Dragon Lady Comics to close Feb. 1
Rent increase forces store owner’s hand
Condolences are posted on the Facebook page of Joe Kilmartin, the much loved general manager of Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics & Paper Nostalgia store, which is scheduled to close Feb. 1.
Kilmartin, 44, says the College St. shop was a second career for owner John Biernat, who he says is in his 70s. But Kilmartin says a 25 per cent rent increase this past summer was enough to force Biernat’s hand.
The closing of Dragon Lady, considered a fixture in the Canadian comic book landscape since 1979, comes as sad news to the local comic book community.
Dragon Lady joins a list of other independent book retailers with uncertain futures. Rent increases, falling sales and the popularity of online sales have created insurmountable challenges for the independent retail book market. Many of these retailers have had a long history in Toronto.
The Book Mark, on Bloor St. in Etobicoke, announced Tuesday that it would close after thriving for 47 years because of what the own- ers considered crushing rent increases. It was known as Toronto’s oldest independent bookstore.
As well, John Scythes, owner of Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop on Yonge St., confirms that the world’s oldest queer bookstore is up for sale.
But comic book stores may be struggling even more than other book retailers, says Kilmartin.
Kevin Boyd, 42, who runs the Joe Shuster Awards, named in honour of the Canadian-born co-creator of Superman, has cherished memories of Dragon Lady. “I fondly remember going to the Queen St. location a lot when I was a teenager collecting back issues in the1980s and it was just a few weeks ago that I was there chatting about industry changes with manager Joe Kilmartin. But Dragon Lady is representative of the type of retailer that has been most affected by the changes in comics reading and purchasing habits. Stores don’t sell back issues like they once did and, at Dragon Lady, back issues were their main selling point. It looked like a store from 1982, not 2012.” Boyd continued, “Dragon Lady’s owner is a great guy and someone I’ve always respected, but he resisted adapting the store over the years to meet the needs of the customers.” George Zotti, co-owner of two Silver Snail comic book stores (Ottawa and Toronto), says he was saddened by the news that Dragon Lady was closing. “Retail in general is chal- lenging,” he says, “especially for any product that’s also sold digitally.”
Comics are such a niche market that retailers have to be more nimble, he says, and more creative.
Zotti says Silver Snail is the first choice among comic book connoisseurs because it has successfully met the challenges of the new era with large, brightly lit stores and a diversified product range, well beyond contemporary comics that sell for as little as $2.99.
“We had to expand beyond our core,” Zotti says.
That includes video games, action figures and pop culture replicas of items such as a Lord of the Rings sword, a Doctor Whot- shirt or a Big Bang Theory bobble-head doll. A T-shirt sells for $20, he says.
Zotti also says there is a shrinking market for nostalgic comic books.
“Back in the ’90s, there was a comic book store at every subway station.” Now Silver Snail is working to expand its online presence, particularly for people from remote areas who can’t get to Toronto.
Zotti, who acknowledges that as much as 60 per cent of the product he purveys is available at Amazon or at big-box retailers, says the difference is: “We know what we’re talking about. We’ve read the comics.”