A LETTER TO THE COMIC BOOK COMMUNITY OF KNOXVILLE I love comic books. I have loved them for as long as I remember. I love the artwork, the stories, the characters, and the musty smell of old comics. Comic books are where I learned to read big words, and where I gained my view of right and wrong and how to treat people. I trained myself in art by tracing the pictures in comics until I was able to draw them just by looking. Comic books have always been an important part of my life. All of my long time friends will tell you that one thing I have always talked about is having a comic book store. It took a long time to happen, but when the opportunity arose, I did it. I love my comic book store. It is my dream come true. I call it, My Happy Place. Sometime I still find it hard to believe it is real. I didnt open a store to get rich. I did it to create a fun place to buy comics and a place to share my love of comics with other fans. Its not been easy. Some days all I have is peanut butter sandwiches for a day or two and I drive on empty as long as possible, because the store isnt doing as good as it should. But, these are the sacrifices you make to keep something you love. I hope this is what I get to do for the rest of my life. Knoxville has never lacked in comic book stores. They have come and gone, but we have always had plenty to choose from. It doesnt matter if you are loyal to your local store or if you shop around at all of them. Knoxville is big enough so that all the stores in town can operate and prosper without stepping on each others toes. Lets say for example, one comic book store in Knoxville wanted to expand and open a second store only one mile from one of the other stores in town, what does that say? Is it necessary? Does Knoxville need a turf war? If you are a comic book store owner and expanding like this is your plan, you might say, We can team up with the store down the road and work together. or We want to do this to help grow the interest in comics to other parts of town. whatever reason you might give for doing this, there is really only one reason for opening another store so close to an already established business. Target doesnt build across from Walmart so they can both work as a team. The Knoxville comic book community is a friendly one. We all know each other and we all get along. We see each other at Cons and its like a family reunion. Opening a second store down the street from another store is not the way a community of friends treats one another. Doing something like this will hurt the comic book community by causing a split. Not only does Knoxville not need turf war, we dont need a fifth store. We comic book store owners are not giant franchises who pit one store against the other. We work together. If one store doesnt have what the customer needs, we call another store to see if they have it, and send the customer to that store. Will we be as willing to do that for customers after one store decides to play dirty? Im writing this because of my love for comic books, and the friendships I have gained since opening my store 2.5 years ago. I cant speak for other store owners, but I hope they feel the same way. I do not wish bad on any person, but opening a second store in this manner will not go well for anyone involved. It goes against the Comic Book Spirit of doing the right thing, and I dont want that to happen to the comic book fans in Knoxville. New Krypton is here to stay.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 08:42:36 +0000
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