Welcome to Store Tour, ROBOT 6’s weekly exploration of comics shops, and the people who run them. Each Sunday we feature a different store, and also get to know the person behind the register.

To discover a comic store in your area, visit FindAComicShop.com

This week’s store is England's OK Comics, located at 19 Thornton's Arcade in Leeds, West Yorkshire. We spoke with owner and manager Jared Myland.

ROBOT 6: Tell me about the layout of your store. How did you work that out?

Jared Myland: OK Comics is a tiny bookshop specializing in comics and graphic novels. We’re located in the main retail area of Leeds city center, in an old Victorian shopping arcade. The shop’s split over two floors: On the downstairs ground floor we have new releases and items more recognizable to non-comic fans, and upstairs we stock more traditional superhero stuff, back issues and classic reprint books.

We aim to make the shop as accessible to new people as possible, so we present a clean, modern, well-lit environment, with fresh flowers on the counter.

What;s the secret origin of your store? How did you decide on its name and its location?

OK Comics exists by accident. I had no intention of opening a comic shop. About 13 years ago I started selling my own comic collection on eBay (I’ve been a fan since childhood), it was after meeting potential customers online that I decided to start ordering in new releases and selling them to my eBay customers. After a few months of doing this quite successfully I needed more space to store the stock, so I partnered up with a friend, we found retail premises and OK Comics was born.

We chose the name "OK" because it’s a positive, recognizable phrase in pretty much every language on Earth. It’s specifically not too over the top, like "Super Awesome Comics," because we want people to have a casual attitude to reading comics, just like they do about watching TV, reading magazines or surfing the net.

It’s not a big deal; it’s OK to read comics.

Our current location, in Thornton’s Arcade, is the perfect place to expose non-comic readers to graphic novels. It’s a busy spot and we’re surrounded by clothing boutiques, delis, salons, a skateboard store and dangerously next door to a craft beer shop.

Why did you decide to get into comics retailing? What in your background do you think made you particularly suited for the retail side of comics?

I’ve been reading comics for as long as I could read. Before opening OK Comics I’d worked for other comic retailers and learned a lot about the workings of the comic industry. I love comics, and the people who read them.

I think I’ve developed a good way with people, what some people call customer service skills. My first job, as a 16-year-old kid, was working in a pretty violent British pub. That was a great place to learn about customer service.

Do you have a philosophy or strategy to retailing?

Put customers first. Put yourself in the shoes of customers. I constantly ask myself “What would I think of this if I was a hardcore comic fan?” or “What would I think of this if I were visiting a comic shop for the first time?”

What are your current bestsellers? What are your favorites that deserve to sell better?

Bestselling comics of the last year have been Batman, Amazing Spider-Man, Saga, Lazarus, just like in most comic shops. We have had great success selling Exit Generation, a self-published series that has enjoyed a lot of support locally.

Our bestselling graphic novels recently have been Supercrash by Darryl Cunningham (called The Age of Selfishness in the U.S.), The Sculptor by Scott McCloud, The Wrenchies by Farel Dalrymple, The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon, as well as anything featuring Deadpool or Batman.

I wish we sold more self published, home made, small press comics. We stock hundreds of them, but unfortunately it seems that most people get their home grown comics via internet web comics these days. We’ll continue to stock this stuff, it’s important to provide an outlet for this kind of thing.

What is your customer base like? How has it changed over time, if at all?

When OK Comics first opened we were selling to mainly traditional comic enthusiasts (mainly male, mainly 20 to 40 years old) but over time a much wider range of people seem to have found us. We get a broad mix of visitors, male and female, old and young, from every type of social background; everything from parents buying for young children learning to read, right through to older people reminiscing about comics from their youth; and lots of kids. We also supply schools and libraries, and offer advice to teachers.

Do you have a discount or loyalty program?

We run a free graphic novel program. Whenever a customer buys a graphic novel we stamp their OK Comics Card; when they have nine stamps on their card they get a free graphic novel. We give away free books every day!

How do you reach out to new customers? How do you advertise?

