Comics at Housing Works: So, whatever happened to the Housing Works comic book sections?

You may remember that prior to the pandemic outbreak in March 2020, I volunteered at Housing Works Books and Café in Soho in Manhattan, heading the comic book department.








Housing Works would accept donations of books, CDs, DVDs, records — and oh yes, comic books — and re-sell them in their store, with profits going to AIDS and homeless advocacy and programs.

I had amazing fun volunteering and going through comics, researching and pricing them, and putting them out for sale.

Due to the COVID epidemic, Housing Works Bookstore and Café closed in March 2020. It didn't open again for about a year and a half, in September 2021. When they opened again, I was invited to come back again to volunteer. But I didn't find out until I arrived: there were no more comic books.

All of the thousands of comic books had been liquidated, sold off to a wholesaler or retailer in the COVID hiatus for a lump sum. I absolutely don't blame them for this. I was, however annoyed that I wasn't informed of this when I was asked to volunteer again. I turned it down when I found the comic books were gone.

It seemed like a penny-wise and pond-foolish decision to me, though. I'd been told in the two months prior to the store closing for COVID that comic books had become the second most profitable section in the store. Sigh!

Anyway, last year (2022) I was again invited to volunteer because comic books were being donated again! I got very excited and happy and agreed to. But despite my several follow-ups over the next few months, no one ever again would return my calls or confirm they wanted me. I finally dropped the matter, sadly.

Today I went into the store for the first time in a couple years and I was absolutely floored by how bare it has become. Major sections (fiction, travel, cooking, art and more) have been shaved down by half or more.

In addition, the upstairs balcony is now being converted to house their separate clothing and housewares shop (formerly was a couple doors down, but not closing) so they have much less space than before to work with.

Here's what the two main sections of comic book displays (the Comics Rack and the Comics Cart) looked like in Housing Works during my volunteer years there. I was in the shop 2-3 a week and kept stock rotated and fresh.





Here's what those two sections of the store look like today, March 1, 2023..



I found a couple shelves of graphic novels on display (formerly an entire bookshelf endcap). Among those was a single basket of worn, unsorted, unbagged, random comics.


I did buy some LPs there, and at the counter I asked brightly, like the jerk I am, "Say, what happened to your really great comic book section?" The cashier directed me to the graphic novel and comic basket section shown above. I said "Thanks! I miss the old displays, though."

To be clear: I don't blame any of the managers, employees or volunteers for this change at all. The decision was made at higher levels to liquidate all the comics, and hey, that's their right (although, as I said, I believe it to be penny-wise, pound-foolish).

So if you go to Housing Works Bookstore and Café, please do not bug or harass anyone in the store about their small quantities of comics.

But I miss volunteering there so much. It made me so happy, and it felt I really was doing something good, that contributed to the fundraising for some very good causes and programs. And I'm sad I'd built it up to a very profitable and lucrative section per square foot...and it ended there.




And that's all I have to say about that.