Proving that the “direct market” of selling comics in comics-oriented specialty shops isn’t a totally lost cause, retailer Stephen Holland describes, in a fascinating essay for Ninth Art, how his shop, Page 45, has become successful at luring regular people into the comic-shop no-man’s-land. His secret? Act like a normal bookstore, for crying out loud. Keep your store clean, bright, and well-organized. Hire helpful, knowledgeable, personable, clean staff. Adamantly refuse to play into preconceptions and prejudice: do not sell toys and ephemera, keep superhero books in their own sections rather than letting them take over the store, don’t name your store after a Batman villain or a Dr. Who episode. Organize and design your store window and put things in it that aren’t Vampirella models.
You mean, if we want more and first-time shoppers, we should model our store after places where people already like to shop? And we won’t even need posters showing that Ben Affleck reads Exiles? Why, that’s so crazy it just might work!
(Also, it’s funny that Mr. Holland, as well as, presumably, many other people, actually live in Nottingham.)