James Kite of Serenity Studios in Sydney, Australia saw Steve Bennett's comments about plans for Dark Star to partner with a comics-only store (see 'Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--The End of Yet Another Era') and thinks it could work well:

Based on what you have said, apart from the graphic novels conflict, you may as well be saying that for all intents, Dark Star has grown, if not by way of an actual secondary store, than at the very least by way of cultivating a very sympathetic alliance with a store that will have every reason to assist you, and visa versa.

Between the two of you, the chance to cross-promote one another is good and you now cover a wider area with (all going well) minimum cost.

A very interesting decision, rather than duplicate the store which would require the second store to move further a field, everyone involved is in the process of enriching the area, which should provide greater reason for people to visit.

If the two stores work together, promoting each other's new releases (perhaps by way of a simple billboard, including information on the other store for people that are not familiar with the alliance).  A trio of stores in Sydney operates a similar approach, and it has proven very successful for them. I hope it works as well for you.

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