

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_03]: And if you have a pretty good product mix, if you're talking about board games or curios or anything else that you have in your store, also, you know, focus on the top, the cream, if you will, of those categories.

[00:49:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, I think you're in a good position.

[00:49:03] [SPEAKER_03]: You can be, you know, coupled with a clean store with all your lights working in a good location with enough capital to buy all the inventory.

[00:49:10] [SPEAKER_03]: You need enough staff to, I don't want to sound like I'm downplaying any thousand things.

[00:49:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, of course.

[00:49:16] [SPEAKER_03]: That it takes to run a successful business because it is freaking all day, every day.

[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_06]: But Daniel Warren Johnson is a great example because that's, in my mind, that's very much a lead a horse to water scenario where you get them.

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Here's, here's do a powerbomb.

[00:49:30] [SPEAKER_06]: They read this.

[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_06]: They come back.

[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh my God, this is great.

[00:49:33] [SPEAKER_06]: And then you can say, Hey, have you picked up the Transformers run?

[00:49:36] [SPEAKER_06]: You know?

[00:49:37] [SPEAKER_06]: Yep.

[00:49:37] [SPEAKER_06]: And then they get into the Energon universe, right?

[00:49:40] [SPEAKER_06]: So it just scales.

[00:49:42] [SPEAKER_06]: So in my mind, so quickly.

[00:49:43] [SPEAKER_03]: That's 100% exactly.

[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_03]: And as soon as you say it's the person that did this, that you love, the recommendation is like, yup, I'll take, you don't have to give the cash register pitch anymore.

[00:49:54] [SPEAKER_03]: It's just, oh, it's Daniel Warren Johnson.

[00:49:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Boom.

[00:49:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:49:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_03]: 100%.

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_03]: And you cultivate it.

[00:50:00] [SPEAKER_03]: And once you make, and that's the other thing we're really recommendation focused, right?

[00:50:03] [SPEAKER_03]: So as soon as you make a customer a good rack and it, and it sticks, you're, you're golden, right?

[00:50:09] [SPEAKER_03]: What do you got for me next?

[00:50:11] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the question.

[00:50:12] [SPEAKER_03]: That was awesome.

[00:50:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Give me another, you know?

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so having an informed crew working at your store, boy, that's gonna, I think that's going to pay dividends.

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:50:22] [SPEAKER_03]: As much as how cool our stores look.

[00:50:24] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, I probably haven't said this enough during this chat is the staff that we have at the shops kick so much ass.

[00:50:32] [SPEAKER_03]: They love comics.

[00:50:33] [SPEAKER_03]: They read comics, uh, all the time.

[00:50:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody at the store is just a massive, massive fan.

[00:50:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and they may be like an old fan who's read comics for 25, 30 years, or they may be a manga fan from the last 10 years.

[00:50:47] [SPEAKER_03]: But, um, yeah, that's how you sell books is having fans.

[00:50:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:50:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Boys too.

[00:50:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, what's your favorite right now?

[00:50:53] [SPEAKER_03]: You said you got a big pull list, man.

[00:50:56] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm reading so many.

[00:50:57] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:50:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Let me see what I got here in my top of my pile right now.

[00:51:00] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:51:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we got AVX.

[00:51:02] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:51:02] [SPEAKER_03]: So, uh, yeah.

[00:51:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:51:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Just read that one.

[00:51:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:51:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, Wolverine revenge.

[00:51:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I know it's John Hickman again, but, uh, this was a lot of fun.

[00:51:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, Bromits, uh, is awesome.

[00:51:13] [SPEAKER_03]: I haven't read the new issue yet, but this has just been a blast.

[00:51:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And then, oh, I haven't read this yet, but I read all Conan, every Conan.

[00:51:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:51:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:51:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:51:23] [SPEAKER_03]: And we got a battle of Blackstone right here.

[00:51:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Number one.

[00:51:25] [SPEAKER_03]: This is the new series.

