Monday, March 26, 2007  
Comic Shoppe Talk: Elfsar, Vancouver

:: Posted by Bryan @ 3/26/2007 12:05:00 AM
This week, Ethan Peacock from Vancouver's Elfsar Comics agreed to answer a few email questions about his business. Elfsar occupies 2,500 square feet in Vancouver, BC. and opened May 2003 with some help from the folks behind Happy Harbor in Edmonton. The store is a participant of Free Comic Book Day and 24 Hour Comic day as well as fundraisers for charities (it donated over $1,600 to the Vancouver Ronald McDonald House last year). Peacock was nice enough to list some of his current bestsellers. Looking over the lists, it's tempting to say, as Elfsar goes, so goes the Direct Market. From Peacock's description, the store seems to attract a huge number of traditional Marvel/DC-type fans/collectors. I'm also reminded I should ask more specific questions about Canadian comics sales.


Q. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers?

The average age is about 25-30 years of age. The Male/female ratio is 85% Male 15% Female.

Q. What do you sell more of by volume, graphic novels (including trades and manga) or monthly comic books?

Well, it's kind of hard to say. Comics (floppies) still rank as #1 but that is mostly due to our saver file subscriptions for monthly books. However for floor traffic Trades are definitely #1. We track every sale at our store via our point of sale system so we know exactly what is selling, customer purchase history & loads of other useful data which helps us with our ordering.

Q. What do do you sell more of by dollar value?

Again, same as above.


Q. What are your bestselling books?

1. 52 weeks
2. Civil War
3. Mighty Avengers
4. Astonishing X-men
5. New Avengers
6. All Star Superman
7. Justice League of America
8. Justice Society of America
9. Walking Dead
10. The Boys

Q. What are your bestselling non-manga graphic novels?

1. Superman Death of Superman TP
2. Batman The Long Halloween TP
3. Astonishing X-men Vol 1 TP
4. Ultimate Spider-man Vol 1 TP
5. Batman Hush Vol 1 TP
6. Walking Dead Vol 1 TP
7. Batman Dark Knight Returns TP
8. Sandman Vol 4. TP
9. Superman Red Son TP
10. Watchmen TP

Q. What are your bestselling non-superhero graphic novels?

1. Walking Dead Vol 1 TP
2. Watchmen TP
3. Sandman Vol 4. TP
4. 300 HC
5. Y the Last Man Vol 1 TP
6. Bone One Vol Edition SC
7. Transformers G1 Vol 1 TP
8. Conan Vol 1 TP
9. Pride of Bagdad HC
10. Transmetropolitan Vol 1 TP

Q. What percent of your manga sales are driven by "TheYTV effect" and other media (anime, movies, toys, etc)?

Not much or at least I have not noticed anything significant.

Q. What do you see as the major trends in graphic novels and comics retailing over the next year? The next 5 years?

Our sales greatly depend on what the Top companies decide to put into print. I believe that Graphic Novels (Trades) are the future and we have been adjusting out orders accordingly. I think publishers are starting to have more faith in this format. But it is kind of anti-collecting and certain companies (i.e. Marvel) make it obvious that they do not like that which is why they seem to let so many of their trades go out of print. Other companies (i.e. Dynamite Entertainment) are starting to publish variant covers for Trades which again I feel is the wrong direction. I believe that Trades belong on a bookshelf and are aimed at people who want to read stories. Plain and simple.

Over the next year I foresee more collections of older material from the large publishers. I foresee more independent creators skipping the single issue format and going straight to trades, which will cost them more at first but in the long run they will sell out as opposed to having tons of #3's and #4's that they can't sell without reprinting #1's and #2's.

In the next 5 years I think the larger publishers will be pushing to put ads in Trades weather at the end or throughout the book (I have already seen this in a Top Cow Hardcover). I think that there will be more comics on the web and I think single issues will crash in sales and many comic book stores will close. This will be also due to comics being pushed to things like blackberries for a subscription, etc.

Hey, when you have Jonny Q [sic] at Marvel saying "The paper form of Comics will be extinct in 30 years," it doesn't give me a few positive outlook on my business of selling paper comics.

