Chameleon Comics in NYC

[Snapolit1]

Officially closed. Landlord wanted to jack rent up something crazy. Walked up there last Friday to buy my annual Topps box and all boxes were 50% off. Place was picked pretty clean.

Wasn't a great place for vintage but was nice to have a retail card store in NY. Probably sold more in comics than they sold in cards.

[Jason]

Never been to that shop but every time a brick and mortar shop closes we should all shed a tear. Soon it will be online only

[packs]

Used to buy boxes from there every year on birthday. Didn't know they were closing.

[basesareempty]

Owning a brick and mortar is tough I believe. To get a good, high traffic location you are going to pay up in rent. To get lower rent your off the beaten path which means you are working very hard to drive traffic to your location. I know most of the remaining stores in the Baltimore/ Washington area are a mix of cards, signed Memorabilia and Pokémon/ Magic tournaments they host. Is this the same business model many of you are seeing around the country?

[timzcardz]

That place was there for what, at least 30 years?

Rents in Manhattan are insane.

[Snapolit1]

Think so. Hard to believe they paid the rent honestly. Crazy. Store was blocks from Wall Street.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Think so. Hard to believe they paid the rent honestly. Crazy. Store was blocks from Wall Street.

And it sounds like a 40% increase is HUGE!!! Wonder what they were paying per month?

[packs]

Originally Posted by basesareempty

Owning a brick and mortar is tough I believe. To get a good, high traffic location you are going to pay up in rent. To get lower rent your off the beaten path which means you are working very hard to drive traffic to your location. I know most of the remaining stores in the Baltimore/ Washington area are a mix of cards, signed Memorabilia and Pokémon/ Magic tournaments they host. Is this the same business model many of you are seeing around the country?

If I were to own a brick and mortar shop the only realistic way to survive would be doing most of my business online and using the storefront as mostly storage. This would have to be done in a place where the rent was low enough to make it economical though. At the same time, doesn't really matter where you are if you're doing most of your business online.

[buymycards]

The only remaining card shop within a 40 mile radius of my home has been surviving through Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, Pokemon, etc. They have a great following, with tournaments and a huge gaming inventory. 20 years ago, sports cards, mostly baseball, were 95% of their sales. My guess is now sportscards are less than 20% of sales.

The great thing about a brick and mortar store is that customers are constantly coming in trying to sell their collections. A store owner can pick and choose from some great items, as long as they are willing to put up with all of the 80's and 90's collections that are brought in.