Hollywood Empire

caspa307

whatdoicare wrote: »

Sign me up- if you can get in good comics, art books and graphic novels I'll be a regular customer. I'm sick of trying to get to Cork or Galway to get comics.

what he said, but yeah the weekly stuff could be fantastic and while i understand you have to make a profit try not to be like easons/o mahonys chrging 27-32 euro for some graphic novels

DragonboyVNY

I hope this venture goes well. Tough times in Limerick indeed!
I used to spend all my allowance in Hollywood Empire. Made do with the small space and the cards was fun. Still have some great statues and figures at home on the shelves.

I'd be in to check out the graphic novels and comics alright if something starts up in town. A lot of Batman, Avengers and Spiderman reading to catch up on right now ;-)

The prices in Forbidden Planet really scare me at times. It's so easy to go to amazon or bookdepository... and games? Well we can blame play.com that sad state of affairs.

Nevermind the manga, not much of that catches me at the moment. There is an audience in Limerick who know their stuff, but more than likely a lot of manga and anime is consumed through fansubs and scanlations online.

Whatever they have in Easons or O Mahonys right now I already have or am not interested. I've seen the whole series of Death Note on O Mahony's manga shelves for the past year, but no one buying.

bullets

Would love a shop like this back open. I'm not into comics/graphics novels
but loved weird & odd and artistic type things and collectables such as
things from movies/tv etc, or people with skill sets that make cools
stuff that would be for sale (Forbidden planet used to sell peoples art
and other stores used to sell things like statues made from nuts N bolts etc)

The Biggest problem I see with stores like this is the Irish Prices.
Any of these shops used to sell stuff at crazy high prices.
And people can just simply order stuff online for much less.

If a shop opened that sold stuff and competitive prices along the lines
of what people would actually pay for them if buying from abroad or online
then It would earn my loyalty as a returning customer.

Some of the stores like Forbidden Planet, Hollywood Empire, Forgotten Realms or other realms cant remember the name ??,
The place in the deserted shopping center Galway sold LOTs of nice stuff but at prices that people with an interest could not afford to pay or were not willing to pay.

When you see stuff that is available to purchase for 40-60 USD and
then see an Irish prices of 200 Euro or more customer loyalty & supporting
a local business will only go so far.

~B

brianregan09

Also i apoligize for my text speak earlier was on my phone and not the best at typing on it lol

Imbatman

comics/graphic novels,statues,model kits,action figures,movie posters,props,underground scene such as piercing,modification,tattooing,original comic art,original cinema posters,and some radio controlled ww2 tanks etc,i have an interest in carrying used xbox.ps3 games etc,and sub culture dvds and comic movies,basically something of everything not overstretched though,i know what people want and appreciate all the comments folks,the comics back issues would only be a euro each.i firmly believe in value for money.small profit high turnover as they say

caspa307

Imbatman wrote: »

comics/graphic novels,statues,model kits,action figures,movie posters,props,underground scene such as piercing,modification,tattooing,original comic art,original cinema posters,and some radio controlled ww2 tanks etc,i have an interest in carrying used xbox.ps3 games etc,and sub culture dvds and comic movies,basically something of everything not overstretched though,i know what people want and appreciate all the comments folks,the comics back issues would only be a euro each.i firmly believe in value for money.small profit high turnover as they say

ill work for free no seriously best of luck i really hope it works out for you (and me)

hightower1

Imbatman wrote: »

comics/graphic novels,statues,model kits,action figures,movie posters,props,underground scene such as piercing,modification,tattooing,original comic art,original cinema posters,and some radio controlled ww2 tanks etc,i have an interest in carrying used xbox.ps3 games etc,and sub culture dvds and comic movies,basically something of everything not overstretched though,i know what people want and appreciate all the comments folks,the comics back issues would only be a euro each.i firmly believe in value for money.small profit high turnover as they say

If your getting into games Id highly recomend doing trade in's. With game gone and HMVs limted selection Im left with gamestop... and I would do anything to avoid giving them cash so a start up like this with trade ins would be ideal.

Also I would recomend making it clear to browsers etc that you might have all the stuff a supplier can get in store and can do special orders. Have that online mentality work for ya in that sense

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

Loyalty cards would get great, do the ones like in Moody Cow or Lulu's, just stamp em, maybe get a certain % for x amount of buys

DeWinterZero

Diamond Distributers (the only comic distributer) has a discount scheme for retailers depending on how much you order. If you order over £1000 you get a 10% discount. If you order over £100,000 you get a 40% discount. So amazon and all can sell at a much lower price than Irish shops and still make a profit.

