2330 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee
Neighborhood: Bay View
Founded: 1984
Owner: Steve Dobrzynski
Employees: 6
Product: Comics
How did you come to own the store?
“Collector’s Edge opened in 1984 under the ownership of Jef Parker and he ended up getting sick and didn’t want the store to close. I started working for him in 1995 and I got out of my old business and bought the new business. It started out on First Street, then moved to Kinnickinnic across the street (from the current store) and then it moved to the location it is now in 1990.”
What do you sell?
“We’re mainly comics and comic-related items. We’ve got about 1 million back issues, give or take. New comics come out weekly – we keep those maintained on our racks. We should always have at least the last four issues of any title that we’re not sold out of on our racks. We also buy collections, which are older comics – that goes into our back stock also.”
Who are your customers?
“We see everyone from 3-year-old girls to 80-year-old guys. The average customer is somewhere around 29 or 30, about 50/50 (percent) married to single. We’ve got pretty much everybody.”
What are the most popular comics these days?
“Your main titles – Batman, The Amazing Spiderman – but also independent titles are gaining momentum in several different areas that are non-superhero related. And a lot of these are being made into TV shows and movies. That’s happening more and more where you watch a new movie coming out and say, ‘That’s a comic.’ And I don’t think people realize that.”
Have you seen growing interest in female-centered comics?
“They’ve always had female leads in comics, but now more than ever you see a cross-section of everybody. They’ve got male leads and female leads. There are Hispanic leads, there are black leads. Everything you could think of, there’s a comic for it.”
