Comic Shop Spotlight: Gods & Monsters
Mar 07, 2016
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Gods & Monsters in Orlando, Florida.
OWNERS: Anna Young & Todd Fisher
NUMBER OF LOCATIONS: 1
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 10
YEAR OPENED: 2015
STORE SIZE (square feet): 20,000
Favorite Recent Comic Book: Saga, Doctor Strange, Toil & Trouble, Giant Days, Rat Queens, Southern Bastards
How was your Halloween ComicFest event? Huge. Certainly one of the biggest weekends for us since our Grand Opening. Nearly 20,000 comics distributed overall with all ages activities going on all weekend long. Costume Contests, Candy for the Trick or Treaters (Our Mall location does an indoor Halloween stroll for families to come and Trick or Treat in a warm, safe environment), Not to mention, the debut of our Holiday themed art show, Necromancy, featuring original pieces by Ben Templesmith, Menton3 and Vaughn Belak, among others. Can’t wait for next year!!
What has been your best promotion or event? Without Question, Our Grand Opening in June. It was BEDLAM. With over 10,000 people in attendance, it really showed the power of effective marketing, and the strength of the team we’d put together. The look on people’s faces when they finally got to see what we’d put so much into was just….it was Magic. We did a themed Art Show, and had local Victorian theatre group, Phantasmagoria, out to mingle with the guests, perform some of their show and finish off with Firebreathing and bellydancing for the crowd. There was facepainting all day for the kids, Comic book-themed Aerial Silk performers. Several Artists and notable Cosplay Celebrities out to sign, sketch and take photos. Free Comics for everyone who attended (We’d missed this year’s Free Comic Book Day by just a few weeks but you’d never know it...gave away SOOOOO many books that day). We had the whole affair Catered and partnered with some of our friends in local business, most notably Coffee Shop of Horrors, Chibi’s Boba and Free Play Orlando, to provided free Coffee, Boba Tea and Arcade Machines, respectively, to the public. It was a huge success, not just for us, but for the vendors and food kiosks throughout the rest of the Artegon Marketplace (Our Mall.) They all broke sales records by unbelievable margins and we couldn’t have been happier.
What recent changes have you made in the store? Really, we’re constantly in one stage of change or another, whether it’s our obsessive need to maintain and improve our existing fixtures and displays, looking for new ways to market and promote ourselves, both here and abroad, (Our Store is a hotbed of tourist activity) or something as simple as stocking new product literally Every. Day; we’re always on the lookout for that one thing that’s going to streamline the way we do things and present ourselves to our guests. Just a few months back, our themed concession and gaming area, The Offworld L.O.U.N.G.E; was granted its Beer & Wine license, which has really picked up our weekend numbers and given us a strong new revenue stream. Even more recently, we shook up our team roster with some new hires and internal promotions with a focus on improving our customer service on the floor and rewarding the few standouts in our original lineup. We even went so far as to bring in an outside customer service trainer to give us all a personalized lecture to get everyone on the same page. I suggest everyone does this if they have the means. If you’re not evolving, you may as well shut down.
What steps have you taken to expand your customer base or to reach out to individuals unfamiliar with your store or comics in general? It’s all about the marketing. Anna gets our name and branding in as many local and international periodicals as budget will allow. We market in multiple languages when we can and have running TV spots on the tourist information network in all the local hotels and resorts. Circulated Rack Cards, Coupons, a weekly podcast and an incentivized reading initiative with my crew to better familiarize them with new releases are all staples of what we’ve done since day one. Future efforts will include continued exploration of marketing partnerships and opportunities in the international expansion of the brand. Building on the already growing name recognition with Local affiliate TV spots and working more with local schools and libraries seem like logical next steps, as well.
What are your plans for the near future? More. More. MORE!! More Stock. More Showcases. More Events. More Gaming. More of everything that makes us Awesome. Just a marked effort to keep the machine moving forward. Looking towards the new year at possible new partnerships that have the potential for global ramifications for us. (Fingers crossed.)
How did you choose your store name? For us, it’s all about Story, and ‘Gods & Monsters’ always said ‘Joseph Campbell’ to me. The eternal struggle. Good vs. Evil. Stories told around campfires for thousands of years. Morality Myths that inform and influence civilization. We’re the custodians of the modern versions of those same stories. It just made sense to us. (And sounded really cool, too...bonus.)
What superpower would you most like to have? Anna is going the Animal Familiars & Enchantment Route while I’m going to go with Multiple Selves. I’ve got a lot to do and never enough time.
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Visit the Arkham Dispensary to purchase your comics |
The sales floor is filled with fun displays full of merchandise |
Large pop culture icons stand guard over the store |
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The Offworld Lounge and Bar offers refreshments and gaming |
A wide variety of action figures, statues, and Funko POP! figures take over a corner of the floor |
Rows of shelves are full of trade paperbacks and graphic novels |
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The Transmetropolitan Gallery features original artwork and comics memorabilia. |
Young Readers have a whole wall of comics, graphic novels, and trade paperbacks to choose from |
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