A Comic Shop Closes in Colorado, Internet Used as a Scapegoat.

In Newsarama:

Colorado’s Time Warp to close Longmont store

The Longmont, Colo., Daily Times-Call reports that Time Warp Comics is closing its Longmont store in August, because of a drop in foot traffic and competition from nearby Stonebridge Games.


Time Warp Comics
Owner Wayne Winsett also cites online retailers as part of the problem: “The Internet has hurt comic book sales nationwide, it’s not just that location. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can open up a business and compete against you with no overhead at all. And that can hurt a lot of businesses, not just comic books.”

Time Warp’s Boulder location, which turns 22 this year, will remain open. “The Boulder store is doing really well,” Winsett told the newspaper. “In fact, we’re searching for a larger location for that store right now. We’re trying to find a space big enough so we can have a dedicated gaming area.”

My post in that article's comment thread:

I find the "blame the internet" tack a bit disingenuous, especially when they are looking to expand their other location.

Peter David once wrote about the inherent advantage of physical stores over the internet. This advantage was the immediacy of grabbing a book and buying it over buying a book then wait for it to ship. He summed it up quite simply, "Instant gratification isn't fast enough."

Then again if all the store caters to are "Comic Geeks" and is not reaching out to a broader audience, then they are at risk of going away.

Judging from how they seek to expand in Boulder ("big enough so we can have a dedicated gaming area.") they are going for the "geek clubhouse" model of business...

I've seen good "geek clubhouse" shops and tons of bad ones. But I don't see how they can attract the broader customer base. The have to realize that their direct competition isn't really from other comic shops (online or physical). It's the bookstores they have to look out for.

As far as the Manga audience is concerned, bookstores have taken the lead, and comic shops are merely playing catch up if they are even playing at all in that sub-market.

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