Cole Houston of A Piece of the Action in Arlington, Texas sent us his first-year Free Comic Book Day experience:

I am writing on behalf of A Piece of the Action Collectibles of Arlington, TX.  We have been a comic/toy retailer for just under three years now and established our weekend 'mini-store' location just over a year ago.  This was the first year we've been eligible for FCBD and it was quite a success! 

As we have a small, weekend-only shop in a non-traditional mall (I tell most people who discover us, 'I wouldn't look for us here'), the timing could not have been better.  Our store is in the far back of the mall in the 'weekend vending' section, making us often difficult to find.  Fortunately there was a kiosk at the front, facing a movie theater (which had Spider-Man 2 on two screens) that has never been occupied.  The mall was gracious enough to let us use that for promotion of the event and our shop.  I placed the window cling on the central most entrance door of the mall, which was in sight of the kiosk.  I set up a display of the ten main titles we had available plus a sampling of some of our other items available in the shop.  A large sign holder held the official FCBD poster facing the entrance and the kiosk held another (featuring the Teen Titans Go) facing the department store not far away.  The whole thing really generated excitement among casual mall-goers.  I even discovered that there had been newspaper coverage that listed our shop as well as many others in the area.

All in all this was quite a boost for our little shop.  Being open only on the weekends (and selling at many area toy and comic shows), the investment in FCBD titles had to be minimal as it ate heavily into our budget.  But it was an investment, not an expense.  An investment that will pay quite a dividend in the future as many people who did not know there was a comic shop in that mall will likely become regular customers.