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Robert Boyd on Used Manga and Half Price Books
posted June 27, 2005
Robert Boyd
Via The Internet
"Here in Cincinnati, we have a small chain - I believe it's just here - of used book stores called Half-Price Books. They usually have quite a bit of cheap-o manga."
Half Price Books is a national chain with stores in 13 states. It's headquartered in Dallas. Comics fans may be interested to know that Half Price Books was (I think) the model for the bookstore where Buddy worked in the early issues of Hate.
They're headquartered in Dallas, and have a sister company called The Texas Bookman that buys and distributes remainders. So when you go into a Half Price Books store, you'll see a lot of books that look basically new along with the usual used-bookstore fare. It's a good combination.
LOTS of comics publishers sell remainders to Half Price Books (through Texas Bookman). Whenever I go into a Half Price Books (which is often--there are a bunch of them here in Houston), I check to see what graphic novels have been remaindered. Aside from getting an occasional bargain, it gives me a tool to look at the health of the publisher. A lot of remaindered titles at once doesn't bode well for a publisher. Shortly before they sold themselves to Dr. Master, ComicsOne remaindered a bunch of their titles, which subsequently showed up at Half Price Books. I knew then that things couldn't be going well for them...
At the risk of sounding like a paid spokeman for Half Price Books, I want to say that I love this store. They have this great combination of remainders and genuinely used books, and I occasionally find real gems, great bargains or both. I've been a regular customer for 25 years, bought my first punk records and first Velvet Underground record there, have found books by Lat and Posy Simmonds there, and continue to buy books from them pretty frequently. And as manga publishers remainder old series and manga readers cycle through their possessions, lots of manga titles are starting to show up there.