The Four Color Media Monitor

The CBC reported on another comics retailer in Hamilton who's being forced to close due to health issues and higher rent:

Piles of bright comic books line the walls as Gary Burton makes his way around his Hamilton store in late July, attempting to pack up his business of over 30 years.

Burton, 62, who has lost most of his vision, is being evicted from his Barton Street East location, but said he's hopeful he'll open Burdin's Comics somewhere else soon.

[...] Burton was dealt two blows this year that led to the store closing.

The first is cataracts in both eyes that have caused him partial blindness. It's hard for him to see clearly, and small fonts are impossible to read, so he's been getting customers to enter their own totals into the cash register, he said.

He hopes to qualify for surgery soon to restore his vision.

Landlord says she's trying to force Burton out

The second issue is with his landlord, Burton said.

He's been renting the Barton Street East location for seven years, paying about $600 a month.

But in March, his landlord started increasing his rent, as she's allowed to do under Ontario's commercial tenancy rules.

By August, it was set to rise to $1,500 — more than double the original amount — and Burton knew he couldn't afford it, he said.

Business has been slow, with customers feeling the pinch of inflation and higher cost of living, Burton said. Comic books aren't high on their list of essential purchases.

I'm terribly sorry the guy's suffered from eye infection, and it's too bad rent's going up, but the latter problem surely does involve plummeting quality of the mainstream, and for all we know, not every independent creator's doing a good job bringing something worthwhile to marketplace. Some retailers even rely too much upon Marvel/DC products, and that's got to be one of the hugest mistakes the medium's marketers made over past decades, which has likely made it difficult to make the shift properly to emphasizing independents more. Why, if retailers only knew how to rely upon Diamond Distribution in past decades, unlike regular book stores employing several distributors, that too is a serious flaw that's damaged the business.

I wish the guy good luck in getting his operations and maybe he'll be able to reopen his comics business in the future, but for now, it's got to be hoped future generations will learn some lessons in marketing here, and won't overlook how lack of merit is a leading factor in the downfall of comicdom.

Labels: msm propaganda, sales