BrianPG

March 12, 2013 12:40 am As a former customer of the South County Fantasy Shop, and a current customer of Up, Up, and Away (mentioned earlier in the comments), I can say with some amount of certainty that the success of both shops is at least partially due to the strength of the folks running them. Scott at the Fantasy Shop is the most knowledgable and enthusiastic comic guy I've ever had the pleasure to speak to. He reads nearly EVERYTHING and, while he will give a fair critique of a book if asked, never has anything nasty to say about a comic or publisher. He truly seems to love his job and it's evident anytime you enter the store. It's all too common (in my experience) to overhear customers and too often managers at comic shops grousing about the incompetancy of this publisher, the poor quality that book, or that weak skills of such and such creator. This was the case recently when I was trying to track down the new Valiant titles shortly after my move to Cincinnati. No store in the area had the books on hand, not because they had sold out of them, but because they chose not to order them (or in a few cases had grossly under-ordered and weren't restocking). One store owner actually told me to my face that Valiant was going to fail and that I shouldn't waste my money. Well, I certainly wasn't going to waste my money in HIS store. Cut to Up, Up, and Away, the final store in my search for Valiant. They didn't have a few of the issues on hand, but they were happy to order the second printings for me, as well as make sure that the newest issues got added to my shiny new pull asap. Since then, they've become the only store in the area that gets my business. The staff there (not just the owner) has gone out of their way to make sure that I have whatever books I want (even when I'm a little late to the party in some cases), and have always given me good advice when I ask for their opinions on something. Not every comic shop is run by someone who enjoys working retail. Often, the people who are most passionate about comics aren't "people persons" at all. When you get that right mix of customer service and expertise, though, it makes all the difference in the experience of the customers - which is why we not only come back again and again, we also tell our friends.