Article Photos

Just as comic book characters heed omens in taking up their calling, so Al Steffens similarly recognized the signs when opening Chautauqua Comics a decade ago.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, Steffens will celebrate his shop's 10th anniversary with a special event featuring free comic books, sale specials, discount items and a meet-and-greet with comic book artist Ron Frenz.

"It was a signal to me," Steffens said of the closure of a previous sports cards and comic shop on Fairmount Avenue. "I saw this giant sign on the side of his building that said 'Going Out Of Business Sale.' I'd always felt that the greater Jamestown area really couldn't support another comic shop. That's the reason I'd never opened one up prior here. I talked with him and sure enough, he was just going out of business because he wanted to do something else. So I took my wife and we walked around the block a few times and I said, 'This is an opportunity.'"

Quoting statistics, Steffens explained how 60 percent of new comic shops fail in their first few years.

"That's six out of every 10," Steffens said. "It's just that hard of a market to get in to."

The first few years were not easy ones to be opening a shop anyway, according to Steffens.

In the late 1990s, Steffens said the industry saw something similar to a stock market crash. Realizing that many old comic books had gone up in value over the years, consumers started buying multiple copies of current issues. The thought was they were investing in something which would eventually yield a return. Comic book producers, however, met the demand with second, third and fourth printings of issues - as well as by issuing special copies with variant covers. When people realized their comics might never become worth anything because so many copies existed, they started trying to unload them cheap.

"Now you see dollar boxes and quarter boxes," Steffens said of back issues. "Prior to the mid-to-late 1990s, that never existed.

A dedicated comic book fan, Steffens spent his free time traveling to conventions and comic book shows before opening Chautauqua Comics. In starting Chautauqua Comics, Steffens intended to only sell comic books - and not get involved with gaming, trading cards or anything else. That, however, only lasted a matter of days.

Describing his business as a tripod, Steffens explained that comic books are only one of the three legs. Just as important to his business, Steffens explained, are the other collectibles which he never planned on selling in the first place.

"The market's always changing," Stefens said. "One of the things I've learned over the years is that you can't put all your eggs in one basket. I would love to say, just because I'm a comic book fan, that all I'm going to sell is comic books. But on any given day, I may sell comic books or I may sell cards or someone may come in and buy a couple of action figures. I've seen a lot of businesses in this town come and go for just that fact, they didn't learn that. It takes more than just one product to keep the doors open."

Saturday's celebration event starts at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

"Nobody has to buy anything," Steffens said. "We sure hope that they do, but nobody has to buy anything. One of the things that we're promoting is that we're going to match tick-for-tat, so if you buy 10 $2.99 books, we're going to give you 10 other $2.99 books for free. If you buy 10 dollar books, you'll get 10 other dollar books for free. We will match it."

Chautauqua Comics is located at 214 Fairmount Ave. in Jamestown and can be reached by calling 664-2287.