- Page 3's Game Zone, two locations downtown, currently near high school, Pikeville, ✓: It was summer vacation after my third year of college. I went to shop in Pikeville, and I noticed this new store on the corner of Hoffman and Second. It was a comic book shop, along with certain other collectables. Since I already got all of my comics at my regular store, I wasn't looking too closely, although I did by the first issue of a new mini-series, and maybe a few packs of trading cards. Soon after on my regular pick-up, I found out my regular store had closed, again, but without any signs of it opening back up. I started getting my comics at Page 3 (which is the name for the first page of story in a comic, with the front cover, front and back being the first two pages), and I have been getting my comics there ever since. Over thirty years. I'm not sure if that is an accomplishment or pathetic that I still live in the same area. I sometimes hung out there after school some days. It was close enough that I could walk if I had to. I helped out on occasion. I started collecting Magic: The Gathering, although I never actually felt confident enough to ever play in public there. They moved to a larger space just down the street, where there could expand their collection of toys and video games. They even had a basic newsstand with magazines for a short time in the late 90s. I got my first RPGs at that time as well. In the early 2000s, they moved to their current location just down the road from the high school. It is way bigger, with enough room to host some tournaments as well as a larger collection of back issues. I currently average between three or four comics per week, although I sometimes got up to seven or more in my heydays. Hundreds, if not thousands by now if they all still existed. By far the most common publisher has been DC, with around 80 to 85%. The remaining four or five, along with the random one-off, fill out the rest. I have never bough a Marvel comic there; just the promotional ones with Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday in May and such. This is forecast to change in June, but that is a post for another day. I've also gotten magazines about comic books and other nerdy subjects, but not currently. Frankly, I'm amazed about just how much this place has meant to me for so long. [There are other places in downtown I will revisit in a later post.]
- Economy Drug, three locations at Town and Country Shopping Center, Pikeville, ✓: This was once my go-to place for comics in Pikeville. Sure, I got many other things there as well--such as candy, toys, and magazines--but it is the comics that stand out. It was here at one of its older locations that I got my first comic on a Sunday. (Just don't ask me what I was doing there on a Sunday.) Even after they moved to their current location and I was getting most of my comics elsewhere, I would still pick up the occasional one not on my pull list here. I would stop by every Monday when I was in school here to check things out. Even after I opened my store, I would close early and stop by some Wednesdays. In the early 2000s or so, they stopped getting comics, when the newsstand market faded. By the late 2010s, they stopped carrying magazines as well, and they had some of the largest, and most varied selection in town. Currently, I only go up there once every few months, as the only thing I would really look for would be seasonal candy, and I try to eat as little of that as possible. [There was another drug store just down the road from the center. I know I picked up a magazine that was missing from everywhere once, but I don't remember ever seeing comics there. I could be wrong. It might also be closed now.]
WARNING: BLATANT SELF-PROMOTION COMING UP
- Booknotes, Town and Country Shopping Center, Pikeville, ✓: Confession. Back when I opened, I got a number of Disney comic digests through my store that either weren't available from Page 3, or I was too embarrassed to order them through there. I have also bought some trade paperback graphic novel collections including comics that Page 3 missed somehow, as well as some hardcover collections of comics that came out a long time before Page 3 opened. I just get a much bigger discount that way. I've also bought the occasional magna, but that isn't a big thing for me. I've ordered graphic novels and magna for other customers who didn't want to go through other venues as well. And, yes, I did order some deluxe, higher-end comics for a customer who explicitly didn't want to go through Page 3. I didn't even know I could do that. I would never get my regular pull through my store though, even if it was possible. I wouldn't betray Page 3 like that. I currently do not stock graphic novels regularly for that very reason. This is as far as I would go. I will remind readers that one reason for opening a book store was to get my RPGs on a regular basis, back when I could. They don't currently are sold through my distributor that way, but that was what did happen. [There were once other book stores in the area in the 90s, but I never went into them. I probably should have. To the best of my knowledge, done had comics or magazines.]
