At SDCC in July, the winners of the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Award were announced. We are so thrilled to congratulate the winners of the Retailer Award, Books with Pictures Eugene! Books with Pictures Eugene is owned by Andrea Gilroy and Katie Pryde and we reached out to ask a few questions. Andrea replied and you can read our full interview below:
What did you do differently this past year that you think put your store in the running for this award?
We didn’t do that much differently in our day-to-day operations, honestly! We added a big event to our calendar, though: last year was the first year we held CAFE, the Comics Art Festival of Eugene. We had around 2000 attendees wander through our exhibition area that featured 40 local, independent, and small-press comics creators. The day was also packed with programming, and featured special guest Caroline Cash. We’re making it an annual tradition, and currently hard at work for this year’s CAFE.
What is something your staff does that helps turn customers into community?
It’s all about the little things. We work hard to remember folks’ names and interests, especially our subscribers we see every week. Doing things like seeing that a customer didn’t subscribe to a new one-shot that ties in with other series they’re subscribed to, and saving a copy in their box just in case, or remembering that last week they mentioned they had a test coming up and asking how it went. The other thing we do is work really hard to make sure there are events and ways to connect for all sorts of customers–maybe someone isn’t a weekly Wednesday warrior, but they’re in to making their own zines. Well, we have a monthly zine club, as well as a monthly Creators Meetup that gives those customers a way to keep coming back and connecting with us and other folks in our community.
What’s one thing your store does that you never expected would become such a big part of its identity?
Single issues, especially variant covers! When I started the store, I thought we would be a much more book-focused store. But as our community grew, we attracted more and more folks who wanted to set up subscription boxes, so single issues has continued to grow–to the point where our sales are about 40% singles (up from being around 25%). About two years ago, my general manager Jack started taking over FOC for single issues, and he started adding more variant covers. We don’t usually go for the ratio variants, but Jack has a great eye for open-order variants. We have a handful of customers every week who come in and tell us they found a variant cover we had that they didn’t see any where else.
What’s something you’ve learned from your customers/community that has changed the way you run your store?
Our store is related to Books With Pictures in Portland–they’re our sister store, and Katie Pryde (2022 Spirit of Comics winner, by the way) had built a beautiful community. Obviously, Portland is a much bigger than Eugene–around 3-4 times the size. But Portland also has so many excellent comic stores, that each of them are able to really dial in to a niche audience. When I first opened the store, I envisioned our stock being a little more dialed-in and niche to serve folks who tend to feel underrepresented in geek spaces–women, queer folks, and kids more focused on graphic novels than ongoing series. And that audience has definitely found us! But as we’ve grown, we’ve had a really wide range of customers and interests make us their home store. Trying to find a balance between so many interests does make ordering trickier, but we feel like we’ve found a path that works for us.
What is one thing that you do at Books with Pictures Eugene does that you’d like to see spread to other comic retail stores?
This is a tricky one, because I know how hard everyone works to do what makes sense for their shops and communities, and I’d never presume that what works for me must work for everyone else. But I think I’d like to advocate for paying attention to long-term sustainable growth over chasing the next collectible trend, and to consider the unintended impacts the collectible market has on new readers. Of course, it’s important to engage with trends! But chasing trends can end up rewarding a small group of fans who are willing to drop a lot of money at the risk of alienating large groups of folks who are intimidated by high cost or harder-to-find collectibles. I would rather see everyone who comes in to the shop be able to get a copy of a new issue of a hot new series rather than make a higher profit percentage upselling rare covers to a few folks.
What does being recognized by your peers in the comics industry mean to you?
We opened our doors on March 3, 2020 – just 10 days before the pandemic shutdowns which threw society in to a bit of a chaos, and the comics industry into a lot of chaos. Our peers in the industry have always been supportive, but at the same time, we weren’t able to participate in the industry in the way we expected we would for that crucial first year, and of course many of the events and gatherings that exist for comics industry pros to connect were cancelled, delayed, or online. But folks still worked hard to connect with us, make us feel welcome in the community, and support us. To be able to celebrate this award, in person, with my fellow retailers, creators, and publishing folks…it was something I’ll always treasure. I know how special it is.
Who was the first person you wanted to tell after your store won, and why?
My team, Jack Sager and Rhae Olson! My husband Shaun and business partner Katie were at the ceremony, so I got to experience that moment with them. But Jack and Rhae weren’t able to make it to San Diego with me, so I wanted to be able to share this moment with them as much as possible. And I did call them, right away! This is absolutely a team effort, and this victory is as much for them as it is for me. I was able to find them a few fun treasures at the con to make up for not being able to come in person.
What does this award represent to you, your staff, and your community?
We work very, very hard every day to make the shop be the very best it can be. I mean, we’ve literally put blood, sweat, and tears into the shop! It’s very easy to get stuck in to the slog of emails, receiving new books, figuring out orders, making sure everything’s clean and nothing’s broken…and all of that makes it harder to zoom out and see the bigger picture. To have our hard work being recognized on such a huge stage has really helped us do that. Our community are so proud of us; they’ve been stopping by, sharing stories, giving us hugs, and posing with the award. We’re so honored to give back a little bit of the support and joy they give to us.
What’s ahead for Books with Pictures Eugene, and is there anything you’re hoping to accomplish that could put you in contention for the award again in the future?
We are looking to continue to grow and to work on more community partnerships! We’re hard at work planning an even bigger CAFE for 2026, and more fun events. Right now, though, we’re looking forward to the community celebration we’re planning for later this month!
View all of the Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award finalists and nominees.
