2023 saw a 2% decrease from 2022’s 2% increase leaving sales right back where they were in 2021. This may not sound all that bad, but sales were down significantly for almost the entire year with only a short burst of improved sales in the last few weeks of the year. In fact we were struggling to pay the bills in October and November and had to call out to our community and let people know the precarious financial position the store was in. This helped us additional funds through a crowdfunded Kiva loan. Compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, sales were still down almost 20% and the prospect of greater recovery has felt bleak at times.

2022 saw a 2% increase from 2021’s moderate sales recovery, which is meant the year was basically flat. 2021 was still down about 10% from 2019 sales. Throughout the year, sales were remarkably flat with none of the usual strong summer sales and somewhat lagging Fall sales. This was not the full post-pandemic recovery year that I was hoping for. Instead, the pandemic psychology continued and many people continued to work from home with less frequent visits to the store. Customers we used to see every week, came in every few weeks. Customers we used to see every month, came in every few months. Customers that used to come in every few months, maybe visited the store for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Rather then returning to pre-pandemic hours, we kept the store to the more limited six hour days. Online sales were less frequent and irregular as compared to 2021.

2021 saw a 52% increase from 2020’s low sales, but was still down about 12% from 2019 sales. This was all while maintaining more limited “Pandemic Hours” of 12pm-6pm all year. For the second year of the pandemic we continued to see repeat visits on a more infrequent nature and more limited online sales.

After having a record breaking year of sales in 2019, the world and Mission: Comics had a dismal 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition, we had the worst fire season in years keeping customers at home and unable to visit the store.

Overall sales declined by about 42%.

And while that’s comparing strong sales to a year where the store was completely close for 6 weeks and operating under covid restrictions for much of the rest of the year, sales were also down about 28% compared to the nearly disastrous year of 2017.

Without the initial generosity from the community, an understanding landlord and a Federal Disaster Loan the store would not have been able to survive

Mission: Comics is currently open to the public 12-6 PM 7 days a week.

If you prefer to place an order online for pick-up or shipped to you, you can do so at https://stores.comichub.com/mission_comics_and_art

Starting this coming Monday - May 18th, Mission: Comics will be able to offer curbside pickup. NO ONE WILL BE ALLOWED IN THE STORE. Hopefully this is only a temporary situation and we will be able to let in at least a few people for browsing in the near future.

While we’re all being superheroes and doing our part to slow the spread of Covid-19, the store remains shut until this crisis passes. We may not be able to get you comics today, but we will be able to get you comics in the future!

To reserve the comics you want in the weeks and months to come, we invite you to set up a pull list with us at http://customer.comichub.com/

2019 was another year of recovery and growth for the store. Sales grew a more modest 8.6% as compared to 2018, compared to last years 14% improvement from 2017’s near disastrous bottom. Fantastically 2019 actually ended with the store’s best month and quarter of sales ever!

2018 has been a year of recovery for the store. Sales grew 14% as compared to 2017, which had been down 17% as compared to 2016. Not a resounding recovery, but enough of a recovery, combined with our Patreon, to keep the store open. The recovery has been primarily in the core categories of graphic novels and comics. Despite stocking more games and statues, other product categories besides comics and graphic novels actually declined slightly in 2018.