A video (see below) of Greg Ketter, owner of DreamHaven Books in Minneapolis, MN, shouting at federal immigration agents and walking into a cloud of tear gas went viral after it was released on social media on January 24, and the unexpected attention from supporters brought in so much business it crashed the store’s website.
Ketter joined other protestors near his store after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti. A video from MSNow caught him saying “I’m 70 years old and I’m f***ing angry” and then walking into a cloud of tear gas (one of the early posts with the video garnered 9600 re-posts and 29,000 likes). Another photographer caught him emerging from the cloud. Ketter was quickly identified on social media and as word spread, the store was deluged with phone calls, messages of support, and online orders. Ketter told CBS News that he hadn’t intended to draw attention to himself. “This is personal, being right here in Minneapolis,” he said. “I mean, this is the U.S. government attacking its own people, and that’s what just got to me.” Ketter’s store was vandalized during the unrest following the killing of George Floyd (see “Four Venerable Stores Looted, Burned, Damaged in Rioting”), and at that time he set up a GoFundMepage to pay for repairs. Donations have poured in since the images went viral, and Ketter says he will pass them along to local food pantries.
Meanwhile, in Portland, ME, where immigration officers have started their next surge, Rick Lowell and Laura O’Meara, owners of Casablanca Comics, posted on Facebook that they have pledged to donate 100% of the proceeds from the sales of 40-50 boxes of comics to two local immigrant organizations, Project Relief Maine and ILAP Maine.
As vintage Pokémon cards increase in value (see “Vintage Card Hammer Prices Rebalance“), retailers across the country are seeing an increase in thefts. Three black-clad robbers staged a daring robbery at Poké Court, a Manhattan Pokémon store, on January 14, holding customers and staff at gunpoint while one of them broke a glass display case with a hammer, then stuffed about $100,000 worth of merchandise and cash into their backpacks before fleeing down West 13th Street. NBC New York posted video of the robbery, in which no one was hurt. The store, which opened in November, was holding its first community event, and about 40 customers were inside, according to New York’s ABC7.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, burglars broke into Simi Sportscards in Simi Valley, CA, early on the morning of January 4, smashing the display cases and making off with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of sports and Pokémon cards. This is the second time in a year the store has been robbed, co-owner Jake Miller told CBS News Los Angeles. “It doesn’t get any easier,” he said. “It’s the second time this has happened to us and it’s a very violating feeling. It makes you sick to your stomach that you do things the right way, you work hard, and someone comes in here and in the matter of three minutes takes it all from you.”
Crow’s Nest Comics of Seattle, WA, had its soft opening in November, but the store has its origins in an earlier business, Outsider Comics. Owner Wing Mui told the South Seattle Emerald that she and two other people bought Outsider in 2022, planning to run it as a worker-owned cooperative. Unfortunately, the store didn’t make enough money for that to work out, so Mui became the sole owner in 2024. While she is continuing the original store’s focus on offering comics by and about women, LGBTQ+, and people of color, Mui changed the name to reflect the changing times. “I’ve learned over the last few years that women aren’t on the outside of comics,” she said. “A lot of work has been done over the past couple of decades by marginalized creators to get their work published. We’ve spent so much time fighting to get into the [industry] that it feels like a disservice to call these creators and this audience ‘outsiders,’ so we changed the name to Crow’s Nest.” To match the new name, the store has a new mascot, a stuffed crow named Kevin.
Galactic Comics & Games of Statesboro, GA, celebrated its 20th anniversary recently, and owner Keith Brown told Grice Connect about the store’s unlikely genesis: Brown started hanging out at Gallop Comics and Games just to keep moving, started working there, and in 2006, bought the store from owner Ted Gallop. He renamed it to Galactic but kept the store’s logo as well as its mascot, G-Man, which Gallop constructed from Wolverine and Batman figurines. “What makes Galactic different, same thing that made Gallop’s different, is this community,” Brown said.Source: ICv2