[00:51:27] [SPEAKER_03]: I think the guy who's doing the art right now, uh, Roberto de la Torra has a great Sal

[00:51:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Buscema look and I'm just obsessed with it.

[00:51:35] [SPEAKER_03]: And I love it.

[00:51:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, you know, and then I'm also, this is the graphic now I just picked up this last week.

[00:51:41] [SPEAKER_03]: What we mean by yesterday.

[00:51:42] [SPEAKER_03]: This is Ben Mara's new one.

[00:51:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:51:44] [SPEAKER_06]: I'm not familiar.

[00:51:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Ben Mara is a maniac.

[00:51:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I love him.

[00:51:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, he did like, um, one man war on terror years ago.

[00:51:51] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm what?

[00:51:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, he's just a, a maniac and I love him.

[00:51:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so yeah.

[00:51:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, yeah.

[00:51:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Lots of, uh, gross think like eighties exploitation, uh, crime city movies.

[00:52:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, you know, uh, think a King of New York or fear city as movies to think about when you

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_03]: think about what kind of comics Ben Mara might.

[00:52:14] [SPEAKER_03]: He's an absolute stud love them.

[00:52:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And I, this is just, this is about a school teacher who gets addicted to drugs and goes

[00:52:20] [SPEAKER_03]: on a crazy journey.

[00:52:21] [SPEAKER_03]: So.

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:52:23] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh yeah, definitely.

[00:52:24] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll, I'll check it out.

[00:52:25] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:52:25] [SPEAKER_06]: I've been on the, this week has been an old school kick for me.

[00:52:28] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, I got the 35th anniversary edition of slain in.

[00:52:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, yeah.

[00:52:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Is that Simon Bisley?

[00:52:37] [SPEAKER_06]: Yes.

[00:52:39] Yeah.

[00:52:40] [SPEAKER_06]: That is an awesome book.

[00:52:42] [SPEAKER_06]: And it's so good in that oversized form.

[00:52:44] [SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely love it.

[00:52:45] [SPEAKER_06]: So, and, and then Arkham Asylum, the, that big, you know, hard cover, the new edition

[00:52:51] [SPEAKER_06]: of that that came out.

[00:52:52] [SPEAKER_06]: So I've been dipping in the, in the old water this, this, this week, but, um, yeah, I love

[00:52:57] [SPEAKER_06]: great stuff.

[00:52:57] [SPEAKER_03]: I got, um, oh yeah.

[00:52:59] [SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know if you can see it down there on the floor.

[00:53:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:53:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I was going to scoop up the Mazda Chelli year one artist edition.

[00:53:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Nice.

[00:53:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm in year one.

[00:53:07] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's my big, big purchase of the, of the year.

[00:53:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, it's so gorgeous.

[00:53:12] [SPEAKER_06]: It doesn't hurt to own a shop in that regard.

[00:53:16] [SPEAKER_03]: It's the worst.

[00:53:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's the best.

[00:53:18] [SPEAKER_03]: It's the worst.

[00:53:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:53:19] [SPEAKER_03]: No, it's yeah.

[00:53:20] [SPEAKER_03]: No, I'm, I'm obsessed.

[00:53:22] [SPEAKER_03]: And, um, a lot of people say, don't turn your hobby into your job because, um, you won't

[00:53:26] [SPEAKER_03]: have a hobby anymore in it.

[00:53:27] [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm very lucky in that way.

[00:53:29] [SPEAKER_03]: I still have a hobby and I, it's only grown.

[00:53:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Like it hasn't diminished at all.

[00:53:35] [SPEAKER_03]: It's only gotten worse, better.

[00:53:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, yeah.

[00:53:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:53:40] [SPEAKER_03]: I love new comic book day.

[00:53:41] [SPEAKER_03]: It's dangerous, but I love it.

[00:53:43] [SPEAKER_06]: Oh yeah.