- Unknown collectables store, Town and Country Shopping Center, Pikeville: A collectables store opened at the Center in the late 90s. I went there once. It focused mostly on sports cards. The few comics they had were old, and my primary aim was on new titles. The store didn't last long. It may have been in the spot known for having many problems with it that is do longer being rented.
- Food City, original location, Pikeville, ✓: Like Economy Drug, the Food City at the Center had comics. I probably even bought one or more there in the 80s and/or early 90s, but I can't remember what. I would look at the comics there just like at Economy just to make sure I was keeping up with books I didn't collect. After I opened my store, I would shop there about twice a week. However, management decided to take over the old Winn-Dixie spot which was a little larger. While they had probably given up on comics by then, they were able to expand their magazine section. At least they did until they expanded the store to be able to install a liquor department. Suddenly, the magazine section decreased by half and got hidden at the rear of an aisle. I shop there once, twice a week, even though it is very far away now. [As to the other supermarkets of the area. The Piggly Wiggly that Food City replaced may have had comics that I bought, but I was so young and went there so infrequently that I can't be sure. Same goes for the A & P that closed and burned down. I was just too young to be sure, but I don't think I got any comics there if they had them. While other markets had magazines, I don't remember any others selling comics.]
- Unknown comic shop, Chloe Creek Road, technically Shelbiana: In the late 90s, there were ads for this new comic shop on Chloe Road. The first few times I tried to go there, I couldn't find it. Turns out, it was almost at the very end near the Shelbiana side. However, the store was closed. I would finally go there after a few more tries. It took up half of an old grocery store, based on the pressure plate door openers. They had a selections of comics and cards similar to Page 3, but not the RPGs that were most on my mind. Didn't ever try to go back. They closed soon after. While I've been down that road many times since, I can't seem to ever find the place. Either it had been torn down or so totally remodeled that I can't recognize it.
- Book Nook, Shelbiana, ✓: Right at where Route 122 became US 23 was Book Nook, a newsstand/book store connected to a small grocery store. I would frequently stop there on the way back home from going to Pikeville after eating at Long John Silver's. They had two racks of comic, usually in order of titles. There was a selections of children's books and rows of paperbacks, which I never looked at. There was also magazine racks that included Games Magazine. It was my first "grown-up" puzzle magazine. (Literally, as it was originally published by Playboy, which I may have mentioned before.) I couldn't do all of the puzzles, but I've been getting it, save a few issues here and there as well as a brief time when it was cancelled, ever since. We didn't get too many groceries there, but they were the last to stock my all-time favorite chocolate-covered marshmallow Easter eggs, Luden's I think. I'ver been looking for them online, but I can never seem to find out what happened to them. Maybe the wrong name. Once, we caught the clerk taking a nap on a cot in the back. Soon after, the place closed, and became a Worldwide Equipment. The building was torn down years later to make room for the new Food City, or possibly the liquor store beside it. [At most, this Food City only had some Archie comic digests, but they have stopped even carrying those. After the last remodel, even their magazine section dropped to one rack, moved to the rear end of an aisle. Still shop there on the way home at least once a week.]
- IGA, Virgie, ✓: We didn't stop here too often back then, but one day we did and I picked up what would be my second ever superhero comic, Justice League of America. That issue included a preview of what would become my third superhero comic, and my first #1, All-Star Squadron. I would wind up picking up a few more comics the next year or two before they may have stopped getting them, or I just was able to pick them up elsewhere. They still had magazines for a while, and I remember getting one with song lyrics in them. By the late 80s, we stopped going there as often. In the 2000s, I started going there again, but they had stopped carrying magazines. They still had rarer varieties of some of my favorite brands though. A few years ago, the store was remodeled and became a Save-a-Lot. Although it was cleaner and brighter, it no longer sold those special brands, and I haven't gone in since I checked out the new design. [There are a few other stores on the old way from Shelbiana to Virgie, but I don't remember any of them selling comics. Just magazines. The most likely would be Quality Foods at Robinson Creek, but if they sold any, it would've been in the late 80s or so. By the early 2000s, they stopped carrying even magazines. Still open though.]
No comments:
Post a Comment