Commuter Comics to Close in December

After six years in business, Commuter Comics will close on Dec. 31, since its owner, Jeff Peters, plans to move to Los Angeles to re-dedicate himself to his acting career.

"This was one of my bucket-list things," said Peters, who resides in Manhattan but had the idea to open a comic book store locally after helping his sister move into her South Orange home in 2003. His original location was at 10 Sloan St., but he moved to the store's current site a few months later.

Peters said he first starting telling people about his decision in early July, but he made up his mind in February. And though he wants to direct his energies toward another endeavor, he had also grown frustrated with the space constraints of his store and the impossibility of expanding elsewhere in town, as well as the parking situation, which he believes has worsened since parking machines replaced meters in the Sloan Street lot. More and more of his customers have reported being ticketed after leaving their cars parked over-time briefly, he said.

"They go, 'I really like your store, but I'm not going to come back,'" said Peters, who noted that the daily view of the empty Beifus lot added to his frustration, since he thinks a parking deck built there would be hugely beneficial to local merchants.

While Peters—who's also the host of a weekly newsmagazine-style program on the Web covering comics—doesn't totally rule out the idea of opening another comics store in L.A., he thinks he'd like to focus on acting.

"I will miss South Orange, but I think I've done everything I can do here," he said.