Catching Up, Getting Down to Business, and Talking Captain America!

I’ve been a little out of touch lately with the blog. Things are happening, have happened, or will soon happen and I’d like to clear some of it up. A lot of you know my back-story and how my wife passed away last February due to a brain tumor. My kid and I made it fine through the holidays, through the Kid’s fourth birthday, and even through the one year anniversary. But shortly after that, I hit a mental wall. It was spurred on by my new business acquisition which was going very slowly. Then, BAM! I lost my little brother about three weeks ago. I could go into a lot more detail, but these were the major factors, and so I wasn’t blogging like I should.

I’m starting to get a little more clear-headed and things are starting to move in the right direction and I’ve gotten to a point where I can start talking about the business acquisition. In short, I’m opening up my own comic book shop. I don’t guess I should call it a comic book shop, though, because it’s going to be so much more. In fact, most comic book shops are actually “pop culture centers.” Look at Collected, the store that bought up some of the Lone Star locations. Their tag line is “Your Pop Culture Headquarters.” As much as we want to think we geeks and nerds are still a niche culture, we’re not. We are now mainstream. We have sold out. And it’s a good thing!

The shop I’m hoping to open, called A Galaxy Called Dallas: Comics, Books, & Collectibles, will be in the location of Comic Book Craze in Garland, Texas. Matt and Chris McIntosh, the original owners, moved off to Florida where they said it was warmer. Really? I guess they meant year round. Anyway, they’ve gone and opened up SuperVillain Comics in Cocoa Beach. New owners were found for CBC and after some problems, the shop was available again, so I’ve decided to step in and try to get it back on track. It’s still going to be about a month before we can open the doors, but during that time, we will be doing inventory, bringing in new product, cleaning up the place, maybe re-arranging some fixtures for more floor space, and etc. If we can get it open sooner then we will. First order of business is to get the comic book buyers back in the doors and show them that they are an important part of the store. Another important part of the store is the gamers. Without either of the two, the store is nothing. But I’ve got to earn your trust and to do that, I’ve got to get the comics back on the wall as quickly as possible and not screw up pull lists, and get the games back on the calendar and make them fun events!

Right now, I’m waiting to sign the lease and that will get us in the door and on our way. We will probably have the windows covered but with signs up explaining everything. Covering windows will afford us the privacy of working without interruption and make it a little bit of a surprise for you when we do open the doors!

In the meantime, stay tuned here for more information about the store and what you can do to help us make it a success.

Oh, yeah. I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Les and Thomas from Fellowship of the Geeks and it was awesome. Watch for the next post for a small review and a link to a podcast that I was on about the movie.