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| TJ Veith |
and Bianca Moise
As a
child growing up TJ Veith would find himself with a pencil in one hand and his
drawing pad in the other drawing superheroes for hours. As he got older his
passion for drawing grew and he realized he can turn something that he loves to
do into a business.
Next
month, Veith’s dreams will become a reality as he opens his pop culture gallery, Flippin’ Comics. The new comic book store at 218 Grant Street, is just one of the many new
businesses calling the West Side home.
Veith,
a resident of the West Side, has been selling comic books online for the past
five years. Flippin’ Comics
will not only be a place for
customers to find collectible comic books but a shop where local and
international artists can showcase their work. Veith combined his two passions
of comic books and pop culture and created his first brick and mortar that will
be both a comic book shop and a gallery dedicated to pop culture.
“Having
a brick and mortar establishes a sense of legitimacy to a business where online
presence is kind of fairweather,” Veith said.
Veith
flashes back to a time where Grant Street was considered to be “sketchy” but
now it has made a full turnaround and was the ideal place to fulfill his dreams
of turning his online comic book publication to a brick and mortar.
Veith’s
vision for Flippin’ Comics was to create a hub for art and music lovers in Buffalo. He plans to not only have comic
books in his store but to have a platform for people creating podcasts,
recording music, and showing their artwork.
Veith
found success in art mainly on the social media site Instagram.
Social media plays a large role in Veith’s business. He’s able to share his
artwork with hundreds of people who share and repost his work, which he credits
for being the reason his online sales have increased.
Veith
seems
to be bucking a shopping trend that is shifting away from storefronts in favor
of the online marketplace.
“People that do what I do with online sales
that target comic books they’re the ones who spend the majority of the money
because they are trying to resell, whereas an online consumer would usually buy
one book and a reseller would buy comic books in bulk. Those are the people
that will come to a shop like mine,” Veith said.
Prish Moran, store owner of the Sweet Ness 7
Cafe who is also the landlord of the building where Veith is renting said Veith
should set and keep regular store hours.
“Be
consistent in your opening and closing hours, that is the biggest thing I see
with new businesses. It’s slow, so they decide to close and that is the worst
thing you can do,” Moran said.
Moran
also disagrees with the idea that Grant Street is not safe.
“The
media and everyone has made us believe that it is unsafe here, and that's not
true things happen, sure they do but they happen everywhere,” Moran said.
Renovations
for Flippin’ Comics are set to complete within the next month.
