My Comic Book Journey, Huntington Mall

    In honor of "Free Comic Book Day," I am writing this bonus post in my continuing series.  Today, I will be exploring the Huntington Mall and nearby locations.  The Mall was the first mall I went to that I was old enough to fully appreciate.  It is misnamed thought, as it is miles east of most of Huntington, and it may or may not be withing Barboursville city limits.  As such, I will just limit the location of these stores as "Huntington Mall."  Entries in black are for stores that have gone out of business. Blue is for stores that still sell comics, of some kind.  Although there are none mentioned again this week, red would indicate stores that are still open, but do not currently sell comics.  Checks indicate that I actually bought at least one comic there, which is all the main entries.  Comments include places that may have/still have comics, but they do not merit a full entry.  As each store is in pretty much the same place, I will be listing them roughly in the order they closed.

• Coles, Huntington Mall, ✓:  This was one of the two bookstores at the Mall when it first opened in the early 80s.  (See below for the entry on the other one, Waldenbooks.) For some reason, I always seemed to switch up which of the stores I would buy comics at each trip, although I preferred Coles as it was more brightly decorated.  To be honest, I was much more likely to buy comic digests here than actual comic books, for some reason.  In fact, I can't be sure which of these stores I bought more at, but I will list them both as having bought there.  I also bought books on occasion and maybe a magazine here.  One trip, when I was still going just once-a-year, I heard a clerk say that they were going to get merchandise from the other store.  Apparently, Coles and Waldenbooks were now under the same corporate umbrella.  I guess this is why Coles was closed by my next trip.  I can't remember where it was exactly, but it was on the northwestern side of the mall.
• Phar-mor, Huntington Mall, ✓:  My mom would make us go early to reach the mall in time to get maximum shopping potential.  This meant getting there before most of the stores were open. When Phar-mor became the fifth 'anchor' store in the early 90s, we finally had somewhere to go until the other shops opened.  As the name suggests, the store was more than just a pharmacy.  It had clothing, electronics, groceries, toys, and, of course, magazines and comics. I know I got a few mags there.  I know I saw comics there.  I am fairly certain I got at least one comic here that I wasn't getting through my regular comic store.  Things were going great, even if it meant carrying bags around before the true shopping began, until Phar-mor faced some major financial problems.  The chain closed, with Dick's Sporting Goods ultimately taking over the spot.  Dick's even expanded into the Mall proper, taking over some of the units on the mall side of the store.
• Unknown collectible/comic kiosk, Huntington Mall, ✓:  There may have been more than one of these, and I am accidentally combining them.  However, I am pretty sure there were no more than one open at any given time.  I would wind up getting some trading-game cards here, as well as the occasion comic.  Once, in the early 90s, I would pick up about seven comics here.  Combined with my regular two (or three week) haul from my regular comic book store, and maybe an additional one or two from elsewhere in the mall, I had over twenty comics in one day.  Still a record.  The comic craze died down, and the kiosk closed.  In fact, the mall has gotten rid of many of their kiosks, especially after the last remodel that added carpeting to the main corridors. 
• Unnamed hobby/comic store, Huntington Mall, ✓:  This was one of the opening stores at the Mall.  I only remember going in once in the 80s.  A great-aunt had given my some old money, and I was looking for a way to clean it.  We got two types of cleanser here, but I never used it.  Whenever I tried, my mom said it wouldn't be the right time. We ultimately had to get rid of it, mostly never used, and definitely not on those coins.  However, I would see a poster promoting comic books here in the early 90s.  I started going in there again, and I picked up a few issues here and there.  Unfortunately, this was one of a grouping of stores that closed about the same time, so a new store could take up all of their places.  The hobby store closed before I started getting into RPGs, so I don't remember if they had them there.  About five or six stores were combined into a new big store, which I'll come back to.
• Waldenbooks, Huntington Mall, ✓: After Coles closed, this was the main place where I would find things to read while my mom went around trying on clothes. I can't really remember buying comic books here in the 90s and 2000s, but I am sure I bought at least one during that time.  I did seem to buy comic book magazines here though, quite often.  What got me is that they never seem to be available around home, even at Page 3.  They even had some RPG supplements, but I never bought any here.  Even when they were having their closing sale in the 2000s, I was talked out of buying anything by my mom, saying it would take to long to check out.  So, what was I going to do for a distraction now?
