Astro-Zombies — Local services in Albuquerque

I'd like to preface this rating with the fact that I have purchased multiple LPs for this store and that a majority of the time I am a very easy going person. I went into Astro Zombies to buy a LP, and while I was looking I saw Cattle Decapitation- Anthropocene Extinction black pressing priced at $48.00. The seal on the vinyl was broken on the top right corner with noticable edge wear- making the cover grade VG+. I asked an employee if there was any chance they could lower the price, before the employee answered the owner came out if the back. (The end of the vinyl section is near the employee only area where I presume the owner was pricing things). Initially, when the owner came up he was not courteous and (in my opinion) quite rude and unprofessional. He proceeded to tell that me the vinyl was new (don't get me wrong, it is but the condition of the cover is not) and that he buys his vinyl from a whole seller. He estimated that the whole sale price was about 25-30 dollars, (I can't remember exactly). And that the price was accurate given that they are a 3rd party seller. It seemed to me that he was upset by my question to the employee. I was not causing trouble in the store, nor was I being rude. I promptly said, "well there is no harm in asking".The owner did not reply and he went straight back into the employee only area. I used the price comparison website camel camel camel to look at the msrp of the vinyl. The Amazon price was approx $26.51 while the 3rd party new price was about $26.58 and the third party used price was $31.00 (which makes sense if you think about a record store who bought a relatively hard to find vinyl such as this one from a customer). The highest price on discogs was $30.00 with the lowest being $21. SPECIAL editions of this record sell for $30 and up depending. I checked eBay as well (which many third party sellers use to sell vinyl) and I averaged the sold listing of the same print. Which averaged out to about $25.67 + shipping. (Let's separate the actual price of the eBay items and the shipping cost because the shipping is a service that the seller is providing) If he purchased the vinyl at 25-30 dollars the mark up for the $48.00 price tag would be 72-60% (much higher than the 3rd party mark up average) I doubt his whole sale cost was as high as it was. In summation, I feel the owner was quite rude, uncourteous, unprofessional (given the circumstances). I price checked more LPs that I liked. All if which were at the highest end of what they sell for and above (in some cases more than above). I have never had an issue with my experience, the price (although it is a high markup at Astro Zombies), or the staff at Astro Zombies. And frankly, I love to support local business. My family runs one in Santa Fe. With the way the owner treated me and the obviously high mark up I will take my business elsewhere. I would love to see the owner take responsibility for this and be honest about his pricing methods. And I'd be astonished if he went as far as to rectify this experience given how the store has responded to negative comments in the past. All in all, bad experience. I will recommend you go else were if you are looking to buy vinyl and figures for that matter. I will amend this review if I deem necessary. Honestly, the first time I have been upset about receiving bad service in quite a while. UPDATE The owner post a picture of the album on Facebook saying it was for sale. It seemed pretty sarcastic and snide in my opinion. He also left a wonderful reply on here. This dude is a piece of work. Take it as you will, I know I'm not in the wrong. The album has been sitting there for months. Maybe if he understood economics he would know things would move faster if they were not marked up as high as they are. My complaints are mainly in regard to the pricing and the way the owner treats customers. I've exemplified both. I would have accepted a simple apology for the experience. I wasn't rude at the store. I'm well mannered and was simply asking a question. Take this...

So I easily found this store tucked away around Central and Girard. It was my first time in a Comic book store and my experience was quite nice. I was immediately greeted by a Manager, who was happy to help me find some things that I was looking for. We had a nice chat about Marvel comic storylines, I was surprised on how much he knew. (Although he does work at a Comic store, I should know better.) Their selection was vast, having toys, figures, stickers, manga, and comics of course! Some sections were limited like their manga and anime, but it was still enough to satisfy people who are curious. In short they had a lot of want you want, and plenty of of what you need. Some selections were in these tight bins that were a little difficult to sort through without potentially damaging items. Not a huge issue but it could be a hassle of you like keeping things mint. Some comics were cheap, 4-5 dollars a piece, but other items like the figures and toys were considerably more expensive. I'm not sure if I'd spend $150 on Luke's snowspeeder from Hoth, but it's still nice that they have it. I didnt ask about a subscription plan, where I could choose a specific series, i.e. the new Captain Marvel, and have a copy reserved upon each release so I'm unsure about that whether it's a service that they have or not. I also heard that they do trades and even buy some comics, I plan on testing that in the future with some extra manga I have. The Service and staff, which I touched on earlier, were incredibly nice. I met a manager and another employee, both great people. I would've liked to have met the owner but he was on vacation. Again I had great service, found what I wanted easily and with no grumpy employees. Overall I'd definitely come back. If your a comic enthusiast or a beginner this is a nice place...

I've been getting all of my weekly comics from Astro Zombies since the first time I walked in there over 7 years ago. I had just self published my first comic book, and I found that the other shops I'd been shopping at since I was a kid had no interest in supporting or encouraging local small press offerings because there was no money in it, but Mike at Astro Zombies was super supportive from day one. He'd never met me, but immediately bought five copies from me on the spot, no wait and see consignment, just immediate support, and every time I came back he would hound me for the next issue. He's always been supportive of my various artistic endeavors, from featuring my old band Yoda's House in a showcase of musicians from his now defunct label the Lotus Sound, to donating art supplies for after school programs I taught at Zia Elementary School. Top that off with a truly superior selection of new comics, new and old toys, and the biggest selection of graphic novels in the city - it's no wonder this shop wins the Best Comic Shop in Burque every year in the Weekly Alibi. Haters are gonna hate, that's what they do, but my experience has always been super positive there as a customer, and my personal experiences with the owner have always been consistently positive as well, which is why all these years later I also call him a friend. --- also, one of these goofballs from a couple years back claims that you have to pay for subscription services in his "review", that is not only a lie, but you actually get a discount on your comics as a subscriber, even titles you pick up off the wall that weren't...