Sluggish sales sink Silver Snail Comics
Retailer falls victim to electronic media and sagging Canadian dollar
Bank Street’s Silver Snail Comics will close on Sept. 13 after 25 years in business, the victim of the growing popularity of electronic books and a falling Canadian dollar.
Comic book heroes have been a hit on the big screen and the small screen, and the comic fan subculture has gone mainstream. Still, more and more readers are buying their comic books from Amazon or buying them as e-books.
“There just aren’t enough of those people who buy regularly,” said Kin Jee, who grew up just a short distance from the store at 391 Bank St. and has managed it since it opened.
“Characters on TV didn’t translate into customers in comic book stores.”
Jee has been selling comic books (a black-and-white softcover about as thick as a best-selling novel sells for $20 U.S) at par with the Canadian dollar in the hopes of pulling in more customers. But that meant the store was losing about 30 per cent because of the exchange rate.
“We just can’t generate enough sales to make it in this location after 25 years,” said Jee, who also sells novelty items such as action figures and T-shirts. “It’s a total shock to our customers. They’re like family to us. Our customers are the best.”
Chris Rivoire, who lives in Barrhaven and works at the “nerd toy store” Toys on Fire, visited Silver Snail on Tuesday. He’s not into superheroes, but he picked up a book by cartoonist Robert Crumb.
Rivoire says he buys comic books for the art. He has been coming to the Silver Snail for 10 years and makes a point to go downtown occasionally to visit “all of the nerd stores” on Bank Street.
“This is the best stop,” he said. “The selection is very good.”
Rivoire encouraged his sister Mercedes to read comic books. “It’s becoming mainstream,” she said. “The stereotypes are crumbling.”
Vincent Clavette bought a stack of X-Men and Spider-Man on Tuesday. Jee knows all his customers and built a relationship with them, says Clavette.
“Online, you can read reviews. But someone you know can give you a better review,” he said. “I work in a bookstore, so I know what’s going on in the market. I just prefer the paper because I’m an old soul.”
But there are fewer and fewer old souls.
Jee said some customers don’t have room at home for more books. “They’re still reading, but they’re buying online.”
On Tuesday, Jee was offering some of his merchandise at half price and the store was busy. “If business were like this every day, we wouldn’t have a problem,” he says.
After the Bank Street location closes, Silver Snail’s flagship store on Yonge Street in Toronto will be the only one to remain open.
Silver Snail has had a store in Toronto for 39 years; at one time there were four Silver Snail stores in Ontario. A second Toronto store and a Hamilton store have closed already.
In Ottawa, a number of comic book stores remain, including The Comic Book Shoppe, which has stores at 228 Bank St. and at 1400 Clyde Ave. Owner Steven Ethier opened the Clyde Avenue store 27 years ago and has always considered Silver Snail to be a rival.
“It’s a sad story when you look at a store that has been open for 25 years,” he said.
Ethier has diversified his business to include products like board games and toys. Sales of graphic novels have been stable, and comic book sales are still strong, he said, but DVD sales have fallen as customers turn to subscription services like Netflix.
“In any business, you have to evolve, you have to expand, you have to diversify. As a business owner, you’re always concerned about the next trend. We have a growing number of clients who are going online.”
As for Jee, who is 59, he’s considering taking a break after the store closes.
“I still consider this my baby,” he says.
“I’m almost 60 years old and I work at a comic book store. The fans make this business cool. That’s why I get up every day and I’m excited to come to work.”