The Comic Book Shoppe

I’ll preface by saying that I am not a connoisseur of all things geek and nerd, but I’ve popped in here a few times for gifts of my boyfriend and to check out what they have that I might be into. I don’t know how other stores and locations compare, but the Bank street location is always a let down.
It doesn’t look clean or well organized for starters. Displays are haphazard, items are hard to see, there are vast empty shelves in some areas while others seem crammed full of stuff.
I also have a hard time finding anything of interest. There’s lots of stuff, but there’s not much that’s of «general interest» to someone like me. I want cute plushes and puzzles and patches and curios and accessories, and I DON’T want to pay an arm and a leg for them. Aside from some $ 20 drinking glasses and $ 30 mugs and some novelty toilet paper, there’s not a whole lot (their wallet section is quite hefty, though). Their clothes and accessories selection is minimal and I couldn’t find any posters or much in the way of wall art. You know what — this store kind of looks like the back room of a store that was stocked with the leftover, unsold merchandise of several other stores that shut down.
The worst part for me, though, is the crappy service. Despite the counter being directly in front of the door, no one has ever greeted me. No one has ever asked me if I need a hand or if I’m looking for something, despite the fact that I’ve wandered through that store several times, searching in vain for some hidden treasure that I never manage to find. In fact, I’m fairly confident that they try to avoid making eye contact.

I’m a resident of Toronto and thought I’d check out this comic store mostly because of the positive reviews. They have a good selection of statues (which I went there primarily for). Picked up a Bowen Designs statue because the price was really good.
When I returned home to display the statue, I noticed that part of the statue was repaired, meaning it was previously damaged and they tried fixing it (a representative of the store admitted to me that they have a person that repairs statues).
I returned on my next visit to Ottawa and spoke to Ken, their manager. He would not take ownership of the matter saying that if it was previously broken, the statue would have been displayed in an alternate display case and not in the display case I got the statue from. He offered me 10% off a future purchase.
Caution to everyone that this store sells damaged merchandise. They may not disclose it to the buyer and instead give YOU a hard time if you want a refund or exchange. If you give them your business, inspect everything carefully. You’ve been warned.

Let me start by saying that I’m an ideal customer for a business like the The Comic Shoppe… I spend thousands of dollars each year on collectibles, especially action figures. Marvel, NECA, Hasbro, Hot Toys, Revoltech, etc… you name it, I collect it. I’ve been to both the Bank Street and Clyde Ave locations numerous times and my shopping experiences have ranged from poor to abysmal, especially in the past two years.
For example, while shopping at the Clyde location, I witnessed three employees hanging around at the cash when they should’ve been walking the floor to offer their assistance. Instead, they were lounging about and directly in front of me, started laughing about a customer that had just left… she merely came in to inquire about a product with her son and when she left, they were stating that she looked like a «crackwhore» and that her son looked «retarded.» I waited until the three disbanded before I left, to avoid the same ridicule. When they did split up, I wondered if it was because they saw my reaction to their behavior. Shame on them! Let’s just say, I was beyond shocked and disgusted. I haven’t been back since… and that’s unfortunate, as their action figure selection is larger most of the time. The way I see it, why should I support a business that would treat customers like that? They also had a habit of telling me items weren’t in-​stock over the phone… and I would find the very item I had inquired about while visiting the store later the same day. This happened so many times, I stopped inquiring. They simply don’t know their own store.
The Bank Street location does have friendlier service, as a previous reviewer stated… but not entirely. Some have a cold demeanor and always look like there’s somewhere else they’d rather be. I won’t use names. I once witnessed an employee telling another that she didn’t like the «nerds» that come into the store… did she not expect to see nerds at a comic shop?
Unfortunately, most of the staff lacks serious knowledge of merchandise. It’s impossible to pre-​order anything and only certain employees will even offer to put items on hold… and if they do, it’s never guaranteed. For example, I had called and requested a ¼ scale figure be held and I would pick it up later that day… however, when I went to purchase it, it was nowhere to be found. Another example would be a HotToys figure that cost several hundred dollars… they had one left but had it stored away. I was told they would return my call as soon as possible the very next day… they didn’t. I guess they just don’t care.
When brining my purchases to the cash, I shouldn’t be greeted with the comment, «I didn’t know we had that in stock.» This is unacceptable for any employee, especially at the Bank Street location wherein it takes ten minutes to observe the inventory.
While I still believe in supporting local business, I now purchase the majority of my collectibles online. I advise everyone to do the same. Price mark-​ups have become too extreme at The Comic Shoppe… I understand the need to make a little bit extra from each item but what I witnessed on my last visit was scalping, plain and simple. Silver Snail might have less stock… but they have much better pricing and their customer service is undeniably better… so much so, that even if an item was more expensive, I would sooner purchase from a business that treats its customers like they matter.

First of all I have to say I am not a comic book fan. I have never been able to get into them. However, I am obsessed with horror movies, some sci-​fi movie series and a few sci-​fi/​fantasy Tv series. So I can appreciate a store dedicated to other fandoms and alternate forms of media.
My friend is an avid comic book reader and asked me to visit the store with her. I am glad I did, the employees were incredibly helpful and made excellent recommendations. They seemed genuinely friendly and wanted to help my friend find what she was looking for. Despite going through some reorganization within their store. Eventually she did locate the issue she was after.
The store had some interesting memorabilia and such from movies and series I enjoy as well. If I ever need something from a comic book store I will definitely visit this one again!

My kids favorite comic/​card store in Ottawa. Plenty of figurines, cards, games and stock to keep everyone interested.

This place probably has the best selection of comicbooks and related items in Ottawa but their pricing leaves a lot to be desired. I bought a new release DVD from them a few years ago and found the same DVD ten minutes later at Futureshop for less than half of what they charged me, I went back to return it and one of the owners gave me a real hard time, I was a long time regular at the time, never been back.

Wow, the Comic Book Shoppe (despite the fact that it spells shop with two p’s and an e) is an AWESOME store. I am in the market for some sports memorabilia for my son’s birthday and I decided to check this place out. Wow, was I blown away by the selection. They are jammed packed with all kinds of neat things — posters, comics (new and collector), t-​shirts, sports cards (mostly new), and action figures. Their action figure collection is truly impressive — they had sports figures (regular players and icons), and all your sci-​fi movie and TV characters. They even had a display case with larger figures that should be classified more as statuettes. I was looking for baseball items in particular, and sadly, this shop (pe) seems to focus mostly on hockey — as I imagine most stores do in Canada! Otherwise, a great place to shop or even just to browse.