YELLOW SPRINGS — While scores of businesses struggle to offer a product that people will buy amidst economic turmoil, one dynamic duo has struck a balance between financial success and fun.
Thacher Cleveland and Anthony Barry worked at Yellow Spring’s Dark Star Books before breaking off to form their own business, Super-Fly Comics. “Dark star was a great store but it was a very crowded store and it was not the kind of comic store that we wanted to work at,” said Barry. “We both had long-term goals of independently creating our own stores and after a while we realized that those visions were not really mutually-exclusive and that a partnership really seemed to work out.”
The venture to detach themselves from an established retailer may have been risky, but comics are a business where loyalty reigns supreme. “Moving the customer base from Dark Star over to here helped us out a lot more than a place just starting up from scratch,” said Cleveland.
Super-Fly was founded in August of 2007 and has persistently expanded, moving from their original storefront to Dingleberry’s former location on Dayton Street, effectively quadrupling their space. The constant expansions aren’t limited to square footage, as the owners are always adding new elements to their business to keep customers interested and coming back. Over the years, Super-Fly has hosted gaming tournaments, a concert, and most recently a New Year’s Eve party complete with DJ and a dance floor.
Cleveland says that these extra activities are part of what makes Super-Fly so successful in a time where other businesses are suffering. “As we get into a more digital age, with people looking to comics and almost all media in general on the internet, a lot of places are kind of shifting away from your traditional store models.”
“The shops that are able to survive are going to be the ones that provide an atmosphere that people are going to because they want to go to and not because this is only place to get comics,” said Cleveland.
Atmosphere is a keystone in Super-Fly’s business model, and it’s what Cleveland and Barry attribute their continued business to. “We’ve both been to shops where you walk in and you as the customer say hi to the shopkeep but they don’t even look up and that’s not fun.” said Barry.
“Pretty much any good store, no matter what you’re selling, it’s about providing something to the customers that they want to come back and find,” said Cleveland. “One of the things we try to pride ourselves on is having a good atmosphere and having an area that’s inviting and clean.”
Working for themselves gives them the opportunity to be the comic store that they always wanted, and while it’s easy to think that they have the best job in the world, it’s still a job. “We love what we do. We love the industry and we love the product,” said Barry. “But I’m not going to say that it’s not tiring working 60 hours a week.”
“We’re not millionaires by any stretch of the imagination and in some ways there’s still a lot of struggles in this soft economy,” said Cleveland. “However, the fact that we’re able to be our own bosses and make our own hours makes working the extra hours and putting in the extra work a lot more rewarding.”
Mixing business and pleasure is often seen as bad chemistry, and sometimes that bleeds into the work that goes on at Super-Fly. “It’s wonderful and awful,” said Barry. “You’re never not working but you’re also never not playing. When I’m here I’m always having fun but when I’m doing things I love I’m also kind of working.”
At the end of the day, is shouldering the responsibilities of business ownership worth working with something you love everyday? According to Barry, it’s hardly a question. “There’s something very special about putting the things you love into other people’s hands and generate the same spark of enjoyment in them that you found in it yourself.”
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