I totally agree with jack on this one. The crossover is small. I would say that the only crossover I see happening with Yu-Gi-Oh players is that they buy a few of the Manga titles (Case Closed, Inu Yasha, Trigun, Etc) that are being shown on Cartoon Network. Most of them however, are so addicted to their gaming habit that they have very little free cash to spend. At our store, comics have been largely overshadowed by our games sales. While it is depressing, I will gladly go along with the flow. I have even broke down and started playing Yu-Gi-Oh (ZzZzZzZz). If for no other reason than be a competent judge for the tournaments. This Yu-Gi-Oh wave is huge, but I am riding it with complete caution.

I think I have found a new corporate enemy to moan about. Upperdeck! If you ever plan on ordering any of their products you better make sure you order exactly how much you want for the forseeable future. Essentially, that will be all of their product you will have for a long period of time. Upperdeck doesn't even let the gaming distributors place orders. They get allocated a certain amount that they can offer to retailers. For some reason I bet if Wal-Mart was sold out and needed more Upperdeck product they would have it by tommorow. This is quite possibly the most absurd business model I have ever seen. I don't even need to point out the many ways that they are losing money on this and at the same time causing many retailers to lose money. This problem has been going on for quite awhile now and Upperdeck refuses to budge. The only excuse I can see is that they realize that their silly little game is nothing more than a child's fad and they don't want to overproduce the product for fear of the bottom falling out. Of course they are helping that bottom fall by not allowing the product to get to the hands of the truly dedicated gamers. Everyone knows that hardcore gamers go to real gaming stores and these same hardcore gamers are the ones that will support a game after it has outlived it's fad status. Real gaming stores help drive up the prices of singles, which in turn creates a higher demand for the boxes/packs that Upperdeck sales. This is a symbiotic relationship in which one of the organisms is totally fucking the other. Eventually, the organism that is getting screwed will find a more equal relationship. OK, that all sounded quite stupid after I wrote it, but anyway. I need some boxes at wholesale prices and can't freakin' get none. You guys got any suggestions.

Ah grasshopper, you are learning!

Yes, the comic stores regularly get fucked over for product in favor of the bigger chains getting same product first. What you'll find particularly depressing is, they sell the product retail for what you can buy it wholesale for.

KILL. THEM. ALL.

Smack,

WRT overall sales - it typically takes six motnhs or more to get to 25% of your final mature sales potential for a given location and 12 months to get to 50%.

So you can probably look forward to more than doubling sales over the next 6-9 months, that's if I'm remembering Mel Thompson's figures correctly.

Smack, it sounds like you're getting the hang of it. I find the updates of your store's progess very enjoyable. Keep it up!

Let us know how Christmas goes.

So, smak...what's the Christmas season shaping up like?

Actually, we are in the process of taking everything online. At least until the middle of next year when we relocate. Although we intended to stay at our current location a little longer, it has become very apparent that the surrounding area is just not large enough to support our plans. If you have a shop in a small town, generally your store will always be small. This is not what we want out of it. We want to eventually be not only a huge comic shop that offers every aspect of the comic industry, but we also want to become a destination for fans and hopefully pros alike. This would have never been possible if we decided to stay where we are. Thus are year long transition begins.