Moose Jaw's Comic Book Guy, Rob Hoskins, is moving his growing Pop Culture Shop to the Town and Country Mall, and has planned a Nov. 4 Grand Opening that will feature comic book collector Burton Cummings, legendary artist Tom Grummett, TikTok's Leroy, and more.
The Comic Book Guy Pop Culture Shop will open at its new location on Saturday, Nov. 4 from 1 to 6 p.m.
Hoskins is excited for more space (the new location is about three times the size of the current one), more foot traffic, more storage for his stock, and to help support the Town and Country Mall.
"We're what I would consider a destination store, so people travel from out of town, and in town, of course, to come and find us, because they're collectors," Hoskins explained to MooseJawToday.com. "Something I felt I was missing was a bit of foot traffic, and from my experience there are certain times of year where the mall is super busy. And even outside of those times, there's going to be more foot traffic than there is in kind of the strange location I'm at now.
"I'm also a big supporter of the mall and I want to see all the people there succeed. They're a great bunch and they've done a lot of work with charities and, you know, donating rental space to the Girl Guides and SCRAPS and things like that."
Hoskins began his business in October 2020, during COVID, taking a chance that pandemic-restricted customers would be looking for comics to read, games to play, and collections to work on. Some called him crazy, he said, but he survived the first three years and now that COVID is over, the store is growing exponentially.
"One of the biggest things for me is to say 'thank you' to Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw is fantastic, and I want to thank all my customers for keeping us going, and for supporting small business in general, because it's so important to the community," he said.
Hoskins started with comics, expanded into video games, went from there to offering trading cards like Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh!, and Magic the Gathering, and, for his latest pop culture niche, began bringing in collectible toys (vintage, mint stuff from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.)
"It's all pretty retro, nothing necessarily new, unless somebody brings it in, because we buy, we trade, we sell, right? So, people can bring their stuff in, trade it for other stuff, and they get to experience something new-to-them, and we get to experience something new to us, as well. So, it's a lot of fun."
The passion Hoskins' community shares is evident in the fans he's attracted, and they're coming to help him kick things off at his new spot on Nov. 4:
- The Girl Guides (Hoskins loves supporting local groups) will be on hand for face painting
- Burton Cummings, legendary Canadian musician and comic book super fan/collector
- Tom Grummett, legendary Canadian comic book artist, known for his contributions to numerous properties across DC, Marvel, and more
- Leroy, who is a friend of Hoskins and is, obviously, always looking for something to do
- Charlene Clark, well-known local tattooist at Metal Alchemy Tattoo, and creator of her own graphic horror novel Lemons
- Magic by Chris, Moose Jaw's own magician and always a popular draw at a variety of events
"Man, it doesn't feel like there's much more I could do for this grand opening," Hoskins laughed, "but we've got a ribbon cutting and a bunch of awesome cosplayers as well. We're gonna go all out with this."
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