Our Grow with Shojo promotion ended a couple of weeks ago with the selection of the three winners of our Grow with Shojo Display Contest (see 'Winners Announced').  We wanted to let you hear what some of the retailers that won the contest had to say about it.

The response to our 'You're already a winner' message from Bart Bush of Planet Comics and Science Fiction in Norman, Oklahoma (see 'First Place Winner') was a great testament to the potential of selling products to female consumers:

'I firmly believe the future success of 'comic' stores will depend heavily on selling product to females.  The fanboys shopping at the comic stores are content with video games, magic cards, movies, music and some comics for their entertainment.  The women have never had a 'comic' shop to call their own, and now it's happening!  We're losing the fanboys to alternative entertainment, but the females are coming in droves to shop and learn about this new wave of female friendly product.

'I've been retailing comics since 1974 when I opened the first comic store in Oklahoma (Down Memory Lane), and I've seen it all.  And just when I was thinking about retiring and moving on, the female product lines have begun selling and are creating such interesting fans who are so excited about their interest that it reminds me of the early days of comic shops when the male fans discovered the comic/sf hobby!  I think I'll stick around for awhile and help build the audience--it's more fun than ever!'

Mike Banks from All About Books and Comics, our second place winner (see 'Second Place Winner') also had some interesting comments about using ideas from other stores in the contest, among other things: