The oldest comic book shops in Los Angeles are closing their doors for good, blaming the effects of coronavirus lockdowns and comic book giants Marvel and DC for radically changing delivery methods and publication times.
In a Facebook post, both Geoffrey’s Comics and Hi-De-Ho Comics, which opened in 1977, said that the shops have come to the end of the road, Bounding Into Comics reported.
“Geoffrey’s Comics and Hi De Ho Comics opened in 1977. We were literally the first comic book stores in Los Angeles. But now, sadly, Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics must close their doors December 31, 2023,” the shop owner said.
The owner blamed the situation in part on the COVID shutdowns enforced by the left-wing city government.
“It wasn’t one single thing that caused this closure; though COVID was a major contributing factor,” he wrote.
“The shutdowns depleted our savings and grants which strained us to the breaking point,” the owners told fans. “A year prior to the pandemic we signed a long-term lease to be closer to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, but Covid left us unable to make the rent. Still, we soldiered on. We moved to a smaller location while eventually finding a sublessee for the location we were legally responsible for.”
“Unfortunately, between payments owed from the pandemic to the loss of our sublessee, we are not in the position to pay our landlord what is now being demanded in full,” the owner continued.
Geoffrey added that COVID hurt the entire retail sector, even after the world reopened, because everyone was “trained” to shop online instead of going to a brick-and-mortar location.
“Ignoring the writing on the wall that the world had changed permanently,” he wrote, “during Covid the customers in nearly every business were trained to get everything they need online – we all spent a year inside and learned that everything we wanted was available for delivery, and when the world did reopen, we all just kept ordering everything online.”
Indeed, he pointed out that manufacturers and publishers had also seen that trend and began retailing through online services with prices so low that they undercut any real-life store location.
“I kept hoping over and over again that those customers would make their way back, but I lost too many customers – where once there was one option for comics, now there are hundreds of places: Target, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, movie theaters, digital downloads, libraries, and countless others,” he said.
Both DC and Marvel are also hurting comic book shops, Geoffrey said.
“For the first 40 years Diamond Comics was our single service supplier, as they lost the rights to distribute Marvel and DC comics, what had once become a streamlined process or doing one order and picking up from one location became multiple orders, with multiple ways of delivery, with multiple days of releases,” he told his customers.
Comic book release Wednesday has become a thing of the past, Geoffrey said, and the change affected the way customers come to the store. Without the massive foot traffic comic release Wednesday used to bring, the shop has seen dwindling sales, he said.
Geoffrey added that recent health problems only added to the difficulty of running two shops. So, with all these pressures driving his business in a downward spiral, it was time to read the handwriting on the wall and throw in the towel.
The owner did note that mail services will continue for now.
“Our pull service will continue on! Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics would love to keep our most loyal customers and continue to offer our pull service as a delivery option! ‘Geoffrey’s Comics Pull Parties’ will be found at locations around the city.”
The owners also said they are attempting to work with some local coffee houses to sponsor a hangout day for former customers to come pick up their pull service issues.
“We are also reaching out to coffee houses to offer different times and days for you to stop by, pick up your comics and hang out with your other fellow super-fans. Even though Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho must close their doors, they will live on in this new exciting form where we can all still gather and share our enjoyment together.”
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