One shop owner told me that he would "NEVER" -yes he used caps to emphasise the point to me- stock a book that did not come from one of the Big 5. After a brief exchange I discovered that he only gets a very selective few comic titles in because his customers (I won't repeat what he called them) were not just happy enough to take what was on the shelves. Apparently, his sales were down due to customer "ignorance" and basically not being willing to spend on things they did not want to keep him in business. I made a few polite points but (despite sales falling) he told me he would stick with the Big 5 "DC or Marvel will pull something out of the hat to save our stores again!"
oh dear.
The other two shop owners agreed with what I had written but explained they could do nothing. There was one distributor and they would jump to another as neither was happy with Diamond -one kept referring to them as "the Mafia"- but "What can I do?"
Again, I politely made suggestions but all received negative reactions. Why? It was all reasonable and common sense. Oh.."If Diamond found out I was taking books from Indie publishers they were not offering they might get awkward"...same from the other shop owner.
Really? "I am going to go out of business and I can do several things to save my business but I don't want to upset Diamond" Well, there are three businesses that may vanish next year.
You do not have to be publically identified just send a letter to the Business Secretary or/and Monopolies Commission and explain the situation. Personally, I really do not care. These people seem to think I need to sort this all out for them. No -not my business and I lost my patience with comic shop owners after the big CBO (WordPress) debate on this matter where a bunch of them bitched but when told what to do...skulked off.
Post Brexit is going to hit comic shops very hard...but the owners will not act.
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