Month: November 2023

Morning, Folks!

 

First off this week, I would like to thank everyone who came in and helped make this year’s Black Friday Sale a resounding success! I’ll admit I basically showed up for it just because I wanted to make sure Brian had a little back up. I mean, it didn’t seem cricket to throw a big sale and then drop the running of it into Brian’s lap. I figured I would come in, help out here and there, and then retreat to the back room to get some end of the month work done. Nope. It didn’t happen that way at all. Instead I was behind the counter hustling for my holiday dollars and got to watch happily as everyone came in and mobbed the back issue boxes like they were going out of style! It truly was a thing of beauty. Also, the haul helped cover my quarterly sales tax payment and that was great as well.

 

So looking on to the end of the year, Monarch Comics will be on cruise control coasting through the month of December. Hill and I will be taking a short sojourn to Chicago next weekend to burn through some of Hill’s vacation time before the end of the year. I will work very hard to make sure that it doesn’t affect the weekend ebb and flow of store business. Our holiday hours for this season are essentially the same as they have been for the last 30 years or so, but I will reiterate them now for any late comers…

 

CHRISTMAS EVE, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24^TH: NOON-5:30PM

 

CHRISTMAS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25^TH: CLOSED

 

NEW YEAR’S EVE, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31^ST: NOON-5:30PM

 

NEW YEAR’S DAY, MONDAY, JANUARY 1^ST: CLOSED

 

Please remember that Monarch Comic’s Annual Post-Holiday Sale will begin on January 2^nd and extend until February 29^th. I have already started the adds going for the sale, but in case you’ve missed it the sale will include the following:

 

25% OFF HARD COVERS/TRADE PAPERBACKS (including marked down prices)

 

50% OFF BACK ISSUE BOXES

 

20% OFF SHOWCASE BOOKS (including the boxes currently on the Showcases)

 

50% OFF POP VINYL FIGURES

 

$3 OFF PUZZLES

 

$10 EACH FOR ART COMIC BOXES

 

I will be out of the store this weekend as it is time to do a little holiday baking with a buddy of mine and I need the weekend to really prepare for it…lol. I haven’t really done that much baking since I took over the operation and now that Hill and I have done some apartment upgrades I’m looking forward to getting my groove back. Judging by the substandard biscuits and bread I have attempted lately I have a lot of work to do to catch back up to my former skill level…lol. This week is it as I attempt some gingerbread and sugar cookies. I’ve done well with both on the past and I am hoping my friend Amy can help up my decorating game!

I want to mention as well that I am going to begin phasing much of the variant cover stuff off of the New Release rack in the next few months, so it becomes imperative for you to let me know if there are any specific covers you are interested in acquiring. I mean, if I get special orders for a specific cover in excess of, oh, say 5 copies (or more) then I may decide to carry some on the rack for coverage, but otherwise I think we will mostly go with whatever the main cover is. I am just terrible at deciding what covers y’all are going to be interested in purchasing, so I think the conservative way to do it may my best option. Of course, I could always change my mind three months down the road, but we will see…

 

Thanks for tuning in this week and I will talks at ya next week!

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

It is currently Wednesday afternoon and I am writing you this fascinating missive from the comfort of the dining room table in my country estate. This Thanksgiving holiday is promising to be a rather frantic one and I am trying tog et as much done today as possible so that I have a minimum of things to get done tomorrow. As many of you know, I have been living as a vegetarian for the last year and I have decided to treat myself to some turkey tomorrow and I would prefer to have nothing to distract me from my enjoyment besides my husband and a board game or three.

I have so much end of the month stuff to catch up on that I will also be in the store all weekend. Of course we will see how long it takes me to do the stuff that I’ve set aside for Saturday as well as how busy we are what with some stupid football game going on. It will be interesting to work all week with Brian with me at the store. Hopefully I will have a chance to get through some more of the damn Jersey collection as well all the paperwork.

Of course, I do have to mention the Monarch Comics Annual Black Friday Sale that Brian and I are running on Friday. I haven’t said anything to anyone, but depending on what are business is like on Friday I might extend the sale in to Saturday. We will see how it goes…

In any case, here’s the sale details:

 

25% OFF HARD COVERS/TRADE PAPERBACKS (including already marked down items!)

50% OFF BACK ISSUE BOXES

20% OFF SHOWCASE COMICS

$3 OFF POP FIGURES & PUZZLES

$10 FOR ALL ART SHORT COMIC BOOK BOXES

This is, of course, the same sale that will be running for January and February, but I find it is always nice to have a little preview of the sale. Also, please remember that Monarch Comics has finally entered the late 20^th century and we now have gift cards to offer as opposed to the cheap and tacky paper gift certificates we have used for decades.

That’s it for me as I now have to get to work making my annual pumpkin cheesecake with the chocolate ganache topping. It takes a few hours so I should probably get to work on it. I hope that everyone of our customers have a safe and fun-filled Thanksgiving celebration!

See ya on Friday!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

I hope everyone is having a good week as we careen into the Winter/Holiday Season. I mean, I was a bit taken aback by the burst of snow we got on Halloween, but tis the season and all of that guff. It certainly woke me up regarding my holiday obligations for the store. I totally dropped the ball with Halloween this year although there are still copies of the Marvel and D.C. Trick Or Treat comics on the counter. Please feel free to grab some when you come though the store in the next week or two.

Monarch Comics will be doing our annual Black Friday sale on Friday, November 24^th. Our hours of operation will be the normal 11AM-7PM although obviously if I have a store full of rabid holiday shoppers at 6:50 I’m not going to be in a hurry to start clanging pots together and herding folks out of the store…lol. The Black Friday sale will continue to be a preview of the January/February annual sale and will include the following:

ALL TRADE PAPERBACKS/HARD COVERS WILL BE 25% OFF (EITHER COVER PRICE OR PRICE MARKED)

BACK ISSUE BOXES WILL BE 50% OFF

SHOWCASE BOOKS OR SHORT BOXES ON THE COUNTER WILL BE 20% OFF

PUZZLES AND POP FIGURES WILL BE $3 OFF PRICE MARKED

COMIC ART BOXES WILL BE $10.00 EACH

I’m afraid I do have a big apology for everyone this month. You may have noticed that we have yet to produce this month’s DC Connect catalog. Well, apparently I didn’t order it. According to my spreadsheet notes I did indeed order it, but my spreadsheet notes mean nothing when Lunar simply says, “Look. You didn’t order it.” I have some coming now and actually would have already had them, but FedEx apparently doesn’t have any policy that says they have to deliver while a business is actually open. I’m going to try to be here early tomorrow morning so that I can catch them so that we will have them by the weekend. In any case, as per usual, sorry for the mess up and I’ll try not to let it happen again.

I do have some good news this week! I have finally dragged Monarch Comics into the late 20^th century…lol. WE now offer ACTUAL gift cards rather than those crappy generic paper gist certificates that we have offered for centuries! We can load these attractive cards with any amount for the best gift card ever. They are totally reusable and can reloaded. Also, we will no longer be charging you the sales tax on gift certificates. I am very excited by this new development and I am kind of kicking myself for not doing it sooner as it was a very easy process. Now maybe I will get those long promised business cards in the works…

Finally, this week I am ready to announce our holiday hours for 2023!

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23^rd: CLOSED

Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24^th: 12PM-5:30PM

Christmas Day, Monday, December 25^th: CLOSED

New Year’s Eve, Sunday, December 31^st: 12PM-5:30PM

New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1^st: CLOSED

That’s it for me this week! Enjoy the low key warm up this weekend and I will talks at ya next week!

Eddie