[00:53:43] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:53:44] [SPEAKER_06]: I, I can imagine.

[00:53:44] [SPEAKER_06]: I worked in three shops and, um, there's my first three jobs outside of like mowing the

[00:53:49] [SPEAKER_06]: lawn and stuff.

[00:53:50] [SPEAKER_06]: Uh, you know, growing up and yeah.

[00:53:53] [SPEAKER_06]: Working in a shop is a very, it's a dangerous job.

[00:53:56] [SPEAKER_06]: You end up spending your paycheck all the time.

[00:53:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:53:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:53:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:00] [SPEAKER_03]: For sure.

[00:54:00] [SPEAKER_03]: We give our employees an insane discount and I don't know if that helps.

[00:54:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you know what I'm saying?

[00:54:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, it hurts.

[00:54:07] [SPEAKER_03]: It hurts.

[00:54:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Cause they're just like, I'll just get more.

[00:54:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, no.

[00:54:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Hell yeah.

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_03]: So what, uh, can I ask what comic shops you worked at?

[00:54:16] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:54:17] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:54:18] [SPEAKER_06]: So I grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

[00:54:20] [SPEAKER_06]: And so I worked at world class, which is just little bitty shop that was, um, I mean, you

[00:54:27] [SPEAKER_06]: know, in the nineties, what you'd expect, uh, it was next to the football stadium in

[00:54:31] [SPEAKER_06]: a strip mall.

[00:54:32] [SPEAKER_05]: Right.

[00:54:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, still, still friends with the owner today.

[00:54:36] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, then started going to college.

[00:54:38] [SPEAKER_06]: So then that transitioned, um, unfortunately world class had closed.

[00:54:42] [SPEAKER_06]: It was open for four or five years there.

[00:54:45] [SPEAKER_06]: And, um, then it was a big orange comics and cards.

[00:54:48] [SPEAKER_06]: So that was like a hybrid sports cards, comic book shop that was in a strip mall with like

[00:54:53] [SPEAKER_06]: a, a home Depot as an anchor in a grocery store.

[00:54:56] [SPEAKER_06]: So, I mean, you know, still the nineties, still kind of what you expect.

[00:54:59] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll never forget the death of Superman there and how wild that was around that, that Christmas.

[00:55:05] [SPEAKER_06]: Cause I, I got one and I opened it, um, read it and then, you know, brought it back

[00:55:11] [SPEAKER_06]: in.

[00:55:11] [SPEAKER_06]: Cause we had, I think 16 or 17 more and we had a line out the door that following morning

[00:55:17] [SPEAKER_06]: and I had brought it back in.

[00:55:19] [SPEAKER_06]: Cause I was like, I wasn't really Superman at the time.

[00:55:21] [SPEAKER_06]: I just wanted to see what the hype was about and stuff.

[00:55:23] [SPEAKER_06]: So I brought it back in and there was a mom who is just almost in tears.

[00:55:29] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, I, that my kid wants this.

[00:55:30] [SPEAKER_06]: And I said, I'll sell you mine.

[00:55:32] [SPEAKER_06]: It's like, it's open.

[00:55:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Right.

[00:55:33] [SPEAKER_06]: I read it, but here's the bag.

[00:55:35] [SPEAKER_06]: It's still there.

[00:55:36] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, and she was like, well, what are you going to charge me?

[00:55:39] [SPEAKER_06]: I was like, nah, I'll charge you a cover price.

[00:55:40] [SPEAKER_06]: Like, I don't like, if this kid loves this, like this, that's what I'm about.

[00:55:44] [SPEAKER_06]: So, um, yeah.

[00:55:46] [SPEAKER_06]: So there was that shop and then, um, comics Inc.

[00:55:50] [SPEAKER_06]: And that was, uh, more not downtown, but a closer to downtown.

[00:55:56] [SPEAKER_06]: And it was, it was a hybrid gaming shop.

[00:55:58] [SPEAKER_06]: So there was an actual game store.

