Local News - Help Wanted - Six Million Comics Need To Be Moved In 85 Days Howdy! As many of you are already aware, I made the decision last month to place our 56th Ave. headquarters building up for sale. My reasoning behind this decision were numerous, but the easiest to relate is that the market for industrial buildings in Denver is exceptionally robust right now, at least in part because some former warehouse buildings are now being utilized for indoor marijuana growing facilities. I was made aware of this fact by our bankers, who pointed out to me during a meeting last September that their appraisers had come to the surprising conclusion that our 56th Ave. building's value now exceeded our entire corporate borrowings. Simply put, if I could somehow merge our online operations into Jason St. and then sell our 56th building, we could instantly eliminate our entire corporate debt. That move would save us over $100,000 a year in interest charges! MILE HIGH 56th Ave. Warehouse On the flip side, while most industrial buildings in Denver continue to be used for light manufacturing and distribution purposes, the additional demand from growers has definitely added to a shortage of available buildings, which in turn has caused the assessed values of Denver's industrial buildings to more than double. Increases in assessments lead directly to increases in property taxes. In the case of our 56th Ave. building, we were looking at a $15,000 - $20,000 annual tax increase this year, all of which we would have had to pass on to our online clients in the form of higher prices. This was simply not acceptable to us. All of the above having been said, after numerous potential buyers visited the 56th Ave. building over the last two weeks, I finally agreed to sign a sales contract yesterday. Being under contract by no means guarantees that the sale of our building will actually close, but I have a feeling that this deal may hold up. The buyer (not a pot grower) needs our building because he is relocating his existing business, whose previous home was taken by imminent domain. Given that he needs to relocate quickly, I am cautiously optimistic that this will all work out. I am giving you all these details about our sale because those of you who shop at our Jason St. Mega-Store are about to see some radical restructuring of our store layout. While our 56th Ave. building is only 18,000 square feet on the ground floor, it does contain about six million back issue comics and magazines. Squeezing those additional six million comics into our huge 60,000 square foot Jason St. Mega-Store should be quite possible, but we are definitely going to have to move a lot of things around in order to be much more efficient in our use of our space. The end result will be awesome, however, as we will then have ALL of the millions of comics and books offered on our website instantly available to everyone who shops the Mega-Store. I am also letting everyone know about our impending move because we are going to need to hire quite a few people on a temporary basis to help with boxing up comics, dismantling shelving, loading trucks, and rebuilding our online operations in Jason St. We have been given just 85 days to move out of 56th, so we need to commence work on clearing space in Jason St. immediately. If you know of anyone seeking part time or full time work, please ask them to contact Chris Lanham, the manager of our Jason St. location. Chris works at Jason St. Monday-Thursday, and Saturday. He will be taking applications starting this Saturday, at 10 AM. Those who work temporary positions with us during this warehouse move will be given hiring priority if/when long term positions within the company come available. Well, that is most of the local news for today. We do not have any major promotions planned any time soon, and I think that I am also going to have to minimize the number of auctions that we host, at least for a little while. I can let you know, however, that all three of our retail stores have been receiving nice shipments of restock on highly popular trade paperbacks and hardbacks that sold out during the holidays. Stop on by any of our locations for the latest news about our move, and some great comics and books to read. Happy Collecting! Chuck Rozanski, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. January 8, 2016 Mile High Comics - Jason Street Mega-Store Mile High Comics Retail Store Locations Current Newsletter