Jay Bardyla of Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton, Alberta, comments on the news of WizKids going exclusive through Diamond/Alliance (see 'WizKids Goes Exclusive') and ComicsPro's  open letter responding to recent allocations (see 'The ComicsPro Board on Allocations'):

With WizKids going exclusive with Diamond (you can say 'and Alliance' but since it's Diamond-owned, it's moot) and ComicsPro concerns and recommendations over allocated product, there's certainly no loss of topics to discuss.

First, I have mixed emotions about the WizKids decision.  As a northern Canadian retailer, it does make my job much easier since ordering from multiple distributors adds heavy costs to the product I sell since few are as close in price as Diamond is and I have to pay additional shipping charges.  Also, it was generally a habit that if one distributor was sold out of a product, they all were and I went without anyway.  Now, if WizKids can make better determinations of demand and invest more in promotion and possibly over-production for longer-term sales, then I see that as a huge advantage for future sales and health for a product line (and company) that has seen declining sales recently.

I do recognize that having fewer alternatives for product purchases will be a hindrance for some smaller retailers but then again opening and maintaining an account with Diamond is not that difficult.  I hope that the decision will stabilize the company for the long haul. 

To comment about Danny Procell's quote, 'I honestly believe that a lot of retailers will stop carrying the line because they don't want to promote exclusivity,' I have to question what retailers he's thinking of.  I don't care for Marvel Comics and wish I didn't have to order any of them for my store but that doesn't mean I don't carry them.  I don't take sales away from my store and punish my customers regardless of my personal opinion.  If there are stores out there that will stop carrying WizKids product to make a statement, those are very wealthy stores with not a lot of regard for their customer base, in my opinion.

As to ComicsPro's open letter with recommendations on how to deal with allocations of 'hot' product, I have to disagree strongly with them.  Why should I be penalized with a loss of sales (again my store being located in northwestern Canada) because someone in the lower States can't get their full shipment in one week?  How do my sales affect Golden Apple in California?  I'm sorry for being so selfish but with all of the times that we've experienced a loss of sales due to bad weather, no one has ever risen once to our defense, but any time something happens in the U.S., there's an instant call for assistance and cries to 'level the playing field.'  I guess because we're Canadian we have just learned to deal with and adapt to bad weather, like the blizzard experienced this past week in Alberta which shut down bus services and closed roads so people couldn't travel, the constant rains in lower British Columbia that have left tens of thousands without power and drinking water for the past several weeks or any of the past seasons of brutal weather experienced on the East Coast that I'm sure hindered sales dramatically.

I can't get behind a continental distribution hold back for something that affects so few so infrequently.

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.