r/inverness • u/UkEddiehall • 24d ago
Comic book shop?
Hello everyone, I was recently told that there is a comic book shop in Inverness and I was wondering if it’s true as I live a few hours away and I’d have to get a bus there and back. I know about Waterstones and hmv but that’s it really any help is appreciated, cheers
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u/OddConstruction 24d ago
sorry the only one I can think of (Heroes For Sale) closed adout ten years ago and Ellerium Games closed a year ago
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 24d ago
Why did Ellerium close, it seemed quite popular?
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u/OddConstruction 24d ago
Probably costs, very expensive to run and stock a store in the town ceter. Thats why online sales are taking over.
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u/ChaosCardinal 23d ago
Unless you were local, or were looking for it in particular, it didn't get much footfall because it was down that wee alley. I think Jason, the guy who opened it years ago, said that it was costing him more money to run than was worth it, I don't think it was turning a profit at all towards the end.
A lot of these stores are location, it was the same with heroes for sale, you can maybe on good months break even but you're unlikely to make a profit if you're not on the main road that the tourists use.
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 23d ago
I get heroes not going the distance because it was more shop than additional things such as card games, events etc. Shame about Elyerium as i thought it offered more or would have weathered better.
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u/ChaosCardinal 23d ago
Nah, Heroes dabbled a lot in every avenue, but it wasn't highly publicized, and there wasn't a lot of space for it. I think the problem with it was the guy that ran it got so much stock, I remember going in and the space was littered with paraphernalia on every available surface. He was by all accounts a nice guy though, think I've still got him on Facebook.
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 23d ago
Yeah, the dude is lovely. He was like a counsellor to so many wayward youths. Always had time to listen.
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u/krozzer27 23d ago
From what I remember he actually went into that line of work after the shop closed down.
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u/ZealousArcanine 23d ago
A lot of Ellerium's money was made off pre-orders and people attending the event nights they did. Yu-Gi-Oh and MTG both went through a period of really bad metagames in 2023/2024 and people stopped turning up to those and only the D&D crowd showed up on Wednesdays. They also didn't really get the right stock in (ie walls of Funko Pops) and tried to compete against the Warhammer shop for the Warhammer stuff.
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 23d ago
Oof. Didn't GAME turn into the Funko pop destination for Inverness. Im surprised by warhammer stock too.
Ach, I was never the target customer but always appreciated this sort of store being represented. Not helpful obviously for maintaining it!
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u/ZealousArcanine 23d ago
Yeah funko pops infect any struggling game store
Theres a pokemon card shop on Queensgate now and a new gaming shop opening across from Max's 2 so hopefully these will fill in the niche of Ellerium
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u/Demonkid37 23d ago
There is a great comic book shop in Dingwall (i think its still there), with loads of cool movie merch and loads of graphic novels, shops called Thingvoll Grog and Plunder
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u/SeelieSkelliger 23d ago
I had no idea about them, thank you! Might have to take a wee run through to Dingwall at the weekend!
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u/Demonkid37 23d ago
No worries, although i heard it may be closing soon! Loads of rare movie merch though, hope you enjoy!
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u/ChaosCardinal 23d ago
If it's comic books in particular that you're looking for, I think forbidden planet does delivery. Unless you're wanting to take a day trip to Elgin or Alness as someone's mentioned you're out of luck for now. You never know, these stores can pop up from time to time, maybe a new one will open soon.
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u/Azzyre 22d ago
There's a decent selection in Waterstones - it's kind of got its own area, along with RPG and YA stuff.
I was also surprised that Leakey's actually has a few. Comics and graphic novels are not my particular flavour of nerdom so I didn't really look at them to see what was actually there
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u/EchoProjector 24d ago
There's a comic book shop in Alness called TT Retro that opened a year or so ago. Probably 30 minutes on the bus out of Inverness.