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| Gary Colabuono, courtesy Colabuono |
Comic book stores may be ubiquitous now, but once upon a time, they were few and far between, and usually deep in major urban downtowns.
But by the 1980s, entrepreneurs such as Gary Colabuono expanded into the suburbs, and the business grew from 900 or so stores to 3000 or more. Read all about the rise of the suburbs over at ICV2.
Jim McLauchlin
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| The original Geppi's Comic World sign from 1974 |
Steve Geppi started with a 350 square-foot store in the basement of a TV repair shop in Baltimore in 1974. Happy accidents and answering when opportunity knocked eventually landed him a worldwide distribution company, Diamond Comic Distributors. Read Steve's amazing journey over at ICV2.
Jim McLauchlin
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| A Shinder's T-shirt, circa 1970s |
For 90 years, Shinder's was a MASSIVE cultural institution in Minneapolis/St. Paul, a hangout for outcasts, and a place where you could get comics, baseball cards, and even 50 worldwide Sunday papers.
Then a new owner got busted on a variety of drug and weapons charges, and the business swiftly tanked, twisting in the wind in an agonizing fashion.
Wanna read more? Head to ICv2 for the full scoop.
Jim McLauchlin