A Comic Book Dreamland for 17 Years

For owner Dave Gray, owning a comic book store wasn’t necessarily a dream, but more of a business opportunity utilizing his knowledge of comic book collecting that he’d practiced since he was 10.

“It was a little scary at first,” Gray says of purchasing the Rockland Road retail store. “Comics have cycles just like everything else. After the first couple of years we were ok, and then we hit sort of a small downturn, and it was a lot of stress. We worked through it, though, and it ended up working out to our benefit.”

Gray, a Buffalo Grove resident, says as a loyal 30-year customer to the store, he was approached by the former store owner about the possible purchase.

“I thought, sure, it might be something that would be fun to do and also to supplement my wife’s income,” Gray says. “When we were having kids, she was going to stay home. So I thought we could run the business and get some money out of it to help supplement.”

Though a store owner, Gray still works full time as a computer programmer, and sees the comic book business primarily as a financial opportunity.

“It’s always business first, hobby second, and that’s why we’re still here after 17 years,” Gray says.

Part of his success he attributes to his high standards of customer service and management of stock.

“I’m pretty proud of our customer service. We’re very friendly to people. If we don’t have something, we try to find it for you,” Gray says. “That’s something I’ve always stressed with everyone that works here is to enjoy it and have fun with it. Talk to people and try to make them comfortable.”

Gray says that his customer base is very diverse, with patrons coming from all over the country.

“We’re one of the few comic book stores in the area. And I guess I’d consider ourselves one of the largest in Lake County, “Gray says. “So we get a big draw from the Naval Base and we get a draw from all over. People even stop in when they’re traveling.”

Recently, local comic book artist Gene Ha, of Berwyn, appeared at Dreamland Comics for their Free Comic Book Day in May handing out free sketches. Gray says that occasionally he will sell comic books from student artists from .

Dreamland Comics also hosts weekly Magic tournaments, and Gray says they will also start hosting game demos on the weekends.

“It’s kind of tough to have events unless I’m here doing it, and I work full-time,” Gray says. “It puts a little damper on it. If I were here full-time, I’d definitely run way more events.”

Gray says that he’s eligible for early retirement, and is considering retiring from his full-time career and focusing completely on Dreamland. He also says he’s considered the idea of opening a second location, but his current work schedule and the economic climate have postponed the expansion.

“I have a location I think would work out well, but I just have to find the right timing to do it,” Gray says. “We just keep trying to expand internally. We’ve added more room for back issue racks. We’ve made more room for board games. We just keep trying to squeeze what we can into our 1,500 square feet.”

“I’m really happy with what we’ve done with it. It turned out quite well,” Gray says. “We don’t feel like the typical comic book store that’s sort of dungeony and dark. We try really hard to keep it the opposite. We get a lot of moms that come in with their kids and they’re not afraid to hang out and let their kids wander around and do whatever. That’s usually a telltale sign that we’re doing things right.”

Gray says he’s always favored hero-based comic books like Spiderman, Batman, and Thor. He’s also an experienced player of many of the board games sold in Dreamland Comics, and reserves several games as demo sets. A customer can open, touch, and play a game before purchasing it.

Gray also says that the comic movies coming to theaters this year will pique curiosity in the novice comic book reader.

“There’s a lot this year,” Gray says. “The only time I ever saw traffic pick up after a movie release was when the first Spiderman movie came out. We saw tons of people that we never saw before come into the store. But I think it keeps the interest alive more than anything else, and that’s always a positive to me. We’ll get enough interest in the characters that people will come in looking for them.”

Dreamland Comics is located at 105 W. Rockland Rd. in Libertyville.