the stuff inside my head that must get out
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Fri, 29 Oct 2004
manga: the followup
The last time I wrote
about manga it was just gaining a foothold at Hijinx. I vowed to
devote more shelf space to it, but I also promised myself to be
selective. I
talked to my customers to understand which people were looking for
which titles, and I make sure to stock any title that they express
even a casual interest in seeing. Most importantly, I read it myself
to try and understand what popular titles had in common. I've really
grown to appreciate the variety of titles that appeal to readers outside of the usual suspects. Just like in big bookstores it's the
fastest growing category in the store.
What I like the best is that I'm selling books to people that otherwise have no interest in comics. Young boys and girls as well as adults have started to shop here when other local stores refuse to carry manga at all. It's been slow but sustained growth for the category all year. The very best decision I made was that it was ok not to stock every volume of every series, as long as you're responsive to customer requests.
Like Ray Kroc used to say "look after your customers and the business will take care of itself".
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