New Releases. This is one of those crazy weeks where I'm buying thousands of dollars of new games, but the sales are slow. It's a retail act of faith: If you buy it, they will come. Still, every time I do this my faith is tried. Magic: Alara Reborn releases this week, maybe Thursday, perhaps Friday. Apparently there's a memo I didn't get. Somehow there's debate on which day and I'm awaiting confirmation. The "launch party" is Saturday, for those who missed the pre-release, or just can't get enough tournament play. We've also extended free pizza another night for this weeks Friday Night Magic.
This is also the release week for new Imperial Guard stuff for Warhammer 40K. We'll be seeing the new IG codex, the new valkyrie, the re-done sentinel kit, catachan and cadian command squads, cadian shock troops, ratlings and snipers. In an ideal world, I would have budgeted for all this stuff, but it's been one of those pregnant, pre-Summer months where there are more releases than sales. I'm just holding my breath.
More Stuff/Less Stuff. I've finally given up entirely on comics. It's a long story that's more about the time involved and the difficulties with our comic distributor than things like demand or sales. I think the area could use a dedicated comic book store, but it won't be from me. Trade paperbacks and comic books are now 35% off and on our discount shelves for the duration. Taking their shelf space is D&D 3.5! It's not exactly the ghetto shelf (okay, maybe it is), but since we have dedicated shelves for used AD&D and AD&D 2nd Ed, it only makes sense to have Wizards of the Coast 3.5. What it really comes down to is we have more shelf space and budget for RPGs than there are viable games. The area can support only so many games, and we carry all of those.
Infinity. We'll be bringing in a respectable assortment of boxes and blisters now that we've hit critical mass (despite my budget). Expect them in by Friday. We've had starter boxes for months and we've been doing (and still do) special orders. Now that the game "has legs," I can take a bigger chance.
Why you!
ReplyDeleteI hope there are still some comics when I'm done moving. With luck, they might even be ones I'll buy. Blasted move sucking up all my liquidity...
They've been at 25% off without a lot of movement, so 35% off isn't going to clear them out any time soon.
ReplyDeleteAs for Magic, the release date is Thursday. Friday is International Workers Day or some such nonsense, and WOTC is all about being an international player.
Also, I'm bringing in all the available Uncharted Seas models that just came out!
Flying Colors isn't local?
ReplyDeleteWe just mapped it and it's 9 minutes, which is local. That's a fantastic store.
ReplyDeleteFC is a great comics store, but it is also "on the other side of town" (and not really near the freeway), so someone who is not from Concord or Walnut Creek might not think of it as "in the area".
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know it was there. Shows you how well I keep up with comics...
ReplyDeleteI think Flying Colors is the best comic book store in the Bay Area.
ReplyDeleteThat's a big statement. Well, it is certainly one of the best in the nation, but there are a couple in the Bay Area that compete - notably Comic Relief in Berkeley, and Lee's Comics in San Jose area. Hijinx in San Jose is no slouch, and Isotope, that place is amazing. But if you made a wedge starting in the Northeast Bay area, and one edge extended due north to the North Pole, and the other edge extended to Labrador on the Canadian east coast, yeah, Flying Colors would probably be the best comic shop in that wedge...
ReplyDelete"Flying Colors" is the best comics shop -of its size- that I've ever been to. Joe Field is really a class act, and it shows in his store, and his staff.
ReplyDeleteI liked "Lee's" when I lived in Mountain View, but they are larger (and have more than one store), so it is hard to make a fair comparison.
My all-time-favorite has to be "Heroes Aren't Hard to Find" in Charlotte NC (also run by a class act, Shelton Drum)- but I may be biased, as I am a former employee.
Silas, Flying Colors is well worth the trip (even if it does take ten minutes or so from BDG).
It's going in the "once I'm moved" file. Which will be the case by KublaCon, and I'll have my own car by then too.
ReplyDelete