My Comic Book Journey, Magoffin and Johnson, plus Lawrence

    We are up to what I'm calling the northern leg of this trip.  I must admit, this part was going to be a little shorter than previous installments, but I found a way to make it about the same length.  This week, I'll be starting out in Magoffin county, before heading to Johnson county.  Finally, I make a quick stop in Lawrence county.  I'll also mention one last destination at the end.  As always, entries in black are for places that are now closed, while blue is for places that are still open and selling comics.  I would be using red for places that are still open but not longer selling comics, but none are main entries this week.  Check marks are used to designate locations where I actually bought, as opposed to just see, comics.  Let's start in Salyersville.

• Unknown drug store, Salyersville, ✓:  What was I in Salyersville for?  Well, back when I was much younger, I had a doctor who moved around a lot.  I went to see him at Wheelwright, Mud Creek, Pikeville, and at a clinic near Salyersville.  I needed a prescription that day, so we had it filled at this place downtown on a hill.  There was a problem, so we had to go back to the clinic to resolve it before actually getting it filled.  We sat in the waiting room for a long time, but that was also where the magazines and comics were.  I managed to pick up two of my regular titles and looked at quite a few more before we left for home.  Technically, the pharmacy might still exist, but since I'm not planning on ever going back to downtown Salyersville, and they wouldn't have comics anyway, I'm calling this place closed.

    Now, onto Johnson county.

