Toy purchase disappointments

Newbury comics must be an east coast thing? Malls in my area just cant sustain any type of collectible stores unfortunately (and Im in a heavily populated area too). My closest mall had an FYE open a few years ago, it was closed down pretty fast with their $40 Marvel Legends and Black Series figures. Everything was like double retail except Diamond Select stuff for some reason. I never understood their strange business model at all.
 
Misfit said:
Barely. They don't sell much music anymore and are constantly changing. I guess it's sort of admirable how they've been able to stay ahead of trends for the most part, but they sell mostly collectibles, cards, apparel, and such.
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Barely? Not even close - they've expanded into other states (VT, CT, ME, RI, NY), have better locations than previously and a "mega-store" on the auto mile. They sell comics, music, t-shirts, posters and a ton of manga (and probably too many Pops). They have a decent toy selection and the clearance is great when it happens. Bought multiple S7 Kang & Kodos for $50 a crack (each, not for the set).

The store has always made most of their profits from trend items. For years Mike (who I've known since we did the Sunday Funnies monthly boston comic con in the mid-70s, well before Newbury opened their first store) wanted to ditch the comics section because (pre the proliferation of GNs & Manga) it was a zero profit center. Think that's changed, but he hung in there because of the store's roots, even though the main business quickly became music from the '70s-'90s.

It was only strictly a comics shop for a few months in the '70s - they put in a small box of 7" punk singles on the counter and that quickly brought in more money than the rest of the shop combined. That's how they leaned into music.
 
Misfit said:
I'm not sure which Boston one you went to, but the one at Quincy market used to literally be nothing but rows and rows of CDs throughout the upstairs. I think the last room was DVDs back in the early 2000s, but it was very much a music store. I watched all of that slowly get removed over the years since I worked in the area consistently from about 2006-2019. The Newbury Street location was the same with CDs occupying most of the floor space and collectibles confined to the walls.
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I will say- yeah, the Quincy market location wasn't all that stocked music-wise, but I was at the Newbury Street location a month or two ago, and the entire basement was music and music merch. Probably the biggest selection I've seen at any of the Newbury Comics locations I've been to. Other locations vary- but at one or two, they have a vinyl section that spans almost the entire side of the store on one side- I'd say it's maaaybe 1/4 of the entire store (might be a bit generous, but still)
 
Misfit said:
I'm not sure which Boston one you went to, but the one at Quincy market used to literally be nothing but rows and rows of CDs throughout the upstairs. I think the last room was DVDs back in the early 2000s, but it was very much a music store. I watched all of that slowly get removed over the years since I worked in the area consistently from about 2006-2019. The Newbury Street location was the same with CDs occupying most of the floor space and collectibles confined to the walls.
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I only learned last year there was a second location. I walked to it from Landsdowne St, and found myself in the middle of a protest for Palestine. The cops were getting antsy so I moved along.
Reefer Shark said:
Newbury comics must be an east coast thing? Malls in my area just cant sustain any type of collectible stores unfortunately (and Im in a heavily populated area too). My closest mall had an FYE open a few years ago, it was closed down pretty fast with their $40 Marvel Legends and Black Series figures. Everything was like double retail except Diamond Select stuff for some reason. I never understood their strange business model at all.
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East Coast New England for the most part. There is one in the Albany NY Mall that I hit up when we go. The record section isn't much, but I always find something. There is one in Vermont about 1.5 hours from home that I always hit on my way back from Boston each year.
joshsquash729 said:
I will say- yeah, the Quincy market location wasn't all that stocked music-wise, but I was at the Newbury Street location a month or two ago, and the entire basement was music and music merch. Probably the biggest selection I've seen at any of the Newbury Comics locations I've been to. Other locations vary- but at one or two, they have a vinyl section that spans almost the entire side of the store on one side- I'd say it's maaaybe 1/4 of the entire store (might be a bit generous, but still)
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The Quincy location was the first one I ever went to. It just kept going on and on and on...
 
Yeah, the Quincy location and the original Newbury Street location are both pretty dang big. Quincy is pretty big and winding, and the original Newbury is spread across 3 floors. Reminds me of a couple bookstores we have here in NY- the Union Square Barnes and Noble and The Strand, both of which have 4 big floors of books.
 
I did not like the record section at the Newbury location. It was very tight, and tons of people there. I picked up a couple of albums, but didn't really get to see it all.
 
This thread always makes me think of the Jim Jefferies bit about

when he shopped at the massive porn warehouse and bought a latex vibrating vagina that tore during its first use. Then (around 2:30 in the video below) he talks about returning it.

 
JRoug said:
Barely? Not even close - they've expanded into other states (VT, CT, ME, RI, NY), have better locations than previously and a "mega-store" on the auto mile. They sell comics, music, t-shirts, posters and a ton of manga (and probably too many Pops). They have a decent toy selection and the clearance is great when it happens. Bought multiple S7 Kang & Kodos for $50 a crack (each, not for the set).

The store has always made most of their profits from trend items. For years Mike (who I've known since we did the Sunday Funnies monthly boston comic con in the mid-70s, well before Newbury opened their first store) wanted to ditch the comics section because (pre the proliferation of GNs & Manga) it was a zero profit center. Think that's changed, but he hung in there because of the store's roots, even though the main business quickly became music from the '70s-'90s.

It was only strictly a comics shop for a few months in the '70s - they put in a small box of 7" punk singles on the counter and that quickly brought in more money than the rest of the shop combined. That's how they leaned into music.
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Barely as in the store Damien likely remembers only exists in name only.
 
I happily backed the Odius figure on the kickstarter but when it arrived it had two right legs. Never asked for a replacement just wanted my money back


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joshsquash729 said:
Not a disappointment, per se, but more a surprise. Got my first Trick or Treat Studios Scream Greats figures the other day- a local FYE had 2 of the 3 Killer Klowns from the first wave on clearance on top of an additional sale, so I got them both pretty dang cheap. They're nice looking- definitely have some presence to them, but I was pretty shocked to discover that their bodies are just hollow plastic. At full price, they're about $40-$50 depending, so I was just expecting something a bit less....cheap feeling? Don't think "cheap" is quite the word, but maybe a bit higher quality? For anyone who has any of the other Scream Greats figures- are they all hollow, or is it just something for the Klowns, since they're more bulbous?

Was just surprised, because I have the Goosebumps figures they released last year, and those feel pretty nice and sturdy.
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I don't have many of the Scream Greats, but the ones I do have are not hollow. It must be just the Killer Klowns. Very odd.
 
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