If any has done business with AAA Comics in the past they had a fire no to long ago - Hopefully they will open up in another area - The current location is no longer. Please show your support by going to the new store. When new store is opened I will post and let everyone know.

Thank You

Well, since the other thread about this seems to have slipped from view, I'll go ahead and mention that Troy's working on opening the shop back up. I'm going to call him later this evening with suggestions for what you'd like to see stocked, so add to this if there's anything else:

T-Shirts (anime? comic? other?)
Manga art books

What else?

I just spoke with Troy.

The store will be reopening.

He's willing to stock T-shirts; he wants to know which styles.

He's willing to stock manga; he wants to know if you want the monthly issues, the collected trades, or something else.

He's willing to stock obscure anime; he wants to know which titles.

He's considering an arcade; he wants to know which games people would come in and play, if they had an old-school arcade available, without all of the Dance Dance Revolution shit, unless you want the Dance Dance Revolution shit, which he'd then look into.

He's considering a gaming area; he wants to know how many people still play tabletop RPGs and who'd be willing to do so, which, how often, and when.

Let's face it. Some of us are geeks. Troy's a geek. And he wants to cater this store to geeky desires. I've already talked to him about stocking more Johnen Vasquez books and related articles, and he's absolutely looking into it. The reason you didn't see it in his store more often is because it would sell out so damned fast.

So, what are you geeks looking to buy that you can't find in Knoxville?

Feel free to message me privately if you don't want to be labelled a geek and/or to keep the board clear of this.

Caustic wrote: more Johnen Vasquez books and related articles

Thats about all I'd ever buy from a comic book shop. Oh..and Froud Fairy stuff...tell him to get Froud Fairy stuff.

I love anything by Paul Pope.

Caustic wrote:I just spoke with Troy.

The store will be reopening.

He's willing to stock T-shirts; he wants to know which styles.

He's willing to stock manga; he wants to know if you want the monthly issues, the collected trades, or something else.

He's willing to stock obscure anime; he wants to know which titles.

He's considering an arcade; he wants to know which games people would come in and play, if they had an old-school arcade available, without all of the Dance Dance Revolution shit, unless you want the Dance Dance Revolution shit, which he'd then look into.

He's considering a gaming area; he wants to know how many people still play tabletop RPGs and who'd be willing to do so, which, how often, and when.

Let's face it. Some of us are geeks. Troy's a geek. And he wants to cater this store to geeky desires. I've already talked to him about stocking more Johnen Vasquez books and related articles, and he's absolutely looking into it. The reason you didn't see it in his store more often is because it would sell out so damned fast.

So, what are you geeks looking to buy that you can't find in Knoxville?

Feel free to message me privately if you don't want to be labelled a geek and/or to keep the board clear of this.

Let's see.......

my name is Ron and I'm a geek......(hello Ron).....

I would love to see obscure stuff....things that would make me say "hey, that looks really cool!" and totally go for the impluse buy.

And, I would love to see some cool arcade games (and yes, I am a DDR freak, so I would so spend a lot of money there if he put one in, so I would save a trip to the mall....)

I still play tabletop RPG's and have friends who would play as well......we could even do a Goth board game night.....

I would love to see more Roman Dirge and Vasquez stuff of course......

Timelord88 wrote:I would love to see obscure stuff....things that would make me say "hey, that looks really cool!" and totally go for the impluse buy.

And, I would love to see some cool arcade games (and yes, I am a DDR freak, so I would so spend a lot of money there if he put one in, so I would save a trip to the mall....)

I still play tabletop RPG's and have friends who would play as well......we could even do a Goth board game night.....

Stuff like this is too vague; be specific. What kinds of obscure things? Little Japanese trinket style toys? Miniature Transformers? Stuffed Cthulu dolls? What price range do you consider an impulse buy?

What arcade games? The NeoGeo multi-game systems, with Samurai Showdown II, Metal Slug II, and Puzzle Bobble? Rygar? Afterburner? Virtua Cop II? Street Fighter II Turbo Championship Edition?

And when you play your tabletop RPGs, and I know at least Spam and Mahogany play, which ones? For how long? How many people? How often? What time of day? Which day?

The more specific anybody can be, the more accomodating Troy's store can be.

Bearbricks. No, really.

Caustic wrote:
Stuff like this is too vague; be specific. What kinds of obscure things? Little Japanese trinket style toys? Miniature Transformers? Stuffed Cthulu dolls? What price range do you consider an impulse buy?

What arcade games? The NeoGeo multi-game systems, with Samurai Showdown II, Metal Slug II, and Puzzle Bobble? Rygar? Afterburner? Virtua Cop II? Street Fighter II Turbo Championship Edition?

And when you play your tabletop RPGs, and I know at least Spam and Mahogany play, which ones? For how long? How many people? How often? What time of day? Which day?

The more specific anybody can be, the more accomodating Troy's store can be.

OK, a couple of things here.

For obscure stuff, I'd like to see more anime and manga that must be special ordered like the Masamune Shirow art books (the Intron Depot series) and artwork books by Syd Mead.

Also under the heading of obscure, maybe a section for hard-to-find music or indie label music. I'd probably do pretty good.

Arcade games would not go too well, but having a computer room with a T1 connection for the rabid online gamers would be a Godsend for the EQ and Diablo 2 crowd.

