My LCS and TPBs

[jmatt]

I really love my LCS (The Encounter in Allentown). Great guys, good service. But apparently they're very good at scooping up scads of brand new TPBs and selling them for next to nothing. Hardcovers, too.

They normally have these books (retail prices listed at anywhere from $20 to $29) tagged at anywhere between $6 to $10, which is a crazy good bargain in itself.

This week, they have them for 40% off of that. Like 20 longboxes full. I couldn't resist and walked out yesterday with a stack a foot tall for $30. I'm thinking of going back with a hundred bucks and getting a shelf full. What a bargain.

Do you guys see this sort of pricing at your LCS? Is there simply a bottomless glut of product out there?

[grendeljd]

My LCS seems to have a pretty good handle on their best TPB sales & manages to have good selection without overstocking much. I don't see too much discount bin action for trades there.

But I do see vendors at Comic Cons regularly that sell large quantities of discounted TPBs.

Sounds like you got a nice haul for a good deal. Any particular trades of note?

[joeGualtieri]

What you're probably seeing is stuff Diamond had a sale on. It happens periodically for everyone, but Marvel in particular is really aggressive about marking stuff down and blowing out stock.

[jmatt]

Yeah, I don't think it's LCS overstock, these guys are very careful about their orders. I always figured they were finding the stock of shops that went out of business long ago... but maybe it is a Diamond sale. I'd say this sale stock is about 80% Marvel and 20% DC.

I picked up a few softcover Marvel Masterworks, a hardcover of "The Warriors Three", a bunch of Jurgen's Thor and some FF. Seriously, I got some of these trades for $3.75.



But these guys always have great stuff. I got Batman Cover to Cover hardcover, brand new for $10 last year.

[paradise]

Yes, both Marvel and DC have done CRAZY sales on Trades where they are all like 75-80% off and you get this specific HC for free with each one you buy. I have had hundredS of copies of the Dark Tower HC and the "Obama" Spider-Man HC because I would buy their sale HCs, and get free one of those two with each one. I had 5-6 cases of each sitting in the back but eventually got rid of them and made a killing. They don't do that much anymore to be honest, but for a while, it was NUTS.