Stories Comics and Book Exchange

Yep, I’m a nerd. Comic books, Star Wars, computers, etc, give it to me! You know what makes nerds happy — other nerds. I mean that in the best sense of the word. Being knowledgable about a subject doesn’t mean you are anti-​social or generally weird. Why do I say all this? It’s because this shop made me feel like I was around my people — my fellow nerds, and it was such a great experience.
First, let’s talk about the obvious, size does matter. I need bins of back issues I can dive into. A small shop doesn’t give me those options. This place must have checked my comic store hope chest. Plenty of mainstream stuff, plenty of trades, and plenty of independents. How about those variants that little shops never have, Stories might have what you’re looking for.
Second, the pricing is right in line with where it needs to be. Back issues were priced appropriately, variants weren’t inflated by eBay trends, and there were great price points on other materials (books, figures, statues).
Third, let me just go ahead and say I feel like I found a new best friend in the manager, Jen. The conversation was chill and relaxed, no overtones of «hurry up and leave my store». She knows her stuff, too. What does that mean? If she doesn’t have the answer, this resourceful woman WILL find it. We literally talked for 2 hours about comics, trends, and life in general, and I would gladly spend another 2 hours talking with her.
Behind visiting my brother and his family, this store and Jen are some of the best highlights of this trip.
Kudos on operating a great establishment that appeals to the nerd in all of us.

Pretty cool place. Tons of back issues to choose from, 100’s of long boxes but not many key issues. Looking to fill the holes in a run from the copper age up, than yes. Looking to fill in from the Bronze Age or earlier, not really your shop. Roll up your sleeves and have fun digging. Staff is decent and they have a large selection of new books each Wednesday as well.

Comic book geek’s paradise. I went there with my 6 month old daughter to unload boxes of comics. The young woman and a young guy working at the store were nice and helpful. This place is also a hoarder’s paradise, so stay away if you accumulate more stuff than letting go. ;)
Support your local comic book store and remember we’re all awkward, especially if you read more comics than interacting with real people like I used to. So be prepared to practice love and tolerance when walking into any comic book store, even thus one staffed with nice friendly people.

I just sold a large collection of action figures and comic books at Stories. My parents wanted me to get them out of the house, and I just needed to unload them. I didn’t haggle. I didn’t complain or try to hurry the woman sorting through them. Yet she was one of the rudest people I have ever interacted with — and I spent years shopping in comic book stores. She slammed things around, huffed, death-​stared and rolled her eyes at me the whole time. I don’t know who shit in her sandwich, but it wasn’t me, so maybe take it down a notch.

This is a great shop! Tons of back issues, well organized, an extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff. Someone else mentioned that the website is bad, which is an understatement, but the store itself is fantastic, and if you call ahead they will find back issues for you and have them ready. I wish their Broad Street location was half as nice. As it is, this place is worth the drive.

Have a budding comic fan that loves this place! The staff is helpful and always nice, just wish they had more info about when stock is expected in the store. Would love to see a bit more selection for the younger set… remember they are the ones that will be your life long customers!

I am very glad I learned of this place. It is one of my favorites in Richmond.
There are three vast rooms of comics. One is new stuff, one is mainly Marvel, the next mainly DC. Smaller publishers are below the main waist level. They have a TON of back issues, for cover price (minimum $ 1) unless otherwise marked. Often times, they have multiple copies of an issue, so you get the fun of choosing which you think is in the best condition. The comics are very well organized alphabetically by title. While they may be missing certain choice comics you may be looking for, don’t fret. Some other comic aficionado has probably just gotten there before you, so pick something else. The place is called STORIES because they stress enjoying the stories over just straight up collecting them. And I can’t really stress enough how vast their collection is. It’s very easy to lose an afternoon there.
As for the book store, it is wonderful as well. A whole aisle of science fiction/​fantasy, and a few other rows of regular fiction make up the front room. Next is the middle-​back room, filled to the brim with romance (if that’s your bag) and next is the non-​fiction room. All stuff is usually half cover price (minimum a dollar) for paperbacks.
This place is a gem.

This place rules! I come here every month for my Walking Dead fix and always enjoy my time here. The store could be organized a bit better but it is basically a used book store so it is kind of hard to deal with the amount of merch they carry. Staff is friendly and they can hold new releases for you if you ask. Parking can be limited if you go at the wrong time. Enough said, just go!

Lots of used book, lots of comics, larger than what I expected. they buy books, comics and videos, but the money you get or the trade price seems skimpy. I felt taken advantage of. Kinda iffy on finding what I want in trade: sometimes found something good, often told «we don’t have that yet».

I passed by this used book store randomly one day and was pleasantly surprised. It actually seems like two stores connected together. One side has mostly books, and the other side has a very large comic book selection. I was actually surprised at the amount of comics. There are also DVDs.
The used books are half price of the cover price with a minimum of $ 1.00. The books are put into categories but I thought it was kind of hard to find a book within each section. Great for browsing if you have a lot of time though. A bit dusty.

Stories comics and used books has possibly one of the worst websites I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to find anything, their hours aren’t listed and the search function hasn’t worked the entire time I’ve lived in Richmond.
All this aside, Stories is a cool place. They have all kinds of used books, used and new comics in both trades and single issues, vintage magazines, dvds and tapes and various other odds and ends. They have a small selection of vintage adult magazines behind a counter in the back so if you’re looking for a Playboy magazine from 1973 they probably have it.
They buy reasonably well kept used books (if Chop Suey won’t take it Stories probably will) and they keep track of the store credit they’ll give you for the books on index cards in a file. I think this is very cool.
The used books are reasonably priced and they have several rooms floor to ceiling full of them. You can ask them to keep an eye out for a particular book that you’re looking for. They allow you to keep a «watch list» of books or comics you’d like them to pull for you. I’ve never done this so I don’t know how good they are at it. If they’re as good at that as they are at everything else they do I imagine it’s quite good.
The staff is really nice and they have an awesome cheesy mural of comic book characters painted on the front of their store. My one complaint –other than the hideously terrible website– is that you can’t use store credit for new comic books of any kind.
I feel like there’s one or two days a week that they don’t buy used books so you may want to call them before you head down there with half your bookshelf.