I never thought of my LCS closing its doors. I think that might be it for me, I don't think I'll order new comics in the mail if they do close for good.

I don't think I buy enough to justify getting mail order, plus the big two just aren’t that good anymore.

Those comic shops that survive will do so by diversifying into other genre interests, selling and giving space for the playing of collectible card games and tabletop miniatures and the like. Even for the shrinking base of people who buy new floppy comics, mail order will do fine; there's no need to drive. And for any newbies just getting into comics (I know a few, and I mean few), there are more currently in print in trade volumes than could be read in a lifetime.

One thing to note on pricing of comics-comparing the cost of comics now o some point in the past and juxtaposing it to the inflation rate is not really a valid comparison. Comics in the 70s, 80s and even 90s, were a mass market product produced on a larger scale for the mass market. Comics in the 21st century are a niche product, not a mass market product, produced on a much smaller scale, and niche products always cost more then a similar product on the mass market because economy of scale works against them.

If comics were still a mass market product sold in a volume that allowed economy of scale to lower per unit pricing, they would have a lower price. But as individual periodical comics become more and more of a niche product (and sell fewer copies only to a niche collectors market) expect cover prices t rise even more. Niche products always cost more, especially hobby niche products, which is essentially what new floppy comics are.

They are sold only in specialty shops, distributed by a limited number of companies (in this case 1-Diamond), and have a customer base that has little growth potential and has been locked into buying them a certain way for an extended period of time and are resistant to other market models. The comics market of the 20th century is apples the 21st century market's oranges.

If you look at price comparisons between any product that moves form mass market to niche, you will see price increases in those products always outpace expected price increases based on inflation rates and increase of prices on materials needed for production. Comics have become inordinately expensive because they have become a niche product. Unless and until they become a mass market product again, prices will remain higher than comparable products on the mass market, and will be too high to be an impulse or casual purchase.

This is a consequence of leaving the mass market behind to focus on non-returnable sales of the direct specialty (read niche) market. An unintended consequence of this is that comic publishers retail partners do not have the capital resources to stock extra copies of product to be available to be sold to new customers, which severely limits growth potential and prevents volume form increasing at all to possibly move the needle towards the mass market volume needed to correct pricing. This is what makes it so difficult to transcend the niche market once you are in it. Niche markets produce only enough product for the known customer base and sell on a mostly preorder basis, where cost is passed on to the customer base because it is the only way a product gets made.

And the rise of crowdfunding comics to get made (via Kickstarter or other platforms) is the ultimate expression of this, but publishers set print runs based on Diamond preorders, and Diamond preorders are guaranteed sales, in essence crowdfunding comics on a larger scale. If there aren't enough preorders to fund a project, it gets cancelled (as we have seen with several trade collections from DC over the last several years).

The lcs is simply a vehicle to get preordered products to the customer who pledge their money via pull lists and preorders, and that is not enough to sustain a retail model for very long.

And as I posted elsewhere, if Steve Geppi retires (and he is close to retirement age and shedding his other comic related assets except for Haake's) and doesn't find a buyer for Diamond, then it is game over for the existing distribution infrastructure of the industry.

-M

Diamond, as an independent operation, is guaranteed revenue without cost for Disney & Warner. It is labor intensive and not cost efficient. We have already seen Disney's preference to shop out work rather than do it themselves and bear the burden of production cost with low revenue generators (such as licensing the Disney comics, Star Wars and Marvel kids comics, etc. to IDW rather than publishing them themselves), so they would have no interest in buying into Diamond, since it would be a high cost low return investment (as Marvel already earned much to their chagrin with the Heroes World acquisition in the 90s). Diamond is not an attractive asset. It is labor intensive, inefficient, and not a big profit producer as the margins are fairly low. It is Geppi's passion for comics rather than his business acumen (or the revenues from Diamond) that keeps him in the game. Haake's is a much bigger earner (in terms of margins if not overall dollar amounts) under the Geppi umbrella, and is growing while Diamond is plateaued/shrinking.

Disney or Warner could buy it, but why would they, as it serves no particular necessary function in their business model. They already have deals with other book distributors and publishing content licensees who could create content and get it to market without either having to take on a high cost low revenue business like Diamond. Diamond is convenient because it is an already existing infrastructure, but it is not necessary to them, and they would lean on other existing infrastructures to fill the gap should Diamond go away. However, for the other end of the retail chain, i.e. the comic retailers, Diamond is their lifeblood and they are not serviced by other existing distribution infrastructures, so for them, when Diamond games it is likely game over.

-M

The store where I shop seems to be doing really good business. They do sell more than comics--Funko figures, toys, statues, and gaming. They also have been acquiring key issues of older comics. They also do live online auctions on Facebook. I have been in store when they have been doing those and they seem to do well. There are 4 comic shops where I live and all seem to be thriving.