The advantage of local comic shops is you can just browse & impulse purchase something. A problem for shop owners will be the people that use their shop to browse and then order online.

Kess73

DeWinterZero wrote: »

Diamond Distributers (the only comic distributer) has a discount scheme for retailers depending on how much you order. If you order over £1000 you get a 10% discount. If you order over £100,000 you get a 40% discount. So amazon and all can sell at a much lower price than Irish shops and still make a profit.

The advantage of local comic shops is you can just browse & impulse purchase something. A problem for shop owners will be the people that use their shop to browse and then order online.

Yes the likes of Amazon can buy stock cheaper than the smaller store and they can afford to sell cheaper, but the price that Amazon buy the stock at is not so cheap that it accounts for the massive difference in retail price between Amazon and some of the independent bricks and mortar stores.

Amazon can be 50%, 66% and even 75% cheaper on new releases and also on older stock. I have seen many times Amazon even being 200% to 300% cheaper on items. Granted Amazon buy at a better discount and have a different set of overheads that allow them to be cheaper, but the Irish comic market is still far higher than it should be. Even small indie comic book stores in the UK who would be buying stock at the same discount rate as the Irish stores are far cheaper than the Irish stores, and that is even after things like higher rates and higher wages etc are taking into account for Ireland.

A big part of the problem is large sections of the Irish retail industry is still of the mindset that Ireland is a closed market for them and that they can pretty much charge what they like for items. The idea of trying to make their services more attractive than the internet or UK stores just does not seem to register with many retailers. They may not be able to go toe to toe with Amazon on pricing, but many are in a position where they could make their prices a little more attractive, and all of them should be able to beat Amazon in terms of face to face customer service but it is on the latter point than many of the bricks and mortar fall down on when it should be their strongest attribute.

bullets

I'm willing to pay a little more to support a local Business as long as I feel I'm not getting shafted.

I remember a few years back one of the stores in Limerick selling these:
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=8106R

I could be wrong as it was a long time ago but I think I payed 140 Euro or maybe 160 Euros
at the time for one on an impulse buy while browsing knowing I was getting screwed by the price.
(I dont even like Warhammer!!)

They sold for 20USD online with cheap shipping and were easy to get and in stock (at the time).

After a few similar purchases like that I stopped buying locally and ordered online.

~B

FutureGuy

bullets wrote: »

I'm willing to pay a little more to support a local Business as long as I feel I'm not getting shafted.

I remember a few years back one of the stores in Limerick selling these:
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=8106R

I could be wrong as it was a long time ago but I think I payed 140 Euro or maybe 160 Euros
at the time for one on an impulse buy while browsing knowing I was getting screwed by the price.
(I dont even like Warhammer!!)

They sold for 20USD online with cheap shipping and were easy to get and in stock (at the time).

After a few similar purchases like that I stopped buying locally and ordered online.

~B

Yeah, most people stopped buying locally simply because it was much cheaper to buy online. Technology is also making it very difficult. I saw someone scanning the box of a Beats by Doctor Dre with their Amazon app and order it there and then after getting a demo in HMV. Saved 70 euro.

If I see something for 120 that I could get for 100 online, I'll probably buy local. Any more than that and I may look to buy online.

caspa307

FutureGuy wrote: »

Yeah, most people stopped buying locally simply because it was much cheaper to buy online. Technology is also making it very difficult. I saw someone scanning the box of a Beats by Doctor Dre with their Amazon app and order it there and then after getting a demo in HMV. Saved 70 euro.

If I see something for 120 that I could get for 100 online, I'll probably buy local. Any more than that and I may look to buy online.

id be the same if i can get something online for 100 and in town for 120-140 i gladly pay the extra at least that way i have it there and then

Mr. K

I'd love a place to get American comics in Limerick. I was living in Cork last year, it was great to be able to go into Other Realms on a Wednesday and get Amazing Spider-Man! Now I'm back in Limerick and I have to order the latest issues online, which is more than a little annoying.

Limerick sorely needs a comics/collectibles shop, I really miss Hollywood Empire. I must've spent an insane amount of money on figures in there...

Anbo

Was in Dublin last week and made my first visit to Forbidden Planet. If there was a similar shop like that here it would be amazing. Any idea on the location??

Imbatman

Well I tried numerous avenues but it is not meant to be,rent,rates,etc,no help from paul partnership or enterprise Ireland etc,no grants for retail they say,explain that to the numerous food shops that have received grants.giving up on this idea but hopefully someone will do it someday as this town needs it.

bigpink

Pity some of this city of culture money could not be spend on new business