[00:56:00] [SPEAKER_06]: That was the magic, the gathering craze time.

[00:56:03] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the one strong.

[00:56:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:56:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:56:05] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:56:05] [SPEAKER_06]: So still, still friends with, with that, the owner there too.

[00:56:09] [SPEAKER_03]: So I was going to say, comics Inc.

[00:56:10] [SPEAKER_03]: I feel like I know that shop.

[00:56:11] [SPEAKER_03]: That's, that's a great shop.

[00:56:13] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:56:14] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, they're not around anymore, but everybody knew Ziggy.

[00:56:17] [SPEAKER_06]: He, he knew everybody back then.

[00:56:19] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, totally.

[00:56:21] [SPEAKER_03]: I remember the name.

[00:56:22] [SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome.

[00:56:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:56:23] [SPEAKER_03]: I remember they had a great logo too.

[00:56:25] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:56:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Man.

[00:56:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Cool.

[00:56:27] [SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome, man.

[00:56:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[00:56:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, I read a lot of, you know, younger readers, middle-aged books.

[00:56:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Personally, um, we have a disproportionate number.

[00:56:35] [SPEAKER_06]: I remember them on the show, you know, and that's not to toot my own horn or anything.

[00:56:39] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, it was at that age I got into comics and it's so important to help push, you know,

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_06]: the, that, that market segment.

[00:56:46] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, cause those new readers, we need to get hooked and we need to keep the medium thriving.

[00:56:50] [SPEAKER_06]: So how do you get kids in the door to help foster that love of comic books?

[00:56:54] [SPEAKER_06]: You know, is it the diversification into it, into having the candy into having the plushies,

[00:57:01] [SPEAKER_06]: right?

[00:57:01] [SPEAKER_06]: Like how did, how do we get kids engaged and, and hook?

[00:57:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, well, so I think if we can get them a good recommendation, right.

[00:57:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Just like anybody else.

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so all that other stuff, that periphery is fantastic.

[00:57:14] [SPEAKER_03]: The candy and the plushies and stuff, but we have a huge dedicated all age section of books.

[00:57:19] [SPEAKER_03]: And as soon as you get somebody to read amulet volume one or bone volume one, or, you know,

[00:57:25] [SPEAKER_03]: bug boys or, or something like that.

[00:57:27] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we watch kids rip through books.

[00:57:31] [SPEAKER_03]: It's kind of hilarious.

[00:57:32] [SPEAKER_03]: The parents hate it.

[00:57:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:57:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, because, um, I just bought them three last week.

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Like we'll see a family every weekend until that kid rips through all nine volumes or whatever,

[00:57:43] [SPEAKER_03]: you know?

[00:57:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Gotcha.

[00:57:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and so, and I remember this, you know, and it's cool to see, cause it reminds me of

[00:57:50] [SPEAKER_03]: like, man, when I was just starting to consume books and comics, like, I mean, just, you could

[00:57:56] [SPEAKER_03]: just put them away.

[00:57:57] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's like a 12 year old eating pizza.

[00:58:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Like you're just smashing comics.

[00:58:02] [SPEAKER_03]: You're smashing them.

[00:58:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Like onto the next one.

[00:58:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Like you just read a thousand pages of comics in a day.

[00:58:07] [SPEAKER_03]: This is ludicrous.

[00:58:09] [SPEAKER_03]: What are you doing?

[00:58:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so the kids love it.

[00:58:12] [SPEAKER_03]: So I think getting them a good recommendation, find out what they like.

[00:58:15] [SPEAKER_03]: We do this thing with anybody who comes in store.

[00:58:17] [SPEAKER_03]: If they ask for something like, well, what do you like?

[00:58:19] [SPEAKER_03]: What do you read?

[00:58:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And we, we turn it back on them and ask them questions.

[00:58:22] [SPEAKER_03]: What's your favorite cartoon?

