Another retailer moves to online sales only

Canada's City News reports a specialty store owner in Edmonton is changing to online sales only, as he could no longer afford his storefront location:

Action figures and comic books, past and present, line the walls of the Rolling Tales comic book store in downtown Edmonton, immersing customers in a collection of unique superheroes and stories.

Sadly, the owner of Rolling Tales will soon close the doors for good and move the business online, to help him try and get out from underneath the crushing weight of his debt.

“I didn’t realize you could go beyond bankruptcy, but I’ve managed to do that. Hahahaha, you can actually go so far into debt that you can’t get assistance to get out of it,” said Jay Bardyla, the owner of Rolling Tales.

Bardyla has run Rolling Tales for the past four years but has been managing comic book stores for nearly 35 years, starting this business in Terwillegar before moving downtown two years ago.

Despite having a steady customer base, he says a combination of nearby construction and the stigma of coming downtown, helped hinder his ability to bring in more foot traffic, and the business suffered.

After a year of unsuccessful attempts to expand his customer base, he made the decision to give up his storefront and lay off his staff.

“It feels like failure. It’s not good, and I don’t want to do it, but the problem is what I’m doing now is impacting other people in my life for the worse,” said Bardyla.

While it's sad the guy's storefront failed in business of recent, what nobody asks is whether artistic merit, or lack thereof, has ever played a part in the downfall of the specialty store. Why should working downtown be an issue or a stigma either? I just don't understand. I'm guessing quite a few comics retailers are now running online businesses though, and I'm sure it'll soon morph into quite a cottage industry. But it's regrettable nobody wants to address whether the monthly pamphlet format's become outdated, and it's surely debatable. If more retailers would specialize more in paperback/hardcover formats, they could improve the industry's fortunes, IMO. Maybe the coming generation will consider?