A tabletop gaming area would have to require that the store be open extremely late to be competitive with other game stores that have a gaming area like Round Table. You would also need to have snacks available for people to chomp on for the gamers, but that isn't bad because that is where most of the money will be made.
Many tabletop gamers will willingly play for 24 hours at a stretch if there is a good gamemaster at the helm. Hours for gamers are usually from about 6pm until 6am, although a 24 hour game store with a computer connection close to UT campus could pick up the slack that has happened since Kinko's has only one store open 24 hours in Knoxville anymore ( A lot of students are more than willing to pay 12 dollars an hour for computer use). The tabletop gaming crowd will follow either the game or the GM to where and when the game is run. Tabletop gamers are a seriously 24/7 group with the majority out on weekends and holidays. A shop that is open on that is open on the holidays will make money from people just hanging out trying to avoid their own relatives during that time. Catering to wargamers (like WarHammer people) will corner the market for that in Knoxville, because there are so few places here that provides space to play. I would not recommend investing in Games Workshop though, there are already enough shops that carry the stuff, it is expensive, and the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Hell, just have Troy get ahold of me or Russ if he wants all of the info on gamers.

Okay. I've passed along the ideas and numbers; he's going to definitely stock more Kubrick for you, Karla.

He's now thinking of moving the shop up to the Powell area, near the Wal-Mart on Callahan; who'd still go? Should he try to keep it in Bearden, or possibly move over to Middlebrook?

Caustic wrote:Okay. I've passed along the ideas and numbers; he's going to definitely stock more Kubrick for you, Karla.

He's now thinking of moving the shop up to the Powell area, near the Wal-Mart on Callahan; who'd still go?

Hell I'd go daily, thats just down the road.

I love comics. And tabletop RPGs. And manga. And I don't give a fuck who knows it!

Maybe I just don't know where to go, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding a place that retails old Marvel and Chaos Comics back issues at fair prices. Now, I live in Halls, and I've scoured both Halls Crossroads and North Knox for an acceptable venue and have found none. If anyone has a suggestion I'd be glad to hear it, or if this new place plans on catering to such needs I'd be more than happy to lend my wallet to his new venture.

I love to role-play. And I'm good at it, too. Damn it. I'm told I'm better at running games, but I much prefer to be a player out in the trenches. My favorite is Call of Cthulhu, but I also get into Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons, a little bit of White Wolf [V:tM, W:tA, M:tA], and a tiny drab of Deadlands. Again, anyone willing to compete against the extravagant prices I used to pay at the mall for game resources may certainly have my business. It'd also be nice if there were a store around here that could keep the good sourcebooks on the shelves long enough for a procrastinating shopper like me to get ahold of them.

And manga. Mmm, Manga. Inuyasha's really good, but I have no problem finding that shit. My favorite is Crying Freeman. Seriously, it's an unbelievable series, sexy, violent, beautifully illustrated and brilliantly conceived. I can't seem to find them anywhere anymore, it's usually just the same two graphic novels every place I go. Stock it, Troy. Gimme.

Where's Powell in comparison to Cedar Bluff?

I think its pretty far out there...

=\

If You've been out to The Other Side its like 5 miles up the road from there towards Clinton, its right at Schaad/Callahan/Pleasant Ridge/Clinton Hwy

He's also considering the brick building in front of the Books-a-Million shopping center, directly across from Disc Exchange on Kingston Pike. Personally, I think that's a not bad area; anyone coming in from Farragut on Kingston'll pass it on the way to the mall and vice versa. Wouldn't have room for a gaming area, though.

Timelord88 wrote:

Caustic wrote:I just spoke with Troy.

The store will be reopening.

He's willing to stock T-shirts; he wants to know which styles.

He's willing to stock manga; he wants to know if you want the monthly issues, the collected trades, or something else.

He's willing to stock obscure anime; he wants to know which titles.

He's considering an arcade; he wants to know which games people would come in and play, if they had an old-school arcade available, without all of the Dance Dance Revolution shit, unless you want the Dance Dance Revolution shit, which he'd then look into.

He's considering a gaming area; he wants to know how many people still play tabletop RPGs and who'd be willing to do so, which, how often, and when.

Let's face it. Some of us are geeks. Troy's a geek. And he wants to cater this store to geeky desires. I've already talked to him about stocking more Johnen Vasquez books and related articles, and he's absolutely looking into it. The reason you didn't see it in his store more often is because it would sell out so damned fast.

So, what are you geeks looking to buy that you can't find in Knoxville?

Feel free to message me privately if you don't want to be labelled a geek and/or to keep the board clear of this.

Let's see.......

my name is Ron and I'm a geek......(hello Ron).....

I would love to see obscure stuff....things that would make me say "hey, that looks really cool!" and totally go for the impluse buy.

And, I would love to see some cool arcade games (and yes, I am a DDR freak, so I would so spend a lot of money there if he put one in, so I would save a trip to the mall....)

I still play tabletop RPG's and have friends who would play as well......we could even do a Goth board game night.....

I would love to see more Roman Dirge and Vasquez stuff of course......

Hello my name is Brian and I too am a geek.
I like comics, anime, roleplaying games (table top and live action), Dr. Who (Props to Ron the Time Lord:) ) sci-fi, horror, and anything else geeky. Oh and I have an English degree so I'm a nerdy geek lol

Seriously guys. It sounds like you have a comic store owner that loves what he does and is willing to make a store work no matter what. That type of dedication is great to see. I'll tell you this, next time I go to Sanctus and this place is open, I'll surely come by and support it. Good luck to him

I remain,
Brian

grendelbrian wrote:I'll tell you this, next time I go to Sanctus and this place is open, I'll surely come by and support it. Good luck to him

Good luck to you; he may be closed on Sundays (he needs time off as well, mind you).

Give Troy my best. I wish him all the luck I can spare (which sadly isn't a great deal at the moment). He opened AAA against all odds and I quite frankly didn't give him much a chance of survival, considering what he was up against (ask him about the first owner of the place, when it existed under another name) - but I'm really glad he persevered. And I hope he continues to persevere, despite this latest blow. He's in a genuinely rough business, one in a great deal of flux these past few years, and I don't envy his position. Chin up, Troy.