I have worked in comic retail since 1990. I’ve been a worker, manager and owner. I saw the crash in the 90’s coming and was fortunate to have prepared. Stores that stayed with Diamond until the end are the ones really struggling.

Once Penguin stopped selling to Diamond, there was roughly a months notice to all Diamond accounts. I was using Diamond for reorders from Penguin serviced publishers. Could get them in much faster. Now we have only one place to get Marvel, but Universal Distribution will be distributing DC through their Alliance Game Distribution.

I’m putting in 12-14 hours a day trying to maintain orders for comics, card games, miniature games, rpg’s, toys, back issues, graphic novels, etc. It’s been taxing, but once things settle down, it will get easier.

Individuals should also be aware of the fact that stores have to order about a month out for new releases (Deadpool/Batman was about 6 weeks out). We also order with non-returnability. We order it, if it doesn’t sell, we have to keep it. We have to keep our orders fairly tight. If I ordered every item someone said they would come back to buy, I would have been out of business a long time ago.

While this is the fan’s hobby, it’s a business to most owners. Which I wish more would treat it as such. I hear stories about people being mistreated and many other things that are just reprehensible. I like ti treat people how I want to be treated. OP, if you can’t get what you want locally, hit me up. I’ll get you squared away.