After 34 years, Dave’s Comics in the West End is closing its doors.
After 34 years, Dave’s Comics in the West End is closing its doors.
The Village Shopping Center institution won’t renew its lease beyond the end of July following the death of owner Dave Luebke in April. They’ll be having one final closing sale this Saturday, when everything in the store will be 40% off and subscribers can get an additional 10% off.
Luebke’s lifelong passion for comics, combined with an entrepreneurial spirit, led him to hold Richmond’s first comic book conventions in the 1970’s. Then in 1982 he opened his first brick and mortar shop, according to his wife, Sheryl Luebke.
“He loved comics from the time he could read. He was collecting as a young kid,” Sheryl said. “He really started buying and selling when he was 12 so his collection was about 50-years-old when we sold it.”
In 1990, the store moved to a different location in the same shopping center and continued to grow into the Richmond institution it is today.
“We’ve had generations coming back,” Sheryl said. “We’ve had kids who started here when they were eight and now they’re bringing their kids here so it’s pretty bittersweet. People said, ‘Where am I going now?’”
In April, more than 1,000 people came when the store held liquidation sales for comics and toys from their warehoused inventory.
For Sheryl, comics were a childhood interest but Dave reintroduced her to the art form when they married 18 years ago.
“I came back to it at a late date. He was like my entree back into the world and I have to say it’s pretty neat,” she said. “… I’ve gotten a great appreciation for the industry, for the artists and the writers and even the cosplayers. I’ve never seen such amazing costumes, these people are so creative.”
The community’s been very supportive since Dave’s broke the news that it’d be closing, according to Sheryl.
“We notified the subscribers over the weekend and I’ve been getting these wonderful letters from people,” she said. “And when I’ve broken the news to customers who’ve come in it’s like ‘Wow.’ For many people this is where they got their first taste of comic books.”
Dave’s Times-Dispatch obituary read, “He loved people and he loved to entertain them. Dave brought out the kid in people and charmed many children over the years.”
Sheryl said that while the physical store will close, the business will live on in some form, operating online and as a wholesaler from their warehouse.
The closing sale will be this Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm at pin 7019 Three Chopt Rd. Find out more about the event via Facebook here.
