Reprinted in full below because it warrants reading (Stuff in bold is me emphasizing):
This is pretty huge. Phoenix is blessed with MANY great comic book stores, but Atomic was the mothership. Four large, clean, well run stores that catered to a wide audience. And this quite literally happened overnight. Yesterday we had Atomic. Today we don't.Atomic Comics, the nationally known Arizona retail chain, abruptly closed all four locations on Sunday, shocking staff, customers and industry figures alike. Although owner Michael Malve has yet to make a public statement, the closings of the stores in Mesa, Phoenix, Chandler and Paradise Valley have been confirmed online by multiple employees and creators.
“Yes, Atomic Comics is now closed,” Thomas Healy, former manager of the Paradise Valley location, tweeted last night. “I will miss running my store. I had the best staff ever!” His former employee Jen Davidson offered: “They just told us today. I hate everything. I’m so sorry. … I just feel bad for customers. Like NO NOTICE. It’s ridiculous. … All I’ve heard is that everything in every store is now the IRS’ malve filed for bankruptcy.”
Well regarded nationally for its in-store signings, innovative marketing and sheer size — it was believed to be among Diamond Comic Distributors’ largest accounts — Atomic gained international exposure last year when its name and logo were featured prominently in Kick-(bleep), the film adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. The chain began in 1988, when Malve opened Bubba’s Comic Store in Phoenix. A year later he moved to Mesa, renaming the business Atomic Comics.
Malve, a major supporter of The Hero Initiative, sent a weekly newsletter to creators and publishers, breaking down sales at his four stores. Although Malve was said to be forthright in the emails, grumbling about the state of the market, there apparently were no indications that he was on the brink of closing the chain.
The news triggered immediate reactions from the likes of Jim Lee, Joe Quesada — “The best retailer I’ve ever met closed his doors” — Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Kevin Smith and Dan Slott.
However, it also led some to pinpoint a cause, and to sound the alarm. Controversial retailer Larry Doherty chimed in, “If Mike Malve has fallen we could ALL be doomed. His genius in retail is the high water mark,” later adding, “Print runs are REALLY low. Publishers that market digital to the SAME customer base just put Atomic Comics out of business.” Retailer and promoter Jimmy Jay replied, “if Atomic has fallen, it didn’t happen overnight. [...] Digital didn’t kill Atomic, that is simplification.”
But then Rob Liefeld weighed in, writing, “Atomic Comics is a cautionary tale of hype over commerce. [...] Hate that this will turn into a blight on the comics industry when it is isolated to a specific chain, not all encompassing. [...] Once again, terrible news about Atomic Comics. Confident the AZ. Comic scene will recover and Malve will rise again.”
There are varying posts of well-wishers and people kicking the corpse before the body gets cold. I shopped there. I enjoyed shopping there. That said, they only recently figured out that sales and incentives get bodies to come in the door, and to my mind it was too little too late. God help me I'm not disagreeing with Liefeld on this one - they were great at getting creators in for signings and promoting the hell out of the events they created - but at the end of the day I don't know that anyone was actually buying anything.
This is not necessarily the "Death of the LCS"...not yet anyhow...but it's not hyperbole to say that one of the major fortresses in the current model just got sacked, leveled, and we're waiting to see if the ground's been salted so nothing grows there again.
A sad day in general.