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Best Kids Section – Diamond Best Practice Awards Nominees For The Autumn

To be voted on by comic book retailers, and awarded at NYCC, here are the nominations for Diamond Comic Distributor's Best Practice Awards, under the category of Best Kids Section.

Remember you've got to be in it to win it… and retailers who vote are up for $250 worth of free Diamond Select Toys in-stock merchandise as well.

Galactic Quest – Buford, GA

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Our priority has always been to get new readers into comics.  Since we opened in 1991, it's been our focus.  We created Galaxy Man & Cosmic Girl as mascots and ambassadors for the comic book community.  We reach out to libraries, schools and children's book festivals.  Our national all ages comic series "Hero Cats of Stellar City" has be especially effective in getting reluctant readers into comics.  Even busy moms enjoy reading them with their kids and we've recently had a home school book club form.

Krav'n Comics – Pottstown, PA

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Krav'n Comics would like to ask for your vote for the Best Practices Award for Best Kids Section. After my husband and daughter returned from the retailer's summit last year, they were super excited to rebuild our kids section.  They took what they learned from other great comic book stores and implemented that into our kids section.  In addition to rebuilding the kids section, Krav'n Comics introduced our Krav'n Comics Kids Club.  Each kid receives his or her own membership card, an exclusive membership pin, a comic collectors binder pack, and 10% off all comics/graphic novels, and Krav'n Comic classes.  We are so strongly focused on continuing to introduce children of all ages into the comic world, and continue to promote the importance of reading.

Space Cadets Collection Collection – Oak Ridge North, TX

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Space Cadets has an amazing kids section with cushions on the floor, blocks and other building toys to play with, 50 kid friendly comic titles and many many graphic novels. The section allows for them to enjoy themselves and not feel like they are in the way, as it is a section that is very clearly intended for kids and not a path to other products and sections.

Challengers Comics + Conversation – Chicago, IL

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Challengers Comics + Conversation strives to prove that the best part about being in a comic book shop is being in a comic book shop, and who better to be in comic book shops than kids? While we initially had a respectable all-ages section, when the 400 square foot space next door to us became available, we eagerly rented it and knocked a doorway thru the connecting cinderblock wall, creating "Sidekicks. A Place for Young Challengers." Sidekicks houses 8 half-size bookshelves full of alphabetically-arranged all-ages graphic novels and 2 walls filled with single issue all-ages comics and our more popular all-ages graphic novels and graphic novel series. Sidekicks is also home to two 4-foot tall TMNT action figures (Leo and Mikey, if you're keeping track), a full-size cardboard Doctor Who Tardis, 3 tables of crayons, coloring books (Avengers, Superman, TMNT, MLP, etc) and Star Wars and Justice League Unlimited action figures to play with, and even chairs for grown-ups. Sidekicks is to the left of the front counter and our front door, and watching kids walk in and immediately turn left makes us wish we had it from the very beginning. Here's to tomorrow's comic readers, today.

Pop Culture Comix – Overland Park, KS

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Viera Comics – Melbourne, FL

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Our Kids Section is fully stocked with every kids comic and many different kids graphic novels to choose from.  We even carry a large assortment of Golden Books and children's books done by local authors.  We also have a large assortment of classics done in graphic novel form from Treasure Island to Davy Crockett!  Our Kids Section is easy to find well organized and very well lit.  Everyone that comes in remarks at how nice it is!

Jesse James Comics – Glendale, AZ

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Our Kid section is in the middle of the 8000 sq foot store.  Its broken down into 7 theme sections.  Thsi includes old comics for the 60's and 70's Kids at heart.  Everything is Eye leveled and all parents can view their kids from any angle of the store.  The area holds over 500 comics and rotates weekly.  This year we started to carry dolls as well.

BAMF Comics – Crewe VA

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I'd like to Nominate my store it is called Bamf Comics and we live in a rural town in Crewe VA Population: 2,297.  I am very proud of our store. When our shipment comes in on Wednesday we make sure everyone of them get bag and boarded.  When you buy a new comic book you expected it to be new. If we don't have it in the store we will find it. Our store is open 7 days a week from 9 am to 9 pm. We have a large selection of children books. We love when children read! We chose this small town because my husband grew up here and we wanted to give back to the community. He remembers when he was little running to 7-eleven to the spinner rack just to be the first to get fist comic that day. Children in the rural city do not get that chance. We bring that excitement to this small town!

All Star Comics – Melbourne, Australia

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Since we first opened we have always seen the importance in having a fully stocked and accessible kids/all ages section.

What started as four shelves close to the younger readers eye level in our first location, has since expanded to it's own large section of nearly 250 square feet in our new location. Situated at the very front of the store, it is one of the first areas people see upon entering the shop.

We have maintained having shelves that are lower to the ground than our regular bookshelves to help make it as easy as possible for young readers to look through our selection.

With extra space we've been able to expand our range of all age books and single issues by 3 times of our previous range.

The space we have dedicated to this important section of the store means we've also been able to display a lot more of the books face forward to grab young readers attention, while having the space to arrange the books in a extremely organised manner.

The area is also fitted out with a number of small seats and a vintage wooden school desk for kids to sit themselves up on to comfortably look through books.

Also in the last six months we've launched the All Star Comics Kids Club, to great success. We have created a membership card the kids are encouraged to draw their own ID picture on, while the card gets them a discount on books they want to purchase, while making them feel part of a group.

We also asked a few of the Club members to write up short reviews of their favourite titles. We posted these up near the books to help other readers their age make an informed choice on what to pick.

We've also hosted readings of a local author's storybook and had a signing for a young local comic creator (12 years old), where he could sell and showcase his comic to other young readers in the hopes it will inspire even more kids to create their own characters and comics.

We are extremely proud of our Kids/All Ages Section and are very happy for the opportunity to share it with other comic retailers around the world.

 


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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