Chuck is a different kind of retailer. He says so in this article. He is mostly really interested in acquiring more and more comics as a legacy collection, as I understand. He is a true comic fan. It's awesome as a personal collection and he is an amazing human being. I have mad respect for him (and I am more than a little jealous of the amount of space that he enjoys in that 65,000 sq ft warehouse). I don't share his seeming disdain of Diamond Comics and/or new issues, however. I sell new issues very well and find that the market is still very alive in that regard. I haven't cut my ordering of new comics, but rather expanded it, especially as publishers have extended more and more return-ability offers to the market so that we can find the customer ceiling for their books.
Personal relationships with the publishers defiantly help, so that I can get the most up to date information about a title that I can and pass that on to my customers and it also informs my ordering patterns.
I may or may not have been the only retailer that Ski looked in the eye during the DC Roadshow and offered complete return-ability for DC Rebirth #1, when I asked for it. Because of that personal interaction, I ordered many more of that book than I ever thought I could sell in a reasonable amount of time. I sold out in a week. Ski knew he'd never have to honor his return-ability promise and I knew I'd never ask him to. What I was looking for was how much he believed in the title and initiative, and because of this interaction, I knew he believed in it 100% and ordered accordingly (although in hind-sight I should have gone even deeper for my order, clearly).
I have many many more stories about these kinds of interactions that led to increased sales for both the publisher and my store, all because of direct contact. It's about caring enough to ask people who know the product important questions so that you have enough information to know how to order.
I love comics. I love selling them. New, old, beaters or minty. There so many stories out there that writers want to tell and artists want to put to the page. I will be here to find them customers to love them.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.