Mile High Comics
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Collectibles |
| Founded | 1969 in Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Founder | Chuck Rozanski |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Services | Comic book retailing |
| Revenue | $3.5 million in 1987 |
| Owner | Chuck Rozanski |
| Website | milehighcomics |
Mile High Comics is an online retailer and comic book store founded by Chuck Rozanski.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Rozanski started Mile High Comics in 1969, when he was 13 years old,[1] selling back issues of comic books out of his parents' Colorado Springs basement by running mail-order ads in the magazine Rocket's Blast Comicollector.
The first Mile High Comics retail location opened in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974[2] with 10,000 comics and $800 in cash.[citation needed] By 1977, it had expanded to four stores in the greater Denver area.[3]
Edgar Church Collection[edit]
In December of 1977, Rozanski purchased the Edgar Church Collection, the largest and highest-quality Golden Age comics collection ever discovered.[4] The cache had been preserved due to the unvarying 60-degree temperature and minimal humidity, and consisted of 16,000 comic books dating from 1937 to 1955, including the first Superman comic and the first Marvel comic. The purchase of the Church Collection helped Mile High Comics expand its influence nationally and helped bring a geometric rise to the price of rare comic books, which became a legitimate investment.[3]
In c. 1986, Rozanski sold a batch of comics from the Church Collection and used the profits to put a down payment on a 22,000 square-foot warehouse.[5][3]
Mail order business[edit]
In 1979 Rozanski purchased Richard Alf Comics' mail-order division, with which he gained systems and methods for greatly expanding his mail order sales.[5]
In 1980, Rozanski purchased a double-page ad in mainstream Marvel comics, listing prices for back issues he had for sale. This ad, which was the first of its kind, was a departure from the general practice of the time because of its inclusion of prices, which Rozanski explains was a way to educate non-collectors as to the value of their collections. The ad affirmed that back issues were a valid commodity for the collector's market, and led not only to a boom for Mile High Comics, but to the entire back-issue market.[citation needed] Mile High Comics frequently placed ads in Marvel and DC comics in the 1980s, listing back issues of comic books that could be purchased through the mail.[2]
Expansion[edit]
In c. 1986, Mile High moved its headquarters and warehouse to a 22,000-square-foot building at 2151 West 56th Avenue in Denver.[1]
By 1987 Rozanski had five retail locations in the Denver area:[6]
- All in a Dream (Denver)
- Top-Notch Comics (Denver)
- The Comic Store (Westminster)
- Fantasy Works (Aurora)
- Time Warp (Boulder)
At that point, the company was generating $3.5 million a year in sales.[3]
In 1993 Rozanski opened the first comics mega-store in Denver, which measured 11,000 square feet.[7] The company eventually expanded to eight stores, and grew to become one of the most successful comics specialty shops in the United States.[5]
One of Mile High's employees, David Vinson, was hired by DC Comics in 1994 as a manager of distributor relations.[8]
Internet sales; changing times[edit]
In 1999, Mile High Comics announced it planned to sell comics on the Internet, in a planned partnership with Amazon.com.[9]
In 2012, Mile High Comics had four locations: a new 65,000-square-foot megastore east of 46th Avenue and Jason Street in northwest Denver (purchased for $1.6 million),[2] and retail locations in Glendale, Littleton, and Lakewood.[10]
In July 2014 Rozanski announced Mile High Comics would likely end its four-decade-long history of appearances at the San Diego Comic-Con, due to the proliferation of convention-exclusive variants offered by publishers and toy manufacturers to convention attendees,[11] many of whom Rozanski criticized for attending the convention solely to acquire those exclusives in order to resell them at higher prices on eBay.[12] Rozanski further criticized publishers for denying these exclusives to retailers, which Rozanksi estimates cost Mile High Comics $10,000 of losses at the convention. Rozanski said that Mile High would continue its presence at other conventions such as Denver Comic Con, where Mile High's hourly sales were double those at San Diego, despite the fact that the Denver convention yielded half the attendance of San Diego.[11] In 2017 Mile High Comics announced it would no longer appear at San Diego Comic-Con.[13]
Business consolidation[edit]
In 2015, after 29 years at that location, Rozanski sold the Migh Comics warehouse to a marijuana distributor, clearing one million dollars in the transaction.[1]
On December 31, 2018, Mile High Comics closed its Glendale location, at 760 South Colorado Boulevard. (That branch of Mile High Comics had originally been located near the Celebrity Sports Center, but had moved to its later location when the sports center closed in 1994.)[14][15]
In the spring of 2019, Mile High Comics closed its Lakewood store.[16] As of 2024, Mile High Comics has one remaining physical location, the 45,000-square-foot Jason Street Mega Store in Denver.[17][2] As described by Rozanski, the Mega Store, e.g., the "'Cathedral of Comics', boasts 15 million books, magazines, posters, collectibles, toys, games and more.... Rozanski estimates his inventory is worth $100 million."[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Weismann, Brad (November 18, 2015). "Mile High Comics Clears a Million by Selling Warehouse to Pot Business". COMICS; MARIJUANA. Westword.
- ^ a b c d e Moore, John (Jul 2, 2023). "The larger-than-life story of a comic book hero". The Denver Gazette.
- ^ a b c d Hayner, Don (July 26, 1987). "Big bucks in rare comics — Classic find in '77 began a new era". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2018-11-17. Retrieved November 10, 2012 – via HighBeam Research.
- ^ Kochanek, Pat (Apr–Sep 1991). "The Ultimate Pedigree". Comic Book Marketplace. No. 2, 3, 4, 5. pp. 20–24, 26–29, 24–29, 12–13.
- ^ a b c Duncan, Randy; Smith, Matthew J. (2009). The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture. Continuum. pp. 102–103 – via Google Books.
- ^ Mile High Comics (Apr 1988). "DC COMICS SALE!". Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. No. 70. DC Comics.
- ^ "Mile High Mega-Store Opens". Newswatch. The Comics Journal. No. 158. Apr 1993. pp. 26–27.
- ^ "Hirings and Firings: DC Hires New Manager-Distributor Relations". Newswatch. The Comics Journal. No. 167. Apr 1994. p. 32.
- ^ Dean, Michael (Dec 1999). "Chuck Rozanski's Amazon Adventure". News Watch. The Comics Journal. No. 218. p. 10-12.
- ^ Martin, Claire (June 6, 2012). "Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics talks about life, superheroes and Comic Con". Lifestyle. The Denver Post.
- ^ a b Melrose, Kevin (July 28, 2014). "Mile High Comics may pull out of SDCC over exclusive variants". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2016-04-01.
- ^ Rozanski, Chuck (July 25, 2014). "San Diego Comic Con Report #2". Mile High Comics. Archived from the original on 2018-02-23.
- ^ Terror, Jude (6 Jul 2017). "Mile High Comics Breaks Up With San Diego Comic Con". Bleeding Cool.
- ^ Harris, Kyle (December 31, 2018). "Mile High Comics' Glendale Location Closing After 28 Years: The store will close at the end of business on December 31". Westword.
- ^ Westword Staff (January 5, 2019). "Reader: Mile High Comics Gone in Glendale? Denver Is Changing!". Westword.
- ^ Rozanski, Chuck (Apr 1, 2019). "Lakewood Store Closes, 60% Off Sale Ending Soon". Mile High Comics.
- ^ "Mile High Comics Stores".