The slow death of Australian comic stores

Brent Lynn reports on the last nail in the coffin for many of Australia's brick-and-mortar comic book stores.

James Jagec, owner of Brisbane's ComicsETC, has lost thousands of dollars since the collapse of his primary distributor, Diamond Distribution.

Jagec has to source nearly all of the comics that line the shelves of ComicsETC through Diamond Distribution, along with nearly every other comic book store owner in Australia, but now has to source third-party.

“The cost is astronomical. There’s no way around it," Jagec said.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare to source stuff.”

Jagic has lost over $5,000, refunded thousands more in pre-orders and spent multiple weeks’ worth of man-hours making up for the losses.

And yet, he's lucky.

Australian comic book stores are struggling to import their most important products. (Image: Brent Lynn)

Australian comic shops are struggling since the bankruptcy of their biggest product distributor, Diamond Distribution, which had its hearing in court today. The distributor’s collapse has left retailers grappling with skyrocketing costs, lost sales, broken trust, missing stock, and missing publishers.

For an industry with already slim profit margins, the collapse has caused a permanent increase in overhead costs, which some stores can't operate on.

Retailers formerly stocked primarily through Diamond Distribution, but are now forced to purchase through multiple distributors with split international freight. Many titles lack distribution, and purchased stock remains trapped for months in customs with Diamond being unresponsive.

“[Contacting] Diamond to get our stock moving has been impossible,” said Jagic, adding, “[There’s a] lack of communication because 90% of their staff are gone.”

Without the sudden collapse of their largest distributor, comic book stores are having to refund product that never arrived. (Image: Brent Lynn)

Many customers are forced to shop elsewhere as multiple publishers still aren’t available through direct market distribution. Their titles are now stocked from secondary distributors nearly three months late, if at all, at increased cost to a consumer base that's drinking.

Christina Merkler, co-CEO of Lunar Distribution, one of the top distributors in the wake of Diamond’s closure, said that returning titles to shelves was a priority. Merkler stated that they are in conversations with the missing publishers, VIZ Media among the largest, representing a near 4% market share.

“I think the hang up with VIZ [and others] is that they didn’t want [the consignment] model,” Merkler said, with international publishers only slowly returning to Australian markets..

“We prefer working [through] consignment, which sounds terrible because of Diamond.”

Many publishers are reluctant to engage with distributor consignment following Diamond’s attempted seizure and sale of consignment product to fund their bankruptcy. Lunar is considering wholesale purchases with VIZ Media and select publishers, despite the risks, to return stock to retailer hands. However, this is non-standard in the direct market.

New releases may take a while before they land on Australia's shores. (Image: Brent Lynn)

Merkler said publisher fears are understandable.

“It’s difficult. After all these years to have Diamond basically turn their cheek and say, ‘No, you're screwed, and we don't care’.”

Yet retailers like Jagec remain optimistic.

“Everyone's had to pick up their game," he said.

"Outside of shipping costs, I think it's good [for the industry].”