Store Review: Newbury Comics

Newbury Comics has been in the mall now since mid-June of this year, but now I have finally gotten around to give my review of this fairly new store, at least in the mall.

Let me say that when the store was across the street from the Maine Mall I visited the

store just once and wasn’t impressed by it at all and never returned. Now that the store is located in the mall, I decided to give the store another look.

The store is located in the Sears wing of the mall next to Sears in the location that previously was occupied by Waldenbooks. Since I am very familiar with the old Waldenbooks location I was a little surprised at this new store. First thing of interest is the sheer size of the store. Anybody who remembers the old bookstore will remember that it was significantly smaller than this new store. This is a deception portrayed by the fact that they did 2 things to make the store larger:

1. Broke down the walls in the back creating a much larger store. The old bookstore had a pretty large stockroom whereas the new store has the fire exit right as part of the store area itself. This door leads right outside the store to the parking lot. It appears that the new stockroom is to the back right corner of the store and possibly goes into the empty area between Payless Shoes (in the front end facing the mall) and Old Country Buffet (in the back end facing the parking lot). Back in the 1980’s, that entire area was occupied by the Anderson-Little store (owned by the Woolworth company) from front to back with an actual exit from the mall to the parking lot.
2. Broke down the side walls to expand the store’s space. Back in the early 1990’s, Waldenbooks had down a remodel, which reduced the physical size of the store by about 30%. This was at the time they created the Waldenbooks/Waldenkids split store idea. This was something that when I asked the managers at the time if they liked the downsizing of the store, they said they didn’t. Little did they know that a few years later it would all be over for the company permanently.

Now onto the new store format:

The store has a large glass front not uncommon in most mall stores nowadays. Any indication of its past is completely gone from existence.

Inside the store, merchandise of various types is kept in an orderly manner. New releases greet the customer on entering the store and the remainder of the store is loaded with all kinds of items. These include:

• DVDs, both new and used
• CDs, both new and used
• Clothes including shoes, hats, gloves, jackets, pants and other miscellaneous items
• Calendars
• Toys
• Books (a small selection)
• And finally comic books and other items

Ironically, for a store that calls itself a comic book store is lacking in 2 ways:

1. The comics are way in the back of the store.
2. No back issues of the comics are available like a normal comic book store would have. To add insult to that is that many of the new comics look well read.

It appears that the bulk of focus is on CDs and DVDs. However, the prices on most of these items are significantly higher than the competitors. This is true of both new and used items. In fact many of the used prices are more expensive than what other stores are selling new versions for. Yet if you are looking for some old item long out of print, they may have it even if it is used, if of course you are willing to pay the price. Somehow, I don’t think some prices are worth it though.

Overall compared to the competition, this store just doesn’t deliver a good value therefore it is one store I will not be doing any shopping in at all. However, if you enjoy overpriced items than this is the store for you.

Pros:

· Decent selection of DVDs and CDs

· Descent selection of movie and TV related toys

Cons:

• Small comic book inventory
• Overpriced compared to competition
• Weird looking staff members

Overall: My Rating: 2