This one's tough because I don't want to leave a bad review for a place I've been to once, but I'll…read moregive you all the details of my visit.
Upon walking in the door, I peeked to my right and saw a magazine rack selling Fangoria. Right on. Also, saw the fella' behind the register and immediately went up to him to ask where the new comics were, as it was a Wednesday. He kind of points to his right and says "It's where the sign for new comics are." I couldn't see it. There were racks in front of where I was standing and that section. I asked so I wouldn't have to wander through the game tables and other merchandise. I was looking for new comics. Thought it was a little rude, but it didn't really bother me.
So I get to the new comics section. It's completely unorganized. Or maybe it was organized, but by someone with an OCD disorder that only makes sense to them. Is it that hard to have DC, Marvel, Boom, IDW etc separated nicely to look through the issues by company? It was madness.
Also, the comic racks were a bit ramshackle. A lot of the books were bent, worn, and some even looked folded in half when I was looking. I wouldn't buy a six dollar comic for any reason in that kind of condition, considering they were supposed to be "brand new". I continued to look through the stuffed, unorganized shelves to find something to buy as what I was looking for was nowhere to be found. That's fine and I'll get into that in a moment, but I wasn't just/only looking for the "hot" comics right then. Image is always coming out with new number ones that look interesting, and I couldn't find anything. Seriously, I wanted to spend some money, so I'm trying to find absolutely anything. Didn't happen.
So, I go back up to the register and just ask about the titles I'm looking for. Every title I ask about I get a two word answer, "Sold Out". Now, this is fair, I was there late and the fellow told me that his patrons are usually coming in around noon and buying the new books up then. Bummer for me. Seems if your stock gets eaten up that quick, you'd order a few more copies of said titles, but I don't know how to run a comic shop. Who knows?
Okay, better things. It isn't really my bag, but it seemed like they had a lot of boxes of back issues. I doubt that place is going to let you grab a key issue for cheap, but it's probably worth checking out if you're trying to complete a run. So, that seemed decent.
They had a shelf of trades, nothing caught my eye because I either have already read or own the ones I would be interested in, but I suppose it would be worth a look. They were all fairly older, and it didn't seem like they were discounted at all. I did not exactly peruse them to see if that was the case, just seemed that way. That's okay, though because it's far better to support an LCS than just snagging them online.
I saw that they had some gaming tables, and some folks were doing just that. It's always a nice addition to a store. I didn't even head in that section, so I have no insight on cool boardgames, RPGs, or card game selection. Could be great.
The sign on the outside says "Anime Imports", instead of "CoastsideComics", so maybe that's what they do and comics are just a backseat now. I don't have the option to get there early, so I could have started a pull list and waited a couple of months for that to start getting going. I'm buying about fifteen-eighteen titles a month, but I couldn't get over how they treat their shelved comics, so I decided not to.
Conclusion: This is not a store for me. Not organized. About a quarter of the books look like they've been read over and over and kept in someone's back pocket. No way to pop in and get something new after one pm. Register guy was okay, but not very helpful with the slightest touch of...I dunno, it wasn't completely rude, just kind of unwelcoming to an obviously new to this store customer. I tried desperately to find something to buy, and I'm a comic guy! I would have bought anything that looked remotely interesting. Just didn't have anything. I guess that's it.