The Four Color Media Monitor

Fox-KVVU in Las Vegas says a comics store that had been working for about a decade is shutting down in one neighborhood, though they do have 2 other locations in their ownership:

Maximum Comics’ Henderson location says it is shuttering after 10 years of business. Store owner Jay Bosworth gave several reasons the store had to make the difficult decision, including the pandemic and a hike in the cost of rent.

According to the store’s closing announcement posted on Facebook, monthly rent for their location on Marks Street near West Sunset Road was $4,200. Today, it costs them nearly double that amount, to pay the bill. [...]

Maximum Comics has two other locations in the Las Vegas Valley that the Henderson customers will be able to visit.

So here's one store that was in business for a rather short time, but luckily does have 2 other branches to operate. But there's a valid argument here that rental costs are getting too high, and if it continues, it'll be much harder for all sorts of businesses to function well. Can that be dealt with?

Update: on the other hand, here's an article from the Shawnee News-Star in Oklahoma about a store that's reopened:

After being closed for five weeks during the COVID-19 quarantine, Bibliotech Books & Comics reopened May 8 and since then customers have returned and the store has implemented measures to maintain social distancing.

According to owner Randy Grizzle, for five weeks the store was closed to the public and he couldn’t offer any online services or curbside pick up because he said most of his sales come from people browsing for books and comics.

However, Grizzle said while they were closed for five weeks, the store received a loan and could still pay their employees and other expenses. [...]

As time goes on, Grizzle said he is cautiously optimistic for the future as the community continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.

They're lucky. But if they really want the industry to survive, that's why store owners have to support all the measures I've believed in for making improvements. It can be done, and I've a feeling it might in the future.

Labels: sales