May results.

We had another big increase from last year, a 25% improvement.

That makes 11 months in a row that I have beaten the same month last year. The overall increase for the last 11 months is nearly 20% overall.

As I keep saying, I'm only going to be impressed when I beat a previous increase. So far, this all falls under the category of dead cat bounce.

Comics have had a revival of sorts. The New 52 had the most effect, followed by the media coverage of comic things which has been extensive and on-going. (But wait, I hear you say, you don't believe in promotions. No...but I believe in publicity, which as far as I'm concerned is a different thing.) I think have young guys as employees who are very into comics themselves has helped, too.

Over the last 30 years, there have been times when I wondered if comics were reaching the end of the road, only to have them revive for awhile. We saw a 35% increase in comics from last year, which is tremendous. I don't quite trust that it isn't going to slowly decline, though, but I can use the current strength to try to strengthen the category, and the store overall.


COMICS: +35%

SPORTS CARDS: -40%.

CARD GAMES: +15%

GAMES: +20%

BOOKS: +32%

TOYS: +18%

GRAPHIC NOVELS: +35%.


Obviously, I'm pleased with the continued strength of books and games. Hard to imagine my store without them, which would have been the case if I hadn't added them just around the time the Great Recession was starting. (I'd started some time before, but really got serious then.)

Toys are seeing a slight boost since I started paying attention to them.

I've backed off on my efforts with sports cards, because I still harbor a residual resentment about them which can surface unexpectedly, so I've decided to keep them at the level they are at -- just sell some packs and boxes and get no more involved than that.

I like the overall spread of the store, and I'm concentrating at slowly improving the mix. I'd love to find a way to carry more new books, if I can figure something out. Otherwise, we're pretty packed, so my job is to have the best books possible. Same with games.