• Sundry Store, Paintsville, ✓:  This store was a few doors down from my dentist's office.  I won't mention his name, but he is a relative and his son was on a high school, state championship basketball team.  I would stop by after my appointments and look at the comics.  At least once, I got to pick them up beforehand, and I read them while waiting on my mom to finish with hers.  I even think I was allowed to go a little early on my own, when I was a little older.  I don't remember looking at much of the rest of the store, but it was definitely more than what I did at the Prestonsburg location.  The store closed about the same time that my dentist retired.  I would soon get another dentist, who was also a relative, whose office was a few streets over. (More on him in a later post.) I think I remember going out to the car to get some comics to read while waiting on my mom just before he retired as well, but I can't remember where I got them.  It was at his second office, the summer after my first year of college when I was preparing to get some of my wisdom teeth pulled, so it could have been anywhere.  Just not at the Sundry Store. [The only other place downtown that might have had comics would have been Murphy's, but I don't remember seeing any there. I got toys a few times, and I think I remember magazines, but not comics.]
• Ames/unknown supermarket, Paintsville, ✓:   These stores were located at the shopping center south of Johnson Central High School.  The Ames may have been a Murphy's first.  We rarely went to this center, preferring the larger one nearby. (See next entry.) The Ames was very long and narrow, with only a few aisles.  I remember seeing toys, and possibly comics, but I don't remember buying anything there.  Maybe.  The supermarket was similarly narrow.  As such, the aisles weren't perpendicular to the facade like in most stores.  They were parallel, with a wide corridor in the middle.  I quickly came up with the best way to check every aisle, ending up right next to the registers.  And the comics next to them.  I'm pretty sure I bought one that day, the only time I remember ever going here.  Just wish I could remember the name.  The store is now, you guessed it, a Save-a-lot.  I think.  I so rarely go by this center any more that I can't be sure.  I don't know what went into the Ames spot.
• Kroger/unknown department store, Paintsville:  I know I saw comic books at both places, but I don't actually remember buying any at either spot.  They were located at the shopping center north of the high school, a much larger space with more stores and restaurants around.  The department store had a name made up of three letters, like TGY or something.  They a had a little bit of everything, sort of like Walmart, which is strange since the original location for the Paintsville Walmart was right next to where the store was.  I remember getting toys and magazines here, but I don't think I bought any of the comics I saw.  The same goes for Kroger.  It was maybe a little bigger than the one at Coal Run.  It was known for carrying brands not found any further east or south.  For instance, it was the first local store to carry the TastyKakes brand years before anyone else.  My mom would just love stopping here to pick something at the bakery in the mornings for her to eat on our way to the Huntington Mall.  We would then stop on the way back to pick up some more groceries.  It had a fairly good magazine stand, but I'm not too sure about comics. The department store closed in the 80s, and then split up into smaller units.  Kroger closed in the mid-2000s, the last one in the region to do so.  It was split into a Goodwill and a discount grocery.  I made the mistake of going in there soon after the change.  It almost broke my heart. [On a hill across the road, there is another shopping center.  The Food City there may have had comics, but they had their magazine stand moved to beside the entrance, making it hard to look there.  It probably had them, but I don't remember it.  The Kmart was much better.  It was bigger than some Walmarts at the time.  I only went to the original Painstville location once, where I may have gotten a toy yet no comics, but it probably could have fit into the latter location.  It had a good magazine selection, where I got some issues that weren't available in Huntington for some reason.  I bought my mom her best Christmas present ever there.  And it may have had a few comics in with the toy department.  I was too old for toys when I looked that time, but it may have been there.  Unfortunately, the place was too big and never really had the customers.  It closed along with the others, quite early on.  The place is still empty.]
• Read-a-lot bookstore, Paintsville, ✓:  This was the first bookstore I knew of in the area.  The first time there, my mom may have bought a book, but I don't remember her buying any others.  The had a trade-in shelf.  They had the usual magazines.  And they had comic books.  In fact, they may have had some direct market editions, although they could've been just collectibles instead of new. I would stop here after many of my dental appointments for comics.  I would also stop here on my way back from Huntington, as they were highly likely to have titles that weren't at the Mall yet.  Once, in the late 80s, I discovered the first revival of Disney comics, and I promptly got all four titles.  I also got my favorite RPG core rule book here in the late 90s.  I would sometimes sneak off to here to look at some of the other supplements, but never buying them.  I could never seem to want them enough.  I wound buying one at Page 3 in the early 2000s, used.  I would later find out that Read-a-lot had gone out of business.  Was the book I bought the same one I saw there over the years?  No idea. [There was a once a bookstore at Van Lear, not connected to this one.  We went there once when we entertained the idea of moving the store.  He mostly dealt in trades, although he had a good selection of new books, as well as some magazines the only time we went.  I didn't see comics though. The owner said he had barns full of used books that he wanted to get rid of.  I believe the store is now closed, but I just can't remember the name.]
• Walmart, current location, Paintsville:  I had been at the original location a few times, but not as many times as the ones in Prestonsburg and Pikeville.  I even went to all three in one day once.  The current location is huge, rivaling the one in Norton as the biggest one in the region.  I would give the honor to Norton, if only because I prefer the grocery section being on the right, and not the left as it is here.  As to comics, I don't remember the original place having them.  Didn't go enough times to know.  As to here... Remember the exclusive DC comics from a few posts ago?  Well, sometimes the P-burg and Pikeville locations either sold out or never got them in.  So, I stopped by here on my way back from Huntington to see if they had the missing issues.  They didn't, but they had other comics.  I believe they would still carry some collector pack and manga like the other Walmarts.

    Now, on quick stop in Lawrence county.

• Walmart, current location, Louisa:  I never went to the original Walmart at Louisa, but I passed by it once having to take a detour on the way to Huntington Mall one year.  I visited the current location soon after it opened.  I first thought it was a larger one, but subsequent trips suggest it is merely regular sized.  As to comics, see the above entry, just replace "coming back" with "going to" the Mall.  They didn't have the missing issues either that day.

    With this, the northern leg is technically done.  I will add one last place that kind of fits in here, but doesn't.  When I was a senior in high school, I was part of a group that went to Morehead State University for an event.  Afterwards, we stopped at a shopping center.  I bought two cassette singles at a record store, before going on to the Walmart.  I could've bought the cassettes for less there.  I probably looked for comics there, but I don't remember actually seeing any, although I might have had.  Didn't buy any though, that's for sure.  This doubt is why it doesn't get a main entry, or even a place in the regular comments.  Morehead might have a newer Walmart by now, but I might not ever go there again. There might have been a book store or comic store in the town at the time, but the bus was only at this one shopping center, so I never got a chance to find out.

    I have mentioned the Huntington Mall a few times this week.  Well, it just so happens that the Mall is our next destination.  Tune in this Saturday for a special "Free Comic Book Day" edition of the blogcast to find out where the comics are at the Mall.