[00:58:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you have any favorite characters?

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_03]: What was a recent favorite book or movie or this or that?

[00:58:28] [SPEAKER_03]: And kids are super cool.

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_03]: They tell you what they like.

[00:58:31] [SPEAKER_03]: And then you just, if you can, if you can connect with a, uh, that first recommendation, then

[00:58:38] [SPEAKER_03]: you got them.

[00:58:38] [SPEAKER_03]: But then you also have to have the stuff, right?

[00:58:40] [SPEAKER_03]: You have to, and this is, goes back to the look and design of the store.

[00:58:43] [SPEAKER_03]: We just make a big open all ages area that looks like a spot where if you're a kid, you

[00:58:49] [SPEAKER_03]: want to go.

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, you know, it's colorful, it's well presented, it's organized, it's, you know, all those things,

[00:58:55] [SPEAKER_03]: right?

[00:58:55] [SPEAKER_03]: It's visually exciting.

[00:58:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and, uh, yeah.

[00:59:00] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, all these stuff that's, and to your point, I mean, you get kids into comics when

[00:59:06] [SPEAKER_03]: they're eight years old, maybe they're going to read comics for their whole life.

[00:59:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:59:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Or find their way back.

[00:59:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, I don't know if they take a break.

[00:59:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:59:15] [SPEAKER_03]: A hundred percent.

[00:59:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:59:16] [SPEAKER_03]: That, that, that seat will be in there somewhere.

[00:59:18] [SPEAKER_03]: And, uh, so yeah, create new readers.

[00:59:21] [SPEAKER_03]: That's pretty cool.

[00:59:21] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, just, you know, because my space rocket ship company is not going to fund itself.

[00:59:27] [SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?

[00:59:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So we gotta get the next generation of consumers.

[00:59:32] [SPEAKER_06]: How do we create the comic cyber truck?

[00:59:34] [SPEAKER_06]: There you go.

[00:59:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Those things are so ugly.

[00:59:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I can't stand them.

[00:59:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Not a cool look, man.

[00:59:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Totally shit the bed on that one.

[00:59:43] [SPEAKER_06]: Hey, of course not.

[00:59:44] [SPEAKER_06]: You're, if you, if you were a Michigan or right, like that, that has got to be so, so

[00:59:50] [SPEAKER_06]: antithetical to, to every look, um, of, of a classic American car.

[00:59:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:59:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Not good.

[00:59:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry.

[00:59:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:59:58] [SPEAKER_03]: I derailed us.

[00:59:59] [SPEAKER_03]: That was my fault.

[01:00:00] [SPEAKER_03]: No, no, no.

[01:00:00] [SPEAKER_06]: It was me.

[01:00:01] [SPEAKER_06]: It's my, my cyber truck hating.

[01:00:03] [SPEAKER_06]: Um, anyway, you got any other signings or anything on the horizon people should know

[01:00:07] [SPEAKER_06]: about?

[01:00:07] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure we do here.

[01:00:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Let me look while I'm talking.

[01:00:10] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll distract you and get over to our website vaultsofmidnight.com where you can find out

[01:00:14] [SPEAKER_03]: about all the late, we got game night coming up tonight in Ann Arbor.

[01:00:17] [SPEAKER_03]: We got Batman day coming up on September 21st.

[01:00:21] [SPEAKER_03]: That's Saturday all day.

[01:00:22] [SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be free Batman comics and we're going to be doing a sale and, um, yeah, always

[01:00:28] [SPEAKER_03]: cool stuff going on.

[01:00:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, we got Ryan Drummond coming up, uh, on the 27th.

[01:00:35] [SPEAKER_03]: And, uh, he is the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in the video games.

[01:00:38] [SPEAKER_03]: That's a, that's going to be a cool event.

[01:00:40] [SPEAKER_03]: And the first 50 people get a free Tony dog.

[01:00:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Nice.

[01:00:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Are you making them?