We advertise outside usual comic places. To me, it doesn’t make sense to spend money trying to reach people who are already buying our products, or already into comics. We promote ourselves to tourists visiting the area, and within the shopping community of the city. Leeds is very supportive of small, independent businesses.

How do you feel your online presence (your website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) supports or supplements your store? Are you seeing much activity from your Twitter contest?

All our staff are pretty active on social media, so we use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to let people know what’s going on in the shop.

Our Twitter competition (we’ll give away our Top 10 graphic novels of 2015 to one lucky follower) has duel purpose, to get more people following the shop online, and to make people aware of our ever changing in-store Top 10.

Do you have any events or programming, such as signings? How is it coordinating those?

We’ve had quite a few high-profile guests in the shop over the years (Dave Gibbons, Jeffrey Brown, Scott McCLoud, Sean Phillips, Gilbert Shelton, etc.) and people like Bryan Lee O’Malley and Paul Pope visiting to sign stock.

As the majority of our customers are fairly casual about their comic habit, and often not the type of person to get excited about meeting a writer or artist, we offer an alternative to signing events for these people.

We select books that we think our customers will appreciate and commission signed bookplates for them. In recent years we’ve had signed prints from Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Iain Laurie, John Lees, Box Brown, Jan Cleijne, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Jock, Zach Worton and others I’m probably forgetting.

We also host Drink & Draw. It’s a semi-regular social event where we invite customers to come along to a local pub and simply drink and draw. It’s great fun.

Does your store attend conventions? Does it benefit from them?

We’ve been pretty active and vocal supporters of Thought Bubble, the comic art festival based in Leeds. We have a stall there every year. It’s visited by thousands of people each November; many of these visitors come into our shop too. It’s our busiest weekend of the year! I’ve visited quite a few festivals and conventions over the years, Thought Bubble is the best!

We’re also active supporters of and visitors to ELCAF (East London Comic Art Festival), TCAF (Toronto Comic Art Festival) and Lakes Comic Art Festival in England’s beautiful Lake District.

I was glad to hear about your partnership with the Special Stars charity. How did that come about?

It’s a pretty personal thing. One of my best friends has two great children, both with autism. Special Stars is the charity that helps families like them. We contribute books to their events, accept donations in the shop and generally try to make people aware of what they do.

What do you see as the biggest challenge in the comics industry today that particularly impacts your store?

The comic industry is challenged by a lot of the same things as any other industry; fluctuations in the economy, encroachment from online discount retailers.

It’s tempting to use these deep discounting online booksellers, but if you don’t pay the full price for something there’s not enough money to pay publishers, writers, artists, etc., so the creators may not make any more!

Conversely, what is the industry's biggest asset that is helping you be successful?

Our customers! They’re great. And they’re willing to try new things. While Marvel and DC bicker over market shares, other publishers (Image, IDW, BOOM!, Black Mask, etc.) are slowly producing well-written, well-drawn comics and graphic novels for people who are becoming disillusioned with the so-called Big Two.

More and more people are becoming aware of the diverse nature of comics and what’s available.

We make a point of stocking nonfiction graphic novels on subjects like science, maths, economics, history, politics, travel, architecture and food. This often surprises people who are expecting a shop full of superheroes fighting.

With all of the people that come through your store, I imagine you must have some great stories. What is the funniest or most memorable moment you've seen in your store?

Too many to list. Let’s go with the time that a German football team came in, stripped off and danced in our window!

Anything coming up at OK Comics that is a good excuse for someone to stop by?

There are loads of reasons to visit OK Comics, plenty of ongoing features that set us apart from other comic and book shops. We give away graphic novels for free as part of our stamp card scheme; we run a free graphic novel lending library; we have an ever-changing in-store Top 10 display that’s chosen by staff and customers; and we’re regularly adding to our range of exclusive signed bookplate editions that are available nowhere else.

Everything we do is focused on either getting comic fans to try something new and broaden their reading range, or introducing uninitiated, potential new fans to the joys of comics.

Anybody unable to visit the store in person can take the virtual tour online.

If you’d like to see your store featured here on Robot 6, email us.