Local Comics Store Spotlight: Your Friendly, Neighborhood LCS

The foundation of ComicBook.com is comics.

While we love to cover all aspects of pop and geek culture, our roots lie in the comics community and the plethora of characters and stories that have sprung from it. If you speak with anyone in the comics community about what has made the medium successful in North America, you’ll quickly discover one answer that stands far above the rest: local comics stores. They are the bedrock of comics in the United States and Canada, supporting fans, communities, and conventions with open doors and a dedicated staff.

This year on ComicBook.com we are highlighting this important aspect of comics and culture by taking a look at one local comic store each week. These are stores that embody what it means to support culture and community. We hope you can visit some of them throughout 2017.

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For the past four months we have been celebrating local comic book shops throughout the United States and world at ComicBook.com. They are the lifeblood of geek culture and we have found some exemplary stores that show just what the letters LCS can achieve in a community. As Free Comic Book Day approaches, many of these stores are dedicating every waking hour to preparing for a single day in which they can give away their wares and share their love of comics.

Rather than bother any more stores this week, we decided to celebrate what we’ve learned about local comics shops so far this year. While each store we’ve interviewed or visited is unique, some common themes have emerged along the way. This is what we’ve discovered about why comics shops matter and why it’s worth supporting the great stores wherever you live.

Click ahead to learn the first of three themes found in all great local comics shops.

Community

Our very first spotlight on Space Cadets brought attention to a store where there was something for everyone. It was a place that had cultivated programs for gamers year round and a specialized educational daycare for young children. That highlights the notion of community. Comic stores may service a specialty product, but they all function as a part of larger cities or towns, as well as small business communities. In addition to offering comics for decades long readers, they provide services to people who might not have picked up a comic since grade school. It’s how they grow their business and become an invaluable member of the places in which they exist.

That value of community was also highlighted by Legend Comics & Coffee in Omaha, Nebraska where each year they raise thousands of dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation during Free Comic Book Day. In addition to being the local comics store, they’re also the location where residents can hold meetings, create workshops, and study for school using the free wi-fi. The vast array of customers in the coffee shop shows off how important a comics store can be to a community.

Comic book stores are places where communities are formed, built, and maintained. It’s one big reason to be grateful for them.

Click ahead to learn the second of three themes found in all great local comics shops.

Safe Spaces

As comics stores take on more important roles in communities, people begin to look to them for leadership and that’s something else we’ve found with many of our favorite shops. They have made themselves safe and welcoming places that ensure everyone can find a home within their walls. Fantom Comics in Washington, D.C. is a great example. Their resolute devotion to diversity has ensure special events for the incredible array of human beings in their city and found passionate followings amongst women, the LGBTQ community, and many other groups. They lead through example and make a heroism an everyday act.

The same thing applies to Comics N’ Vegetables (CNV) in Israel. A small group of comics fans have imported the medium to their country and accrued a large following from across the country. Everyone is welcome and it has resulted in a burgeoning business accompanied by a very positive place within the community. They cultivated a place in the world where almost no one read comics and created a store where everyone felt welcome and secure to be themselves.

Comic book stores are places for people of all stripes, united and bound by their shared interests in geek culture. We should all be grateful for that.

Click ahead to learn the last of the three themes found in all great local comics shops.

Entertainment

The previous two factors of community and safe spaces only work if people want to occupy these comics shops. That’s what makes entertainment such an important connecting element of success in all great LCS’s. Each of these stores strive to offer their patrons a good time, whether that’s with excellent service and a great selection of comics or through special events. Isotope Comics in San Francisco knows how to do it all. The store is a spectacle to behold no matter when you enter with toilet lids decorated by many of the industry’s best. They also host an array of classes, signings, and other events that make them a regular hotspot in the Bay Area.

Dennis Barger, a longtime leader in comics retail, has emphasized the importance of making a comics shop consistently attractive at Wonderworld Comics. He adapts the store to fit with new trends and interests, always emphasizing the customer’s focus. What matters most to his shop and so many others is ensuring that whoever walks through the doors will enjoy themselves. That’s why a great LCS can seem like an entertainment oasis to so many.

Comic book stores are places where we can forget about the stresses of the outside world and enjoy an escape with friends new and old. That’s something we can always be grateful for.

We at ComicBook.Com want to thank all of the great local comic book shops throughout the world and all of the hard working men and women who staff them. They’re the reason we’re here today, and the reason a new generation will be prepared to celebrate comics for decades to come. Thank you.