Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Hamer.
Hi Chris, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Roughly 30 Years from the day I said I wanted to open a comic book store, I did.. well not exactly, we started off in a antique mall with a glass case of comics and toys, within a year, we moved to a 10×10 booth and by the end we were in three of those booths. As we were growing, so did my delusions of grandeur and my determination to see how far this could go, so armed with very little knowledge and understanding of how to run a business I started looking for a brick and mortar location.
My original belief was, they can’t be more than a thousand a month, boy was I wrong.. while maintaining the booth at the antique mall, I started my search. I had recently gotten remarried (to the love of my life) and was able to bounce ideas off my partner. After a good attempt searching for a spot, and realizing just how expensive places could be or how tough it was to get a place to trust your business would not be a waste of time, my frustration had hit rock bottom an I had almost given up.. (almost)
It’s shortly after Christmas and while driving through downtown Acworth (where I live) I saw a for rent sign in a small retail strip, I remember saying to my self “one more inquiry, what could it hurt”. I spoke to the sweetest lady and found out we could afford the rent, and meet the requirements to get approved. Could this be it, things were going to be manageable, The only thing stopping me was she asked for me to come back after new years, man that was a long week.
January 2nd, I could have not driven any faster to get to this place, I again met with that sweet lady, who happened to be the landlord and the rent cost had stayed the same and so did the requirements to get the place. All she required was one month’s rent and one month’s deposit. I could do that, we could cover that, well, maybe..
To say I was feeling euphoric and that I was buzzing like a rocket ship about to take off was an understatement. I calmly told the landlord I was get back to her the next day, I needed to talk to my wife, she agreed and off we went.
I remember walking in to the house and I proclaimed “babe, I caught my tiger today”, now she had known what I was talking about because we had been together since the antique mall days.. she asked me “what are you going to do with it, now that you have caught it?”
After we discussed the pros and cons of this endeavor, I said we need this amount to secure the spot, but I’m not sure where we are going to get it from?
My wife, being the most amazingly, supportive person that she is, said we have our “honeymoon money”?
Before I knew it, we were back at the space, signing a lease, that would change our life’s..
Now, we have to do build out and paint and repair things in the building, and the landlord doesn’t do that for us? Yep, that’s correct, the tenant is redo for these things.. now how are we going to afford this, we just spent all our money securing the spot. In the signing of the lease, the landlord agreed to give us the first months rent for free, so we had till January to figure out how we were going to do this..
My job before was tattooing and traveling selling my art around the country, so I told my wife I was going to go back to tattooing and hit the road as much as I could this month and see if I could raise enough money to make this work. This is the point where, with the help of a few lines of credit, we in fact, made it work (not with out the help of our friends and hours of long days).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not.. hahaha. Remember I said I was armed with very little knowledge of how a business needs to be run?
First off, just cuz you get a place to agree to have you lease from them doesn’t mean you can open the next day.. The permits from the city, fire marshal all have to come before you can and then comes the state and city taxes. Once you have jumped through one hoop, another one appears, more inspections, more paperwork and more money. Once you pass these parts, then comes the cost of signage, promotional materials, setting up your businesses information on the internet and stocking the place.. (thankfully, we had that part covered)
The first (free) month flew by, and now we had to pay rent for a place that was not opened yet. This carried on for three months before the time had come to open.
Excitement, clouded my brain but delusions of grandeur took over and I expected day one to unlock the doors and have a steady flow of folks come rushing through the doors..hahaha. Nope, crickets. I said “give em time, maybe they are all stuck In traffic or got the day mixed up, just about any innocent lie I could tell myself to justify that first day of silence. It was not till we had our official grand opening, did we see that steady flow (but quickly how that changed back to a trickle of folks)
The emotional roller coaster that this is and for certain will always be is one of my many struggles being on this adventure.. My determination to succeed and Stubbornness to not listen to rational thinking, has taught to learn this is not a quick game, it’s a long one and that one day, one weekend does not define your success.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a family owned and run comic book, toy and collectibles shop. We buy and sell fun memories from all of our childhoods.
I think our aesthetic of the shop. The welcoming feeling and the comfortability of the place. The way we interact with people who visit for the first time or the hundredth, it’s important to us that they feel that they all get the same attention and respect. I want this place to never feel sterile or like it’s corporate owned. I want our shops customers to know we recognize them as actual people and respect their space and lifestyles.
I want to share experiences and memories of the stuff they love and collect and show them the stuff we are passionate about. We learn from each other.
I want to know our customers, by making sure we know their name, something that makes them who they are outside the shop and we show them each time what they mean to to us and that we will always treat them as individuals, and make time for them (as they do for us)
At the end of the day, they mean more than a dollar sign, they are friends, and family. I’m proud of the way we have made each of these statements a reality..
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Atlantas great, but over the years living here it has lost a lot of the charm I felt it once had, now living about 45 mins from the city of Atlanta I have found that charm in Acworth.
I’m much more of a small town person who just wants the option of what a city can offer.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.urbnpopcomicscompany.com
- Instagram: Urbnpopcomicscompany
- Facebook: Urbnpopcomicscompany
- Youtube: Urbnpop
Image Credits
Chris Hamer
