We recently connected with Terry Gant and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Terry thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Generally it started as a project while I was in college. The original idea just involved business continuity in event of natural disaster but quickly morphed into “online comic shop” and then after a few years, that became a “Brick and Mortar” shop.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well I’m a comic book retailer. I suppose much of the interest started with collecting comics from a young age, and then being interested in the buying habits of other fans and the trends followed by publishers.

I sell comics and graphic novels. The key for me is matching books to the tastes of my customers as opposed to selling according to the newest marketing pushes of publishers.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

i’m a small business and as such it’s important to remain agile. Tastes change. The economy changes. There are often shifts that are beyond your control as a business owner.

I once had a larger shop than I currently own. At some point, the spneding power of my clients changed and I had to change with it. I downsized the shop and cut certain risky product lines in order to survive.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I had to unlearn was that current success is an indicator of future perfomance. It’d be great if a great month or year meant thhat you were in for greater months or years but it’s not really that clear. You’re better off always having oen eye open so you can move as your customer base moves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thirdcoastcomics.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3rdcoastcomics
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/third-coast-comics-chicago