Q. What comics do you find yourself recommending the most?

Hard to say, for those looking for great stories, we recommend good stating points or one-shot books from some of our favorite writers. For those looking for good art, we point out different art styles and see what they bite on. Each employee has their personal faves. I like Mignola's work myself.

Q. What are your favourite comics?

I like any Comics/Trades that sell well and stay in print.

Q. Why are you a comics retailer?

At first it was because I was a comics fan. I was an aspiring artist and comics were very attractive to me. I was ordering so many comics that it was time to open a store. Now, that I have been exposed to the other side my fandomship has died down a fair amount. Now it's just a business and my priorities have changed.

Q. What bothers you the most about the current comics industry?

The "Comic Book Day Wednesday" situation. As much as I love the fact that we have customers that can't wait to buy our product. A lot of it is already spoken for. All other industries get at least a day to sort through inventory, check damages, make displays, enter items that were not in their database & get knowledge on the product. We have customers eagerly hounding us for stuff as our product arrives. The customer will also ask us "So how's this book?" when we have not even had time to get it out (quite literally) of the box, let alone read it. This causes a lot of unnecessary stress and I personally believe is the #1 reason that comic book shops are a dying breed.

Ideally we would get our stuff a day early or during the previous night so that we could set everything up during closing hours. Ideally all comic shops would agree to not sell the books before the next day. But we are breed that feeds off ourselves and that will never happen. All it takes is one to break the rule and other have no choice but to follow suit or go out of business. If I was the only Comic Book shop in Vancouver, I would totally make Thursday "Comic Book Day", but I am not. So I have no choice but to suffer.

Also we are not ever ordering for tomorrow like most businesses ... you run out of something ... you order more. Instead we have to order 2 months in advance or we have to order for 6 months down the line. It is impossible to predict your next weeks invoice so cash flow is always a problem.

Q. How important is the web to your business?

Very, it acts like a giant business card and with the increase in webcomics it will become more and more important as time goes on. It gives store the opportunity to showcase their Events/Sales/Product/Signings/etc...


ELFSAR COMICS & TOYS.
FEATURED IN BEST OF VANCOUVER 2006!
www.elfsar.com
(604) 688-5922
Open 7 Days a Week
1007 Hamilton St.
Vancouver , BC
Canada V6B 5T4

Labels: , , , , , ,

   
         - Stumble It!  - Leave a comment!| 0comments  -  - we honor OpenID - 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Hi, welcome to the blog! If you want to let us know about an event or share PR, write us at Sequential@Spiltink.Org.

For discussion of posts, corrections or relevant links to the story feel free to fire away and post here! We love hearing from you guys. cheers! :)

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home






Archive by Region
Alberta - British Columbia - Calgary - Gatineau - Halifax - Moncton - Montreal - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Ontario - PEI - Quebec - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon - Toronto - Vancouver - Victoria - Winnipeg -

Archive by Month
August 2002 - September 2002 - October 2002 - November 2002 - December 2002 - January 2003 - February 2003 - March 2003 - April 2003 - May 2003 - June 2003 - July 2003 - August 2003 - September 2003 - October 2003 - November 2003 - December 2003 - January 2004 - February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - September 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004 - January 2005 - February 2005 - March 2005 - April 2005 - May 2005 - June 2005 - July 2005 - August 2005 - September 2005 - October 2005 - November 2005 - December 2005 - January 2006 - February 2006 - March 2006 - April 2006 - May 2006 - June 2006 - July 2006 - August 2006 - September 2006 - October 2006 - November 2006 - December 2006 - January 2007 - February 2007 - March 2007 - April 2007 - May 2007 - June 2007 - July 2007 - August 2007 - September 2007 - October 2007 - November 2007 - December 2007 - January 2008 - February 2008 - March 2008 - April 2008 - May 2008 - June 2008 - July 2008 - August 2008 - September 2008 - October 2008 - November 2008 - December 2008 - January 2009 - February 2009 - March 2009 - April 2009 - May 2009 - June 2009 - July 2009 - August 2009 - September 2009 - October 2009 - November 2009 - December 2009 - January 2010 - February 2010 - March 2010 -