Marvel will no longer sell floppies in Barnes & Noble

random73

I hate this. I go to B&N to grab stuff I miss at my LCS (or DCBS). I always want to see more spinner racks and more mainstream locations rather then specialty shops. Apparently, i do not understand the business model.

http://www.newsarama.com/19916-marvel-breaks-silence-on-end-of-big-box-bookstore-periodical-sales.html

Mr_Cosmic

Yeah, I can't pretend to understand it either. Personally, I got into comics because of spinner racks in gas stations and drug stores. If they were only in comic shops back then I would never have become a fan. I think more comics in more places is always good...

random73

Mr_Cosmic said:

Yeah, I can't pretend to understand it either. Personally, I got into comics because of spinner racks in gas stations and drug stores. If they were only in comic shops back then I would never have become a fan. I think more comics in more places is always good...

I feel exactly the same way. I used to read comics on the spinner at my local drug store, or Schnucks grocery store, while my mom was shopping or whatever. I'd plunk down my .60 and be set for the day.

David_D

Weren't the bookstore versions often higher-priced? With a $3.99 price point across the board?

random73

David_D said:

Weren't the bookstore versions often higher-priced? With a $3.99 price point across the board?

never noticed.

Hex

David_D said:

Weren't the bookstore versions often higher-priced? With a $3.99 price point across the board?

I think this is where the problem is. Unfortunately, comics are no longer the inexpensive impulse buy that they used to be. Spinner-racks in gas stations and corner stores rely on the impulse buy. $3.99 (or even $2.99) isn't easy for kids today, like 75 cents was 20 years ago.

playdohsrepublic

As much as we reminisce about the spinner rack days the fact is that floppies don't sell outside of the LCS anymore and haven't in a long while. It's sad, and the comic companies did it to themselves, with a helping hand from Diamond, but that's the reality. Add into it the slow death of the periodical and it's pretty clear those days are over. If it was making money for either B&N or Marvel it would not be going away.

random73

playdohsrepublic said:

As much as we reminisce about the spinner rack days the fact is that floppies don't sell outside of the LCS anymore and haven't in a long while. It's sad, and the comic companies did it to themselves, with a helping hand from Diamond, but that's the reality. Add into it the slow death of the periodical and it's pretty clear those days are over. If it was making money for either B&N or Marvel it would not be going away.

I am waxing nostalgic I'm afraid you're right.

fredzilla

I think the last time I step foot in a B&N we had a different president.

Greg

David_D said:

Weren't the bookstore versions often higher-priced? With a $3.99 price point across the board?

The local Kroger carried six DC and six Marvel books each month, the Marvel titles were all $3.99 titles, X-Men, Avengers, Spidey...none of the $2.99 books.

SolitaireRose

Magazines of ALL kinds are having a hard time of it these days. I think my subscriptions to GQ and Wired have both continued without me resubscribing simply because they need to have high subscription numbers to show to advertisers. So, I'm betting that with returns, it simply wasn't worth the trouble for Marvel to service the account.

Digital is where monthly books are going. Maybe not for a decade or so, but...

David_D

Greg said:

David_D said:

Weren't the bookstore versions often higher-priced? With a $3.99 price point across the board?

The local Kroger carried six DC and six Marvel books each month, the Marvel titles were all $3.99 titles, X-Men, Avengers, Spidey...none of the $2.99 books.

I think I remember what I was thinking of-- the DC books in Toys R Us (and perhaps other big box stores and bookstores?) are all $3.99. Even the ones that are $2.99 through the direct market. I remember being surprised when I saw some near the checkout and there was a Wonder Woman with a printed (not sticker) cover price of $3.99. And I think The Beat has had some reporting on that.

I don't know if Marvel did the same or, having so many titles at $3.99 already, they just chose to distribute those, like @Greg said.

RedRight88

Maybe it's because we keep calling them "Floppies"....Seriously use the term Issues people.

RickM

I also have fond memories of comics on spinner racks, and of comics being available in every drug store, grocery, and convenience store. But I also know that comic shops have been around for 25 years, and to think someone is going to waltz into B&N and buy several copies of outdated, bent, torn and folded single issues from the Big Two is ridiculous. If someone wants to read "The Avengers" for the first time in 10 years, which title do you point him to? People who seek out comics will go to the LCS and get pristine copies, organized and up-to-date, from a retailer who understands the medium. I fear that the Big Two have alienated the casual reader simply by the preponderance of titles and niches (don't like regular JLA? Try Dark!), and there is no way you can maintain casual, one-off newsstand sales when your product line is that complex.

ajcasperite

I looked a few times when they would have them in a spinner rack and most would be bent or dog eared. I did not want to purchase pre-read comics. Plus the magazine shelf rack space would be better used with more Oprah magazines and People-esque rags with Miley Cyrus or lady Goo goo on the cover. More regurgitated shit. Goodbye floppies it was nice knowing you.

jaydee74

It's really not surprising but sad to see.

Krescan

We have a books-a-million so I don't know if they're doing the same with them or not, I might actually be glad to see them go away. Every time I go by and look at them they're always a mangled mess, and I don't think it's even people bending them over I think the shelf they put them on is too low and the weight of the comics folds them over. I'm not for every comic I own to be a 9.5 or better but I do like them to be in decent shape and they just look terrible there. The trades and hardcovers aren't much better really, and that's because they keep just piling stuff on the shelf without putting any of the stuff that isn't selling at a discount.

I say that but they do have a pretty big selection of trades and hardcovers for 10 bucks or less, but I've read most of them already.

David_D

So long as the same content can be sold serially (with ads) and then simultaneously sold digitally, and then later sold again in collected editions, there will still be single issues. Because otherwise it is money left on the table, at least as far the the direct market goes, as we continue to buy single issues.

There are still comic book stores, which is where Marvel does the majority of its single issue business (and they are the only publisher being discussed in the linked story-- so this is only the end of newsstand distribution for a single publisher, albeit one of the big ones), so there will still be single issues.

It sounds like the venues that Marvel is no longer using for their product was not where customers were accessing their single issues in significant numbers. Therefore it doesn't sound like this is the end of anything that really affects the bigger picture when it comes to the future of the "floppy".

batlaw

Sad. I wish at least a small selection of singles could remain available at various locations like 711s, grocery stores and the like. I can't stand the thought of that tradition being completely erased. That's where it started for most of us and where it still could for others. I always dream of and to some degree expect a resurgence one day for comics. Trends/fads etc. tend to come back around and I want to see the day comics are trendy/cool again. Even if only briefly hip. Though I suppose if it was to happen, it would've alrready within these last few years with the explosive popularity of "geek culture". Big Bang theory and all that. Guess it all stems from the fact comics are no longer affordable and disposable entertainment. Just like the toy biz. The prices have gone insane. They stopped being toys and became "collectibles".