Josh-da-man

I actually would have bit on those Millar Swamp Thing books, and Mr Punch if I didn't already have it. Most of the Ollie's stuff seems like random capeshit stuff that doesn't interest me.

PhantomStranger

Actually, Ollie's has been advertising a large purchase of used library books recently. One location I visited had an entire section dedicated to them. I came across several new DC trades, including various Batman books. I don't remember many premier Batman hardcovers showing up before like this. I'm also on the verge of completing all the Suicide Squad trade paperbacks. Only need volume 4 now.

Red Hood

They've been slowly moving in to places that used to be Toys R' Us or Sears, so sooner or later they will most likely put stores in the West.

PhantomStranger

Not that this will end up anything like Gamestop, but interestingly enough the short action on Ollie's stock is rather high. Wall Street doesn't like Ollie's in the long run.

Josh-da-man

So they're trying to sell books that nobody wanted to read for free?

Captsmee.00

yup. I’ve seen them at my local store for ages.
Nothing good either

Red Hood

Found Star Wars Icons: Han Solo for $8.99
Mysterious World of Doctor Strange (Character encyclopedia with Alex Ross cover) for $4.99
The DC Universe of John Byrne for $7.99
Planet of the Apes: Original Topps Cards Series for $4.99
Fallout 76: Official Collector's Guide for $4.99

Eric F

Getting my 2nd vaccination on Mon. 2 weeks later I'll be able to go to Ollie's- RI is a festering hole of COVID, Woonsocket doubly so.

Ishouldknowbetter

Good Luck! Hope you find some good stuff!

John Pannozzi

I went to the Ollies in Woonsocket (waring rubber gloves, no less), and I saw most of the items that Red Hood listed (are you from Rhode Island, Red Hood?). The only one of those that interested was the DC by Byrne book, but I passed.

I did get some Miracleman by Alan Moore (books 1 and 3), Rocket Raccoon vol. 1 (the 2014 series by Skottie Young), and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGents Archives vol. 4 (plus a binder to put some comics in).

No Marvel Omnibuses to be found, alas.

ddrknghtrtns

Went to Ollie's last Saturday and found some of the books already mentioned in previous posts, plus Azrael Volume 1: Fallen Angel for $3.99.

Ishouldknowbetter

Any Batman Noir: The Long Halloween or any of the unwrapped versions of DC comics at Woonsocket?

John Pannozzi

Not that I noticed.

Red Hood

Great finds! And I’m in NC by the way.

Ishouldknowbetter

Ollie's today. Left behind Ms. Marvel hardcovers, Wolverine Return of Weapon X (only one), Thunder Agents, Golden Age Superman Vol 3 (?), Age of Ultron. Very messy graphic novel section,

Red Hood

Got this one today for $6.99 at Ollies

B5Erik

It is interesting that there aren't any outlet type stores on the West Coast that carry that kind of stuff.

I wonder why that is.

Ishouldknowbetter

one day, I hope to be driving along and find an ollie's bargain outlet next to a canadian dollarama and a books a million. The perfect cheap graphic novel storm.

Red Hood

Books-A-Million doesn't seem to be carrying that many graphic novels as before. I stopped by one last week and it had almost no Marvel books, few DCs and a few indies. They cleared out a lot of their inventory over the past 2 years.

PhantomStranger

No cheap real estate in California. Ollie's only survives by opening locations in some of the most run-down retail buildings I've ever seen in areas with cheaper real estate. It's a store out of time and out of step with almost all other modern retail chains.

Ollie's is like stepping into a retail store from the 70s or 80s. It's actually a bit fun in that regard.

B5Erik

It's just surprising that no other West Coast retailers sell that kind of overstuck stuff. It's pretty rare to see overstock trades out here.

Ishouldknowbetter

I agree. You have to go pretty far to get to an Ollie's around here and it's definitely in odd locations. I think they rate strip malls and it falls into the lowest category. Seems like it's always next to a McDonald's, too.

Ishouldknowbetter

I haven't been to Books-a-Million for graphic novels, I have only heard of it on the boards.

Josh-da-man

I think Ollie's is more of a regional liquidation outlet. It looks like they're mostly located in the Southern states, with a few stores in the upper Midwest like Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. They have something like 400 stores, and not one is west of Texas.

Makes me think that it's a distribution thing; that maybe their suppliers are all on the east coast and they don't think it's profitable to haul freight past certain points; they have locations in TX and OK, but none in KS, NE, or anywhere directly north of there.

Makes me think they're getting all of these graphic novels and comic TPBs because of the locations of Diamond's distribution centers. It might have been more convenient to dump a bunch of this stuff off to Ollie's instead of places like Big Lots or Marshalls because they're closer to their warehouses.

B5Erik

Maybe, but I wouldn't think that shipping them, at the buyer's expense, wouldn't be all that expensive (per book it might raise the retail price by a quarter or so).

It's just odd - there's a big market out here, but we're underrepresented for a lot of stuff.

On the other thand, we DO have In 'N' Out, so there's that...

(Although, to be honest, I'd rather have access to cheap TPB's on a regular basis than have In 'N' Out, but that's just me. )