Despite the economic downturn and increasingly selective buying by consumers, many independent comics retailers around the country are cautiously optimistic after weathering a tough retail period at the end of the year. In an informal phone survey of comics shop retailers across the country (and one general bookstore), some said they had been forced to layoff staff or cutback staff hours in order to survive. Others said they were proceeding with caution, mirroring their customers by being more careful about what they stock. Despite the tough times, the economy seems to affect different parts of the country in different ways and while some stores report drops in sales since the fall of last year, others claim they remain generally unaffected by the bad economy.

Jeff Ayers, manager of Forbidden Planet in New York City, said, generally December was a strong month for sales at his store. But this year was different. He noticed “a last minute rush of shopping a week and a half before Christmas,” after a slowdown earlier in the month. “People were reserving judgment and making more informed buying choices,” Ayers explained. Chris Rosa, manager of Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, also noticed a similar pattern. “Christmas shoppers took longer to start,” he said. “They have been steadily packed in the past, but this year, two weeks before Christmas, we started to see gift buying.”

This trend toward more selective buying among comics fans seems to have continued into the New Year according to Andrew Neal, owner of Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “No one says, 'the economy sucks, I’m going to stop buying comics,'” Neal said “Instead they are just more cautious with their purchases.” Chapel Hill Comics recently moved to a new location with more traffic and visibility and Neal said that the store’s transaction numbers are up and the store had “a pretty good holiday season. Overall sales are pretty even from 2008 to 2009, with some changes month to month.” Alex Cox, co-owner of the comics bookstore Rocketship in Brooklyn, N.Y. also said that he “didn’t see a change this holiday season,” and noted that, so far “2009 is overall up, pretty considerably.”

Gerry Donaghy, backlist inventory supervisor at Powell’s City of Books, a general bookstore in Portland, Or., said he began to see a decline in graphic novel sales in October. Graphic novel sales are about 1% to 3% of total store sales at Powell’s, Donaghy said. Before the fall decline, “graphic novel sales increased 26% in June and July.” He credited the jump in sales to the release of the hit film The Dark Knight. “Sales plateaued in the fall with the start of school. December they went up a little, and now down a little,” he said. Yet, Donaghy indicated there has been “an appreciative rise in graphic novels’ sales, with Watchmen and Batman titles doing particularly well,” due to the movie releases and to the re-release of a special hardcover edition of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke.

However, not every shop has fared so well during the economic decline. Eric Thornton, manager of Chicago Comics, declared ruefully, “the whole of December was absurd, [as if] God was trying to drive us out of business.” Thornton described the week before Christmas as “the perfect shitty storm: the economy, everyone overacting and sub-artic weather.”

Sales began to drop in October at Forbidden Planet, Ayers said. Rosa agreed, noting “a gradual drop in sales since the fall.” Thornton said Chicago Comics was 20% to 25% down over the last two months. “We are still making money,” he said, “just not making what we should be.” But Thornton also emphasized that his store is “in an adjustment period,” with orders from September still coming in, when they “hadn’t been ordering with the bad economy in mind.”

Much like their customers, retailers are being very careful with ordering inventory. Thornton said that in the past he would order a book, “if it looked cool, I’d try it out. Now if I’m not 100% sure [I can sell it], I don’t order it.” Meltdown Comics’ Rosa said that rather than order 100 titles, now he only orders seventy to seventy-five. Furthermore he said he is “cautious of taking chances on new things,” so instead of ten copies of a small press book, Rosa said he will cut down and take five or six.

Forbidden Planet’s Ayers echoed the others. “I’ve tempered newer stuff and take less chances, stick to the stalwarts. I’m doing my job wrong if the store is left with lots of [unsold] stuff.” Rosa concurred. “I’d rather deal with a sell out than be stuck with an expensive product that I can’t sell.”

Over at Powell’s, Donaghy said manga sales were slow, with a decline in shojo titles and with so many manga titles he said he has to be careful. “I am fussy about manga,” Donaghy said, “if I ordered a volume of a series in October and it took until January to sell, I won’t order more.” Yet a long running series such as Naruto still does well. But with “sales driven by two titles”—Watchmen and Batman—Donaghy is undertaking more “conservative ordering.” He explained, “when I was going through the new DC summer stuff, where I ordered 5 of a book before, I now only order 3.” With deluxe editions and DC Absolute editions, Donaghy is proceeding with caution by only ordering one or two, claiming, “Absolute Watchmen is selling well, but Absolute Sandman is tapering off.”

Retailers also pointed to Marvel’s recent cover price increase as a matter of contention with customers. Jerry Gladstone of Midtown Comics in New York City said he had encountered, “a backlash against the price increase to $3.99.” Gladstone’s concerns were echoed by Rosa. “Fans are fans, they usually will suck it up, whether with price or story, yet it’s a very dangerous time to be going to $3.99,” he continued. “We’re on the front line. The publishers are in their headquarters, so they aren’t feeling it yet.”

