Zub Tales

This week I finally had a chance to pop down and visit Little Island Comics, a kids-only comic shop that recently opened in Toronto on Bathurst Street, just south of Bloor.

In an economy where you hear about stores closing and markets shrinking, it’s amazing and encouraging to see such a wonderful shop that’s focused on building a new generation of comic readers.

From the outside you can see the appealing logo and colourful array of books they have on hand.

Easy to reach shelves have a wide array of picture books, comics and manga, including classics like Asterix and Tin Tin.

Feature titles on display include offerings by local talent, like Ray Fawkes and Kean Soo.

Some wonderful ‘board books’, including new board comics for Yo Gabba Gabba published by Oni Press.

Their manga selections are well vetted and include quite a few UDON titles, especially the Manga For Kids line.

Nice feature display of the Little Endless book by Jill Thompson.

Certain shelves are also themed in fun ways, like this mouse-centric section.

They even have a classic spinner rack lined up with kids comics.

All in all, Little Island is a great boutique shop catering to kids, parents and librarians. Their future plans for signings and workshops mixed with a solid push forward helping librarians and teachers use comics in schools is the exact kind of thinking the comic market needs in this day and age. There are tons of readers out there who would love comics, there just needs to be clear outlets where they can sample and enjoy.

I’m hopeful that Little Island opens a lot of peoples’ eyes to the potential for comics in the mainstream and shows that innovative quality retailing can build a loyal customer base.

When my next kid-centric comic title is released I know where I want to throw the launch party. 🙂