Comic Shop Spotlight: Comics & Gaming

Jan 11, 2016

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Comics & Gaming in Gainesville, Virginia.

OWNER: Tom Chillemi

MANAGER: Ed Alexander

NUMBER OF LOCATIONS: 4

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 6

YEAR OPENED: 2010

STORE SIZE (square feet): 2,600

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

Favorite Recent Comic Book: Secret Wars: Old Man Logan – it has captured the feel of the original storyline.

How was your Halloween ComicFest event? It reminds me of FCBD in the early years. The customers are getting more and more excited about it. I expect larger turnouts this year.

What has been your best promotion or event? Free Comic Book Day. We step it up as a block party, and it brings out the entire family. It is always our largest revenue day.

What recent changes have you made in the store? Our store is constantly changing and evolving to meet our customers’ demands. We recently expanded our variant cover displays and completely revamped our back issue selection.

What steps have you taken to expand your customer base or to reach out to individuals unfamiliar with your store or comics in general? We have set up in local theaters whenever a new comic book related movie hits, sponsored local kid sport teams, had box toppers (pizza shops), and donated to schools/local charities/fundraisers. We use Constant Contact and Facebook to keep community engagement.

What are your plans for the near future? Halloween ComicFest is right around the corner, and we’ll have promotions tied into that. Then we start gearing up for the holiday season and the release of Star Wars in December! We’ll have lots of things going on in the days leading up to that.

How did you choose your store name? Just wanted to keep it simple; a potential customer gets a very good idea what we are selling.

What superpower would you most like to have? Slow down time/super speed. There is never enough time in the day to get everything done, but more importantly: to spend with my family.