Reminds me of a time 23 or so years ago (wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long) when I went to a flea market that was also a fundraiser…and grabbed several items that had prices on them and took them up to the register to pay…and they priced them 20% higher than sticker price.
“Today is 20% more day,” they said. “Tomorrow they get marked down to the price that’s on them now.”
What?! “20% more day?”
My girlfriend at the time and I just didn’t even know what to say…other than “no thank you” and walk out with nothing.
20% more day. Never heard of anything like that before or since.
If you’re doing a charity like this, the retailers are suppose to bite the 20% out of their own pocket, not hand it off to the consumers buying the stuff. This is the most moronic thing I’ve ever heard…
Hi everyone, I love the site it’s been a great resource for me the past few years and love that passion you guys have for comics… first time writer also.
I felt the need to respond here as one of the shops that I go to on a weekly basis is getting cut up pretty bad here (I go there every Friday). Everyone has their own experience and I get that, but Heroes World in Markham, Ontario has always been good to me.
They honour my pulls, they allow me to take multiple copies of hot books if they’re available and at cover price (Thor 5 first print)), they’ve given me the 1:25 variants in the past for cover I(SW High Republic 1)1 f I gave them the heads up on the book but the most important thing for me anyways are the people. And these guys have always been good to me and my kids when we visit.
Yes, they have a back room where they have quoted Ebay and I happily paid for it but I am always notified that the books were not priced and they’d have to go with the e-Bay prices. I don’t see a problem with this with Back issues. Things go up and down pretty fast these days and they mark it at fair value which to me is fair.
Please note Heroes World did not have animals nor were they associated with Fabok and the three Jokers signing.
Comixman, I’m happy you have a good experience at Heroes World in Markham Ont. I guess we can agree to disagree if you feel it’s fine for a shop to have a back room of comics that are unpriced and/or get repriced at the counter.
They are free to run their business as they please. The spirit of this thread is to let others know which shop has this practice of pricing/repricing at the counter after checking ebay prices. If you’re willing and think it’s ok then that’s fine also.
I went to their shop specifically to check them out and open a pull box with them as they’re so close to our home and I want to support the LCS in my neighborhood.
After visiting them I have decided not to set foot in there ever again.
For me much of the fun of visiting comic shops from out of town is digging through the shops back issue bins. I have been to so many shops when I’m traveling that are simply amazing!
For example A-1 Comics in North Highlands California. That store is huge with hundreds of longboxes of back issues. Every single book was priced and most books were priced at $1-$5. I spent multiple days at that shop that week I was there visiting and spent hundreds of dollars there. When I’m back in California I’ll make sure to visit again. Conversely I was at Heroes World and saw that their comics are subject to pricing and I was out after a few minutes. Won’t be setting foot at that shop ever again.
It’s funny how A-1 Comics has a back issue section that’s about 10 times bigger than Heroes World’s back room but A-1 will price every book. I know which shop I will shop at and Heroes World isn’t for me. I also appreciate others here chiming in about other stores that have this pricing strategy at the counter. I’m sure lots of them will be good shops, it’s just not for me and I won’t be wasting my time visiting those shops on my travels.
As for the caged animals, I’ll let jclu respond to you about that.
Hey folks!! Jon from Heroes World (Located in Markham) Here I just wanted to make sure a few things are clear.
We are NOT affiliated in anyway with “Heroes” store located in Woodbridge. To my knowledge they do/did have animals on site and they have hosted a Jason Fabok signing.
We have hosted several other artists for signings (like Ken Lashley, Mike Del Mundo) and we NEVER charge a signing fee. The artists sell their own stuff and ALL the money goes to them and they have never charged a signing fee either. They often stay the whole day and sign and do sketches for their fans ALL day for no charge at all.
I’m sorry you had a negative experience SpicyWasabi and take all your comments and critiques as ways for us to improve and do better. Just in our defense so you don’t think we’re total scumbags (which is fair for you to think) the backroom used to be our gaming room but when the pandemic hit we were unable to run games because of lockdown and other mandates so we opted to bring in our back stock from storage in hopes to sort though. We used to have our back issues (half) the amount on the main floor and they were priced and sorted but they go combined with our backstock. The pandemic has been rough for staffing and many other things so it is a continual work in progress. The room actually used to be closed to the public but everyone kept asking so we put up the signs and let people look. We do our best to use key collector, mycomicshop and ebay to determine the most fair prices and are always willing to negotiate. Many books do end up going for cover price or less. Obviously I know some people don’t like this practice in general and I totally understand. We usually try to let anyone know going back there the deal incase they don’t see the signs so I do apologize if staff didn’t get to speak with you. The pics of A-1 Comics you posted is beautiful so I hope now that restrictions are lifted and we can get some new staff to help we can get to that point. $1-2 bins are fantastic for new readers and ppl just hunting for fun stuff so would love to have those. We’ll be sure to put up some more signs and strive to be better.
Again not here to debate anyone or “fire back” if someone has had a negative experience with our shop no matter what that’s a failing on us and we’ll continue to try and improve. I just wanted to provide some context and clear up that we are not affiliated with that other shop.
Thanks for sharing! It really does help to hear the other perspective. We can only hope all shops and retailers can be more transparent when it comes to selling, etc. We all want bargains while also supporting our local shops I think in the end.
Thank you. I totally understand peoples sentiments and I do wish all our stuff was sorted and priced so that all our “cards are on the table”. I personally am not happy with the current limbo state of our backstock and really would like to get it to that level that A-1 has. Putting up the signs was our idea for a compromise but we’ll have to do better.
Hi Jon thanks for coming here to share your thoughts and for your professionalism. I have shopped at Heroes World before when you were at your old location a very long time ago. I do remember having positive experiences there in the past and used to go there every Wednesday to pick up my books before taking a break from comics.
Glad comixman came here to vouch for you with his positive experiences at your shop. This is in line with with my experience at your shop when I was there 15 or so years ago lol. This was why I was so excited to be back to visit your shop and was happy it was still there.
I’m finding myself doing most of my purchasing these days from online stores. Between Villaingaming and the various other online accounts I have at other shops. Bought close to 200 books this past month online and while these online shops are great ( great packaging, deals, incentives etc), ideally I want to support my LCS.
If I was living in Sacramento I would be doing virtually all my shopping at A-1 Comics. The store was great, clean well organized, fair pricing, and a back issues section I could spend days at picking up books that I wanted. They don’t play any games with their customers so there would be no reason for me to go elsewhere.
Coming back and seeing books not priced at Heroes World wasn’t very inviting to be honest. Thanks for coming here and listening to our critiques. I’ll give you guys another shot, Heroes World is walking distance from my home lol.
Like I said that’s on us to create the best experience for customers new, old, returning. whatever so i thank you for your input and again apologize for your negative experience/impressions. I had no idea that it could come off as uninviting so we’ll be looking to fix that, things won’t be fixed overnight but it’s definitely something we’ll be trying to make adjustments to. Addition of 1,2,3 dollar bins is top of my list as we do need to clear some inventory asap and those were a ton of fun to dig though back in the day.
Comics are Go in Sheffield, OH doesn’t price anything, so everything is basically market price once you checkout. Not unethical, but it takes the fun out of fingerburning through longboxes to find a deal when everything is at ebay prices. I can buy most books in the comfort of my home through ebay if I want to pay higher prices. These shops take the fun out of collecting by trying to squeeze every last penny out of their customers… and in the end, they don’t move much inventory, because customers stay away.
