Right now, I don't know how I want to vote.
I mean, I KNOW my dollars and cents help a local businessman run his store. He doesn't do Yugio or Magic or Pokemon tournies. He doesn't run roleplaying sessions in the back. He's...comics and popculture. If I don't buy from there, that's money lost.
Hey buddy, I know you're concerned about your guy losing his business (and almost all of the shops closing at some point) and I totally agree that just sucks to think about and to more to the point, be a part of. But there are a couple things that ease my mind (because I feel the same way)
1 - It is not like they are being blindsided by the way things are going. If a comic shop is barely making it, things are only going to get worse. Sure there are shops that will survive if floppies go away. Super big stores like Midtown in New York or A Comic Shop in Orlando have enough traffic to make the switch to trade only buying (what I think will eventually happen), but stores that don't have that, stores that are hanging in by the skin of their teeth ... they need to start thinking about another job.
Yes that sounds cold, but it is nothing that hasn't happened to countless other owners in the past. Encyclopedia sellers? Typewriter repair? VHS rental stores. All of them had to change. Sadly though, I can almost guarantee that none of them have the passion for the product like a typical Comic store owner
2 - Marvel and DC, the two biggest suppliers, are not helping by charging so much for a freaking comic. Like Jeff mentioned in one of his last posts, it will not be long before comics are $5 each. That is utter ridiculousness. Especially they no longer offer returns for the shop owners. And that brings me to the major issue in all of this
3 - Diamond has slowly killed this industry. From having to pre-order a product 3 months in advance, to not allowing returns, to no longer having comic racks, to not allowing shop owners to cancel orders if the comics are late by months, this company holds 80% of the responsibility for the decline in the comics industry. Not you, them