• Borders, Huntington Mall, ✓:  Remember that new big store I mentioned awhile back.  Turns out it was Borders, another books store.  One could almost call it a sixth anchor, due to its size and outside entrance.  It was definitely larger than the other non-anchor stores with their own outside door.  I had been in major bookstores before (see the next regular post), so I wasn't overwhelmed. It was still big.  I picked up a few comics that had slipped by Page 3, as well as magazines, RPGs, and the occasional book.  They also had CDs, but I don't think I ever got any here, preferring the music shops instead, until they closed.  I was seriously thinking about joining their membership program in the early 2000s, even though I had my own bookstore by then and I only visited a Borders two or three times a year.  The chain went into bankruptcy before I could join, and the store closed. One of the next times at the Mall was the worse visit ever.  We didn't buy a single thing, save for maybe some candy.  At least I picked up some stuff in Barboursbille and at Prestonsburg on the way home that time, but what about the next time?  What would I do? [A few other stores may have had comics.  At least one of the toy stores, Kay-Bee I'm thinking, may have had a small comic rack. Children's Palace may have had some comics too, after it moved to an outer building on the complex.  I just stayed in my favorite aisle, as the place was too big to search around in. It was the store where I bought my last toy as a kid,  okay young adult around 20 or so. Don't judge.  A Micheal's went into part of the space.  That's how big it was.  Suncoast may have had manga to go with the anime DVDs, but I rarely checked out that part of the store. It could have had actual comics for a time as well, but I can't remember.]
• BAM (Books-a-Million), Huntington Mall, ✓:  BAM would go into Borders' old spot soon after.  They even reused some of the fixtures.  At first, BAM was much the same.  Some comics, magazines, books, and RPGs, although the latter would soon run out as the company went to online distribution only.  Soon, comic books would change distributors as well, leaving just graphic novels and manga, and maybe an "Archie" digest or two.  BAM would stop selling CDs, going to just vinyl.  They would expand their board game selection, but cut back on magazines by about 25%.  Whether that is due to fewer mags or space is unknown, although many of my favorites have gone out of print. They keep moving sections around so you can't tell where anything is.  They have mostly closed the mall entrance registers, in favor of the outside entrance ones.  They no longer provide free bags, only selling reusable ones.  I am really starting to hate this place, but as it now has a monopoly on such products, I need something to keep me occupied, even when my mom barely looks for clothes any more. [Of current stores, only Gamestop may have once sold comics.  I remember buying a trading-card magazine in the 90s, so they may have had some comics, particularly game-based manga.  I haven't had a gaming console for a long time, so I haven't been in recently, so I don't know current status.  There is an Ollie's in a out-building on the complex, but I have never been in it.  Usually, they have graphic novels and maybe collector packs, but are subject to availability. Finally, there is a Walmart just off of the complex.  It is a little on the small side.  I went there once to look for missing exclusive comics.  They didn't have what I was looking for, but they did have comics then, and they still could have something.]

    After all the decades going to the Mall, I have never been into actual Huntington.  I know they have at least one comic store, based on the scenes every May for today's event, and some bookstores.  I even contacted one just before my store opened for advice, as that store was closing.  I've been to a few stores in Barboursville though, but I have no knowledge of any bookstores or comic stores in the city.  The Target there had some 'Archie' digests, and probably manga, but I never looked to closely for comics here.  It recently made news as part of it fell off due to a landslide.  The Barboursville Kroger was already fairly big when I first went there, and it is now comparable to some smaller Walmart after it expanded.  It may have had some comics mixed in with its large magazine section when I first started going in the late 90s or early 2000s, but not anymore.  In fact, the store has backslid a little since the expansion. The bakery has cut back on many options.  The promotes more store-brands now over name-brands.  The magazine section was moved and cut back to one rack, before being removed altogether.  The one great thing about it is the frozen food section, boasting a large selection including many varieties I have never seen locally.  However, going 120 miles for frozen food, even with freezer bags in the middle of winter isn't practical, although I have done it.  The other two stores in town that I have visited, Walgreens and Food Fair, have never had comics, with the latter never having mags either.

    That's it for this special bonus post.  Tune in this coming Wednesday for my regularly scheduled post.  The next stop on my journey, Lexington.