Although Gladstone said Midtown Comics had not suffered any change in its sales, he also said he was, nevertheless, “looking at things twice” when ordering and also said the stores are “not taking on additional costs, such as hiring.” Other retailers also mentioned changes in staffing. Forbidden Planet is also not hiring and has reduced its staff since Christmas. In fact, Ayers said he has been forced to “ask more of the staff,” and specifically keeping people on staff “who can do a spectrum of jobs and work all parts of the business.” Chicago Comics has had to cut hours and a few layoffs are coming, according to Thornton. While they have not had to cut staff yet, Rosa admitted it is “something we are aware of, and there is the potential it might have to happen.”

What Are Customers Buying?

Asked what his customers are buying, Thornton said, “it’s not what people are buying, but what people are not buying; they are asking themselves ‘Do I need this?’ The big titles are fine, but lower to mid-tier titles are hemorrhaging readers.” Thornton went on to say that “Two of our best subscribers lost their jobs. An $80 a month spender needs to get it down to $10.” And Rosa also saw a similar shift in buying habits from regular customers: someone who might have spent $20 a week before, now spends only $13.

Chapel Hill's Neal said periodical superhero sales have been inconsistent at his store, in contrast to book format graphic novel sales which have been unaffected. “It’s the [nonsuperhero] graphic novels, not superhero stuff that brings people in,” insisted Neal. On the other hand, Rosa has noticed many of his customers waiting for the trade paperback collections of titles with longer periodical story arcs, such as Captain America, and he has seen sales of trade book collections of superhero series rise, while the pamphlet/periodical sales are down.

At the same time, Rosa said a title like Marvel’s Criminal does well as both a serial and a trade paperback collection. As far as indie comics, Rosa said that at his store, the “heavy hitters are still doing well, artists such as Chris Ware and Adrian Tomine, although people seem cautious if it’s not a well-known name.”

Christopher Butcher, manager of The Beguiling in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, believes his customers did not enjoy the big crossover superhero projects like DC’s Final Crisis and Marvel’s Secret Invasion, and claimed “customers are less fooled.” And he emphasized that The Beguiling had success with Vertical’s release of a hardcover edition of legendary manga-ka Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack.

Neal also said his store got a big boost from Marvel’s Barack Obama-Spiderman special issue. While “not a consistent marker of sales,” the book brought new customers into the store for Neal, who recounted an anecdote about a customer who came for the Obama-Spiderman issue and ended up buying all the Stephen King comics, noting that he was unaware of them before. Indeed, Neal said the Obama-Spiderman comic was their best selling periodical comic, outselling their previous bestseller, the first issue of Buffy, by 60 to 70%.

Midtown Comics

Vertigo titles Y: The Last Man and Fables sell well at Powell’s; Donaghy said, “people keep discovering them and gobbling them up.” With strong Watchman sales leading up to the March movie release, Donaghy calculated he sold around 5 copies a week before the film trailer’s release and a peak of about 80 copies a week last summer. Now, he sells about 20 copies a week. Powell’s customers, Donaghy noted are “not people who eat and sleep comics,” but instead, newcomers to the category. “We have different customers [than a traditional comic store],” Donaghy explained, “they’re not coming in looking for the new issue of Green Lantern, but both kind of stores serve their purpose.”

Looking Ahead

Despite the changes the stagnating economy has forced on retailers, many expressed hope this will lead to positive changes in the industry overall. Some suggested that publishers are releasing too many titles. Ayer derided publishers for “putting out books because graphic novels were hot,” and suggested the economic slow down might force publishers to make better decisions on what to publish. “A smaller pool is a better pool,” he said. In the same vein, Chapel Hill Comics’ Neal proposed “we’ll come out of this with publishers more responsible; with me being better about orders and my customers not spending money they don’t have; it could have positive effects down the road.”

Distribution was also a topic of concern among comics retailers and a few of the retailers pointed to Diamond’s new and reduced minimum order numbers as a sign of the times. Gladstone, said, “Diamond is obviously being more cautious as well.” And Butcher even suggested that a shift away from Diamond as a comics shop’s primary distributor could be beneficial. He suggested that 2009 will bring in new distributors for the small press books that can’t meet Diamond’s minimums sales numbers, claiming “there are other ways to get the books. We have to move away form Diamond.” Rosa called it an “opportunity for small publishers to take the bull by the horn.”

“Anything print-based should be getting on a life preserver,” Thornton proclaimed darkly. But taking a lighter, more optimistic tone, Gladstone said he recognized that “people are passionate about comics, and they’re the last thing they give up.” Ayers agreed. “Things were scary a couple of months ago but people have a little more confidence now; people feel better and they are buying.” And for a general bookstore like Powell’s, Donaghy emphasized that “sales are still keeping ahead of last year. As a category, comics are here to stay. When people are more confident with their disposable income, there will be growth in everything.”