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General Manager Jonathan Kirner (left) and co-owner Mike Dudley. Photograph by Byron Kerman
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Excalibur Comics in Maryland Heights; Comic Relief Again in Ballwin; All-Around Collectibles in Overland; Bug’s Comics in Florissant; the Fantasy Shop in Kirkwood; Legends in Southampton; Hometown Comics in Edwardsville; Comic City in Crestwood; and Comics, Cards & More in Overland and Ballwin:
All defunct comic book shops, may they rest in peace. If you thought the death of the Elongated Man’s wife was some tragedy of cosmic proportions, consider the horrors of the economy, shuttering comic book shops near and far, including not a small collection in these parts.
This is why, when a new comic shop is squeezed into being, lovers of the genre should skip about in mindless glee and check out the joint, we’d argue.
AM Trading Co. is a new comics and related collectibles shop that is scheduled to open in just over a week. What makes this one different—and helps secure what should be a healthy lifespan, we figure—is that it’s in a space co-owned by Mike Dudley, who also owns the adjacent Annie Moon’s Bakery. Dudley has owned the space for some time; he’s just now getting around to opening part two of his play palace, as it were.
Gamers playing Magic, D&D, and whathaveyou in the Trading Co. on weekend nights will be able to purchase snacks and drinks from the bakery. We’re talking pastries, scones, brownies, muffins, wraps, French-press coffee, Turkish and Vietnamese coffees, iced coffee, iced tea and smoothies, said Dudley. (It should readily outclass the Grandma’s Cookies and Handi Snacks available at some comics and gaming shops).
Another groovy feature of the new shop is that it specializes in Silver Age comics. The stock that Dudley has put out thus far is not the usual array of flotsam that looks like it may have fallen out of the 50-cent bin, but some harder-to-find stuff. He is also buying old comics, by the by, as well as looking for comics created by locals to sell.
The owner has plans to inaugurate an area for playing video games, as well as offering a pull-and-hold service for subscribers of monthly titles, he said.
Dudley is a laid-back dude who would just as soon trade comics as sell them, he averred.
“It’s the AM Trading Co., so that means buying, selling and trading,” he said.
AM Trading Co. (4005 Utah at Roger Place, 314-296-3300, anniemoons.com/AM-Trading-Co-.html) is scheduled to open on or about Friday, May 16. Hours will be 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 to 11p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Photographs by Byron Kerman
