20 Years of Retailing at Big Planet Comics
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on October 3, 2006 Sign up now!
by Chris Arrant, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 10/3/2006
Graphic novels have left no corner of the comics industry unchanged. But while they have received a warm welcome from the bookstore market, their reception in the comics shop market—also called the direct market—has been noticeably different. The direct market's foundation is firmly in monthly serials, and the comparatively higher prices and long-term selling patterns of the graphic novel format have sometimes proved harder for comics shops to accommodate. But many forward-looking comics retailers have taken the plunge, most prominently Big Planet Comics, a Washington, D.C., area comic shop chain.
Joel Pollack, Big Planet Comics' founder and primary owner, says graphic novels account for roughly 70% of his floor space. Noticing a shift in the marketplace, Big Planet Comics began pushing graphic novels and trade book collections over seven years ago. "I saw that the future of comics was going to be the readers, and pursued a bookstore model as opposed to a newsstand model for the shop," said Pollack. "This does not mean that we ignore the weekly product or fail to display that week's books. We just felt the trade books would pay off. Our sales numbers continually reflect that belief week after week.” Big Planet now boasts the largest selection of graphic novels in the D.C. area, and since the first store's opening 20 years ago, has expanded to three stores in the region.
Pointing to such perennial backlist bestsellers as Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Sandman and Bone, he has also pegged current titles such as Y: The Last Man and Fables to join that list shortly. "As far as manga goes, we carry the most popular titles and a selection of titles that appeal to our regular reader base," said Greg Bennett, consulting manager and Big Planet's first employee way back in 1986. "All of our shops are near major chain bookstores, so we can't really carry the full manga lines like we used to."
But that's not to say Big Planet doesn't carry an extensive and eclectic lineup of manga. Popular titles include mainstream hits such as Dragonball Z, Naruto and Ranma ½, while also proving the popularity of cult titles such as Buddha, Barefoot Gen, Monster, Death Note, Dragon Head and the chain's all-time bestselling manga, Lone Wolf & Cub and Sanctuary. "The popular manga titles seem to have their own audience, but the classics and newer cult titles seem to have much more crossover appeal," said Bennett.
With this year marking the 20th anniversary of the store's opening, plans have been made for a celebratory party to be held October 12, the night before the opening of the Small Press Expo, an annual convention for small and indie comics publishers and self-published comics artists. Pollack was a cofounder of the show, known as SPX, and Bennett plays a major role in the continuing success of the independent comics convention.
The flagship Big Planet Comics store is in Bethesda, Md., although the Vienna, Va., location does the same level of business. The newest store, located in Georgetown, continues to show growth and is quickly catching up with the other two established locations. "I would describe the shops as full-service graphic novel stores, with a large selection of periodical comics from the last six to 12 months," explained Bennett. "We haven't done a lot with back issues in the 21st century—there's no need, since so much material is being collected in trade paperbacks," he said. "We have always prided ourselves on being a shop for readers, not so much for collectors."
Customers of Big Planet Comics are offered an array of benefits. In addition to the free subscription service offering 10% off, the three-store chain also has a monthly newsletter available at any location and a Web site. The stores hold a biannual comic sale on the Fourth of July and New Year's Day, boasting 20% off on all comics in the store. Each store has also set aside a "kid friendly" section for children.
"The stores are clean, organized, well-lit and give off none of that 'he-man woman haters club' vibe that so many stores do," said Jim Dougan, longtime customer and writer of the graphic novel Crazy Papers. "Like most stores probably, they make their bread and butter off of the weekly superhero fix, but they highlight and promote everything from minicomics to the latest Shazam! to European albums."
