Collected
Collected
COVID-19 came upon the Collected comic book shop like a boss battle in a video game.
Social distancing canceled comic conventions. Government-mandated closures halted in-person store sales. And, for several weeks, presses stopped printing new comics.
No store, no customers, no new products.
So Collected had to get creative. Their solution — Facebook Live sales. Staff members from both the Fort Worth and Keller stores present books on a live feed while viewers claim items by commenting. According to co-owner Ron Killingsworth, the events have made up for most of the convention sales the store has lost, “so just under 40% of total sales.”
“Comics is a community, and we all love to share our love, talking about comics, cosplay, creating comics, or just arguing about who is stronger, Hulk or Superman,” Killingsworth says. “We had done live Facebook sales several years ago, but as they are time intensive and I was doing over 20 conventions a year, we let them slide away. With the stores closed, we immediately made a schedule and threw ourselves into making sure we had an event planned every day.”
Foot traffic has slowly trickled in after Collected’s Fort Worth and Keller stores reopened May 1, the day retailers were permitted to reopen per Governor Greg Abbott. Starting Wednesday, the shop will begin receiving new comics for the first time since March 11. Even so, Killingsworth says slower foot traffic and fewer new products — about 15 – 20 titles a week, rather than the usual 80 –150 — will keep Facebook Live sales going for a while.
“These sales have been essential in keeping cash flow going so that we can survive … Because of the slow foot traffic since we have been open and the slow rollout of new product, the Facebook events have continued to be just as important now with the stores open because it is still our dominant method of sales and customer interaction,” Killingsworth says.
Along with Facebook Live sales, Collected also hosts live talk shows on Thursdays and Fridays, inviting special guests to talk about all things geeky. Killingsworth says the shows have helped keep the energy high among its customer base.
“It has been interesting that the community we built in our shows has taken a life of its own, as viewers have friended one another and chat frequently outside the shows even though they have never met in person,” he says.
The next Facebook Live sale takes place Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“It is interesting to run numbers and see if we could survive on just the Facebook sales, since we would have a lot fewer expenses with payroll and overhead, but not sure that is sustainable yet,” Killingsworth says. “Definitely something we are watching though.”
