60% Off All Back Issue Comics and Magazines Howdy! As I had anticipated, a number of you were waiting for our annual 60% off CHRISTMAS! codeword sale to begin. As I mentioned in Friday's newsletter, I was quite reluctant to commence this year's steep-discount back issues promotion so far ahead of the actual holiday, but given the enthusiastic response (orders were up this weekend by about 500% - woo hoo!), I clearly made the right decision. Kudos to Nanette and Will for convincing me that starting CHRISTMAS! early was far better than waiting until the last minute. Sometimes, I have to be dragged kicking and screaming to make a great decision that I should have seen was right all along. Sigh... Newly restocked Manga/Anime Island In case you missed my prior announcement, the primary motivation for my starting the 60% off sale early was to fund our current pivot into Manga and Anime products in our Jason St. Mega-Store. This in-store transition is yet another moment of retailing evolution for us, as we lessen our dependence on our sales of Funko Pop! figures (which have contributed mightily to our earnings during the past three years), and instead utilize my willingness to drive to thousands of miles to try something entirely new to enhance our beautiful Mega-Store. In this instance, I have been shuttling back and forth between Denver and Los Angeles, hauling back entire vanloads of incredibly cool stuff from that Pacific Rim city's copious Manga and Anime wholesalers. Pam is our resident expert in Japanese Pop Culture, so I (mostly) follow her lead as regards what to buy. It gets really tricky, however, as so much has been produced by the Japanese publishers and manufacturers over the past 50 years that there are (literally) innumerable products from which to choose. Suffice it to say, Pam and I engage in a lot of FaceTime video chats while I am at each wholesaler's facility, actively debating how to best invest our (limited) funds for that day. It is always quite difficult for us to choose Chuck in the LA toy district So, why am I even doing all this? Because the #1 hallmark of my 54-year career as a comic book retailer has been a total willingness to adapt to changing market conditions. Reinventing oneself over-and-over (again) is a pain-in-the-butters and oft-times quite frustrating, but it is also absolutely essential for survival. In this instance, Funko sales provided us with solid revenues streams (in total over three years, more than one million dollars!), but some serious missteps by Funko management during this past year have acted to cast doubt on the longterm viability of Pop! figures as collectibles. To be clear, I personally think that any doubt in the longterm future of Funko is way overblown, as my observation is that Pop! figures are purchased by most people purely by the genres that they personally enjoy, rather than for investment/speculation. That having been said, there are inevitably people who want to liken the current Funko downturn in demand to the bursting of the Tye/Beanie Babies bubble. If they are correct, then I am truly screwed, as I have given Will and Pam benediction to keep right on buying any/all Funko collections that are priced right. A few of the Funko Pops in our Mega-Store As a direct result of our continuing to buy those collections, however, we currently have about 3,000 Funko figures in stock, and are adding (net of sales) an additional 100-200 more per week. What really works in our favor in this instance is that we have the room to display them all, whereas all of the other Pop! resellers in Colorado are far more constrained. Not surprisingly, we are hearing anecdotally that almost all of the other Funko resellers have entirely stopped buying. Based upon my experience, that is the first sign that they have each become a proverbial "dead store walking." Simply put, if you're a retailer and you're not actively restocking, then you have already entered the dreaded liquidation phase. Dead, but still living in a delusional state of thinking that you're somehow viable. So terribly sad. Anyhoo, the floor space and working capital dilemma seems to also clearly define why no one in Colorado has built a true Manga and Anime store, despite huge fan demand. Now, it is absolutely true that online sellers (and resellers) can out-price us on darn near everything that I am bringing back from LA, as they have nowhere near our core overhead. But as last weekend's Mega-Store sales results most definitively proved, some Manga and Anime fans love the immediacy of being able to purchase on-site, and are willing to pay us a small premium for that benefit. The fact that our Jason St. Mega-Store's revenues are up a staggering 43% during the first ten days of this December, as compared with the first ten days of last year's December, is most certainly indicative that our pivot strategy is working. Especially in light of the current nationwide softness in Funko sales. Chuck with the Ocean of Comics in the Jason Street Mega-Store Tying this all in with our back issue comics business, maintaining our magnificent inventory of ten million-plus back issues that we offer to you 24/7 through our website requires a commitment of over 20,000 square feet of storage space. When I sold our 22,000 square foot legacy building on 56th Avenue seven years ago, and shoehorned all of our back issue comics and magazines into the back 1/3 of Jason St., I effectively eliminated all of the storage costs for our back issues department. Those storage costs are now all covered by the cash flows that emanate from the 40,000 square feet of our immense building that is devoted to retail sales. That, in a nutshell, is why my keeping the sales in the Mega-Store robust (and continually growing) is so important to you, even if you live 10,000 miles away. Simply put, absent our amazing sales of Pop Culture toys, our overall company would be either at breakeven, or cash flow negative, which would necessitate my initiating some harsh changes. As it is, however, we are doing great, and can continue to merrily expand our back issue comics and magazine inventories even further. That constancy of success makes me very, very happy. Gift Certificates I will close with a quick reminder that our 60% off CHRISTMAS! codeword remains in effect for you on all of our back issue comics and magazines, excepting only new issues, a few variants and restored comics, and our professionally-graded items. We do also have spiffy Mile High Comics gift certificates available in any denomination. Our gift certificates are hugely popular, especially during the week after Christmas, when we (inevitably) hold our end-of/the-year blowout sale in the Mega-Store. Just saying... Happy collecting! Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. December 11, 2023 P. S. We will be conducting a HUGE auction this Saturday morning in the Mega-Store. Check out the photos, and then contact Pam via Pamb@milehighcomics.com to have her bid for you. She won about a dozen items for proxy bidders in the December 2nd auction. Our auctions are fun! Lot #1 Lot #2 Lot #3 Lot #4 Lot #5 Lot #6 Lot #7 Lot #8 Lot #9 Lot #10 Lot #11 Lot #12 Lot #13 Lot #14 Lot #15 Lot #16 Lot #17 Lot #18 Lot #19 Lot #20 Lot #21 Lot #22 Lot #23 Lot #24 Lot #25 Lot #26 Lot #27 Lot #28 Lot #29 Lot #30 Lot #31 Lot #32 Lot #33 Lot #34 Lot #35 Lot #36 Lot #37 Lot #38 Lot #39 Lot #40 Special Bonus Book - DEADPOOL FIRSTS TPB (2016) #1 *Sale $5.00* Current Newsletter