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Post by xtjmac510x on Feb 11, 2014 22:43:34 GMT -5
This past December I severed my near 4 year patronage of my LCS. In that time, they gave me no discounts...none. I had a pretty healthy pull list ($35-$50) weekly but that wasn't enough for any employee to even learn my name. This despite using a credit card which displays my name. And I would bring them cookies and tamales during Christmas time...still the cold shoulder. I am a firm believer in buying locally, but the prices for online services like DCBS, coupled with an apathetic staff at my LCS left me no recourse but to end my buying from my shop. It wasn't easy, but if your local shop isn't willing to take care of their locals, they don't warrant locals. Damn, that sucks. I don't ever get any discounts for my $105 pull list but at least they know my name. Hell, I'd call them friends since they special order things for me and care enough to know when my birthday is. You did the right thing by severing ties.
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Post by procrastronaut on Feb 12, 2014 8:18:59 GMT -5
I emailed my LCS to casually ask if he had any Black Widow issues on the shelf as I'd missed the boat on pre-ordering it. Got a reply within ten minutes saying issues 1,2 and 3 were in my bag and the series was added to my pull list.
I've been going there since I was about 14 and I order a lot of comics, but it's a good example of how well he looks after his customers.
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Post by drocat on Feb 12, 2014 9:50:38 GMT -5
This past December I severed my near 4 year patronage of my LCS. In that time, they gave me no discounts...none. I had a pretty healthy pull list ($35-$50) weekly but that wasn't enough for any employee to even learn my name. This despite using a credit card which displays my name. And I would bring them cookies and tamales during Christmas time...still the cold shoulder. I am a firm believer in buying locally, but the prices for online services like DCBS, coupled with an apathetic staff at my LCS left me no recourse but to end my buying from my shop. It wasn't easy, but if your local shop isn't willing to take care of their locals, they don't warrant locals. Damn, that sucks. I don't ever get any discounts for my $105 pull list but at least they know my name. Hell, I'd call them friends since they special order things for me and care enough to know when my birthday is. You did the right thing by severing ties. Agreed. It's not worth supporting a local shop if they don't even treat you like a local customer. My shop is pretty busy and big but they still will e-mail when my stuff comes in (with a personal touch to it, i.e. "Glad you added All New X-Men! Ain't it AWESOME?!" after we had the discussion about it when I went in a while ago). Most of the workers know my name, especially the ones that work on Wednesdays. I know just as much about them as they do with me- Amanda loves X-Men, Charlie loves anime/Image books, Liz likes just about everything etc etc. If I were treated the way you were treated I would have done the same thing. Not worth supporting people in that situation.
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Post by sammiecassell on Feb 13, 2014 12:29:14 GMT -5
I guess I'm lucky that I have about 10 stores within about a 30 min. drive of my house, and with my job, I've pretty much visited every comic shop in NC. Some are good, some are bad. As a blue collar guy that's done fairly well for myself and an older collector (relatively-43), I like to walk in stores and see how they'll treat me as someone who has limited income. IF I get asked if I need any help, then I'll ask about key Silver-Age books to which I either get "oh no, I only have a limited supply, but here they are(newer stores), or "absolutely, what specifically are you looking for" or "ummmm, you do know that's stuff is expensive right....thousands expensive, not hundreds". Unfortunately, there are more of the later than you would hope. Also, I run into a lot of, if they don't recognize you, they aren't real helpful. I look for specific stuff, I have disposable income that I want to spend with you, if you don't want my money, then ignore me..works for me. Got one store locally that has a bad habit of putting a book on the back wall at 4 times it's price just because it's HOT...oh and that's the Friday after it came out. But there are good stores, my store is called Parts Unknown in Greensboro. John has been around the industry forever (even has a book published that he wrote about Alex Toth) and knows his stuff. Also a straight comic shop, very little in toys and NO gaming. Other local stores that are good are Classic Comics, Ssalesfish, and Burke Street comics.. I remember in the 90s when there was a store in every town, then a lot of them fell away. Now we're seeing another influx of them, again, some good, some bad, but the bad seem to pretty much screw themselves eventually.
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Turk
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Posts: 97
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Post by Turk on Feb 14, 2014 22:50:10 GMT -5
I love my LCS and the regulars and the employees and even this little fat pug that comes in with his owner every Wednesday.
I miss going there every Wednesday now that I am entirely digital. Some of my Wednesday excitement is gone. It was the only time that I felt comfortable talking about my love for comics. They were my people. Now you're my people.
Lucky You
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Post by drocat on Feb 15, 2014 11:51:05 GMT -5
I love my LCS and the regulars and the employees and even this little fat pug that comes in with his owner every Wednesday. I miss going there every Wednesday now that I am entirely digital. Some of my Wednesday excitement is gone. It was the only time that I felt comfortable talking about my love for comics. They were my people. Now you're my people. Lucky You We pulled you to the internet dark side.
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Turk
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Posts: 97
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Post by Turk on Feb 17, 2014 16:27:56 GMT -5
I love my LCS and the regulars and the employees and even this little fat pug that comes in with his owner every Wednesday. I miss going there every Wednesday now that I am entirely digital. Some of my Wednesday excitement is gone. It was the only time that I felt comfortable talking about my love for comics. They were my people. Now you're my people. Lucky You We pulled you to the internet dark side. Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!
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Post by sammiecassell on Feb 23, 2014 21:04:40 GMT -5
I walked into a store yesterday which was an odd amalgamation of comics, video gaming, card gaming, and TOP HATS??? Anyway, I'm wearing a Star Wars shirt and browsed pretty much everything in the store. There were 4 people there, two playing Injustice on a big screen, and two working on what looked like a model train (one wearing a top hat?? Employee??). We'll NOONE ever spoke to me.....never asked if I needed help, never even said hey. Guess where I won't visit again??
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Post by captainsaxon on Mar 1, 2014 20:49:54 GMT -5
My LCS isn't the best in the world as far as variety of products but I have to say, they always have a Sale and they are friendly, helpful and will always special order things. The icing on the cake for me came this week. I may be moving in the near future, not far but far enough where I can't justify driving to my shop every week. The owner said he would mail me my books weekly if it comes to that. So I have to say, I will always buy local.
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Post by rcbtaw on Mar 2, 2014 19:54:48 GMT -5
I love my local shop, DNA Comics, in Humble, Texas. Great sales people always with recommendations!
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Post by courtneyk on Mar 5, 2014 15:22:45 GMT -5
I go to Collected TCU in Fort Worth, and the staff there has been so great. They knew my name by my third visit, and have always been available to answer questions and get to know what I like and make recommendations. Also, as a female comics reader the fact that there are women working there helps make it feel like more of a welcoming environment, especially when I first started going to the shop.
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