Quest Comic Shop — Local services in Carrollton

Excellent selection of graphic novels, both hardcovers and softcover books. The selection ranges from mainstream titles (DC and Marvel), common indie (Image) and then a lot of smaller publishers, lesser known titles and unique finds. Lots of statues and they seem to have a healthy gaming community although I don't do card/boardgames. Plenty of really great sales (they have a mailing list that sends a coupon each week) that I've seen reach up to 60% off of collected comics, statues, etc.

The way the store is set up is in a larger warehouse building, and the hardcovers/softcovers are placed cover out along the walls in alphabetical order. It's pretty amazing, no amount of searching online will compare to being able to see cover art, book size, and pricing in person. Lots of omnibus and larger hardcovers (DC absolute editions, Marvel oversized hardcovers, etc) as well as the super-collector editions like Artist Editions. They also have a medium sized selection of Manga (probably the most I've seen at any comic shops in GA so far).

All of their books are sealed in plastic and that keeps things in fantastic shape.

They mail a gift certificate to you on your birthday, have student and other discounts, etc.

Oh and on customer service: they are proactive in approaching you to see if you need help & to make sure you know any deals they are running that week. They look up books to see if they are in stock or currently available, have pre-ordering, etc. The one negative I can think of is that the building/warehouse is older, but if that keeps prices low, makes their deals possible and works for them, it...

Positives: I have got to be honest, it is a family run store staffed by some of the best people in the local area. Located close to a large university, the clientele is constantly turning over, but the locals keep coming. Why is this a positive? Because it means you are almost always going to run in to faces both old and new and lets face it we Grognards need a bit of that new excitement at times even if it is just so we can grumble about how things were better when we were new at things (cough 35+ years ago cough). If you are looking for a title you currently read, Quest will gladly sign you up with a box so that each month (or year for some Image titles it seems) as your title comes out it will be set aside for you. Come in and pick it up along with a friendly chat and see whats new. Lastly as if the great people were not enough, Quest offers a student discount, birthday discounts, weekly savings via their newsletter and regular gaming for the CCG crowd as well as others.

Negatives: It is a bit daunting at first glance because of the lighting, but lets face it light is bad for comics and as soon as you enter any area of the store the lights in that area come on. The building is older and that bothers some people, but personally I have been going there since the mid 90's and it is fine. Backstock on hand is limited admittedly, but the owner, manager or proprietress will gladly search for what you are...

The people are friendly, and the selection of trades/gaming is excellent, but I don't understand the complete lack of back issues. Where I can understand this approach a decade ago, the back-issue market hasn't been this strong - literally - in two decades and yet I have to order from Ebay books common books that I would expect a comic book store to carry.

To me, it seems they're they're more interested in by pushing the "latest and greatest" comic/gaming product to hit the market rather than perpetuating the comic book hobby itself. Ironically, this has likely cost them money in recent years, as with the rash of comic-inspired movies many national dealers are now experiencing profit margins on back stock that they haven't seen since the 1990's.

If you're looking for trades, gaming, etc, it's a decent enough place; although, again, you aren't going to find any merchandise at prices that you can't find with 2-clicks online. Since everything is brand-new, there isn't any room for haggling like there is in a traditional shop, which is a shame. Perhaps they're making a killing with this business approach; but I doubt it. You either adapt to the current market, or you get left behind. Unfortunately, they're still back in 2000, where the back-issue market is stagnant and nearly dead. A pity, since they people who run it...