[01:00:45] [SPEAKER_06]: Are you, are you, this is your first foray into your food venture in the future?

[01:00:51] [SPEAKER_03]: No, it's American Coney Island from Detroit.

[01:00:53] [SPEAKER_03]: It's going to come out and, uh, give away Tony dogs.

[01:00:56] [SPEAKER_05]: It's very cool.

[01:00:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Apparently it's Sonic's favorite food.

[01:00:59] [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know that I, as a long time video game fan, I'm ashamed.

[01:01:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know that.

[01:01:03] [SPEAKER_03]: So I didn't know that.

[01:01:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:01:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Apparently Sonic the Hedgehog loves Coney dogs.

[01:01:09] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that makes sense.

[01:01:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:01:12] [SPEAKER_06]: Good feel.

[01:01:13] [SPEAKER_06]: So how else can people who are listening support the shop?

[01:01:16] [SPEAKER_06]: Is there, is there a way that they can do that online or.

[01:01:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:01:19] [SPEAKER_03]: So if you're anywhere in Michigan, come see us at one of our locations for sure.

[01:01:24] [SPEAKER_03]: If you can't get to a physical store, I think our web store is really, really great.

[01:01:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, it's super, um, curated.

[01:01:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll say that word.

[01:01:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, we just pick all kinds of cool stuff and put it up there.

[01:01:34] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think we got good taste.

[01:01:36] [SPEAKER_03]: So, um, and a fun thing about our store is we charge full price for all our stuff and shipping

[01:01:42] [SPEAKER_03]: is there, but it's not horrible, but we do shipping cause we're not a big Amazon type

[01:01:46] [SPEAKER_03]: place or anything like that.

[01:01:47] [SPEAKER_03]: So we gotta charge all the right money, but, uh, know that your money's going to, uh, I

[01:01:53] [SPEAKER_03]: think a really cool business that, um, yeah, uh, should get some more sales than Amazon

[01:02:00] [SPEAKER_03]: or whoever, just cause they're doing whatever they're doing over there.

[01:02:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:02:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:02:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Go to ultimately.shop and you can shop with us that way and we'll ship anywhere in the

[01:02:10] [SPEAKER_03]: world.

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_06]: Cool.

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_06]: I'll put the link in the show notes.

[01:02:13] [SPEAKER_06]: Curtis, thanks so much for coming on and chatting with me today.

[01:02:15] [SPEAKER_06]: It's fun.

[01:02:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[01:02:16] [SPEAKER_03]: That was great.

[01:02:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for having me, dude.

[01:02:18] [SPEAKER_03]: I really, really appreciate it.

[01:02:20] [SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely.

[01:02:21] [SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely.

[01:02:21] [SPEAKER_06]: Well, this is Byron O'Neill signing off and reminding everyone to stop by their LCS

[01:02:24] [SPEAKER_06]: and pick up those pool boxes.

[01:02:26] [SPEAKER_06]: Being able to have that liquidity is absolutely crucial.

[01:02:29] [SPEAKER_06]: Support your local shop folks and make sure to tell them they're appreciated.

[01:02:32] [SPEAKER_06]: For all of us at Comic Book Yeti, thanks for tuning in to Let's Talk Shop.

[01:02:36] [SPEAKER_06]: See you next time.

[01:02:37] [SPEAKER_06]: Take care, buddy.

[01:02:38] [SPEAKER_06]: To the bit.

[01:02:39] [SPEAKER_06]: This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you

[01:02:43] [SPEAKER_06]: by Comic Book Yeti.

[01:02:44] [SPEAKER_06]: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast.

[01:02:47] [SPEAKER_06]: Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[01:02:52] [SPEAKER_06]: It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve.

[01:02:56] [SPEAKER_06]: Thanks for listening.

[01:02:59] [SPEAKER_03]: If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister

[01:03:03] [SPEAKER_02]: podcast, Into the Comics Cave.

[01:03:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.