'I Think I Can Manage' is a weekly column by retailer Steven Bates, who runs Bookery Fantasy, a million dollar retail operation in Fairborn, Ohio.  This week Bates talks about the closing of a comic store. 

I started this column three different times, with three different concepts, all three of them either humorous or satirical or both.  Those ideas may see print someday, when I feel like finishing them.  But I'm just not in the mood this week.

I got a call recently from a dealer-friend of my mine, a former customer who opened his own store.  Sure, this guy was close enough geographically to be competition, but far enough away to be a non-issue.  And truthfully, I really liked him, and wished him only the best; I genuinely hoped he would find a customer base and grow a successful business.  After all, running a comic book store is the best job in the world-why should I have ALL the fun?  I helped him with stock, fixtures, whatever he needed.  My friend was bright, optimistic, had a business model in hand and a long-term plan ... everything seemed so right.  So why was he calling the Bookery wanting to sell out?

Well, his reasons are his own, and I won't violate his trust by revealing them here.  I already feel dirty enough just using his difficult situation as grist for my column.  Regardless of his rationale, I am devastated to see him close up.  I mean, this is the man every comic book retailer should be: intelligent, funny, ambitious, conscientious, conversational, compassionate, and dedicated to his customers.  The effort he put out tracking down products for clientele puts me to shame.  Maybe its because he's new to the retail end of things and hasn't gotten burned-out (or simply burned by customers), but my colleague doesn't think twice about hopping in his truck and driving all over creation rounding up stuff on his patrons' want-lists.  Me?  When Francis calls from Diamond on Tuesdays, I'm lucky to get up from my desk to grab the reorders clipboard.

People are always predicting the coming collapse of the comic book industry, blaming higher prices, increased competition from video-games and the Internet, or a shrinking interest in reading and general decline in literacy.  Others point out the shift in emphasis by publishers, relying more on trade paperbacks in mainstream booksellers and lack of support to the direct market.  Know what I think?  I don't believe readers are ready to abandon the comic book just yet, no matter how pricey they get, and I feel that most still enjoy the communal experience of shopping in a comic book store (not in a general bookstore), surrounded by their peers.  But can they find such a place?

I've met a lot of good people in our industry and seen a lot of great shops: Gib at Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio, an awesome retailer with a phenomenal shop; Robert Scott, owner of Comickaze and founder of The Comic Book Industry Alliance; John Buntin, Jr., of Kenmore Comics in Akron, one of the nicest people I've ever known;  Joel Thingvall, late of Minneapolis' Nostalgia Zone; and Kevin Forbes.  And there's people I only know by reputation, like Joe Field at Flying Colors, Rory Root of Comic Relief, and Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience--California's comic triumvirate.  Though I never met him, I understand Golden Apple's Bill Liebowitz, 'the Big Kahuna,' was an amazing retailer and genuinely human being.  And then there's my friend, facing the closing of his place and the sundering of his dreams.  It kicks me in the gut thinking about our industry losing another one of the 'good guys.'