Another legendary comics shop is closing its doors: Geoffrey’s Comics at Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica is set to close this December, owner Geoffrey Patterson II announced on Facebook:

Geoffrey’s Comics and Hi De Ho Comics opened in 1977. We were literally the first comic book stores in Los Angeles. But now, sadly, Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics must close their doors December 31, 2023

While this is certainly a sad day, Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics are also going to continue in their own special way.
 
Our pull service will continue on! Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics would love to keep our most loyal customers and continue to offer our pull service as a delivery option! “Geoffrey’s Comics Pull Parties” will be found at locations around the city. Come and pick up your pulls in person and stay to talk with your fellow fans about the comics we all love. Our first two weekly Pull Parties will be Wednesdays from 6pm-9pm at Collector Legion! And on Tuesdays from 5-8pm at Santa Monica Brew Works! We are also reaching out to coffee houses to offer different times and days for you to stop by, pick up your comics and hang out with your other fellow super-fans. Even though Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho must close their doors, they will live on in this new exciting form where we can all still gather and share our enjoyment together.
 
While the store’s doors may be closing, our love of comics is never ending. Science fiction and super hero stories show us the height that humanity can aspire to. And while the closing of our doors really hurts, it has not dampened our love of comics nor our love for our customers. Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics are more than just a place – they are a community. And in that way Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics will continue long after the doors close. To everyone that has shared the joy of comics along the 40 year history of Geoffrey’s and Hi-De-Ho Comics, we thank you. We love each and every one of you, and will remember you all with fond memories, warm feelings, and a special place in our hearts.

 

Patterson shared more of the story in a graphic:

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Among the causes of closure mentioned, the effects of the pandemic were prominent, along with health issues for Patterson, competition from many other sources, the rise in costs of gaming, and a move to a more expensive location for the Santa Monica store that didn’t prove cost effective. But ultimately the ever speeding up hamster wheel of staying afloat post Covid was too much. 

“While all the aforementioned things contributed, I ultimately can only blame myself,” Patterson wrote. “I made mistakes. I ordered too much and kept hoping those pre-covid numbers would return. Some days now don’t even have a third of the revenue they did pre-Covid. It is very hard to stay in business losing over 50% of our revenue.”

While it isn’t quite clear, it appears the original Geoffrey’s location will also be closing. The original Geoffrey’s Comics opened in Gardena in 1979, one of the oldest comics shops in all of LA, run by Geoffrey Patterson I, father of the current owner. Its most recent location is in Torrance.

Hi De Ho opened in Santa Monica in 1977, run by brothers Bob and Mark Hennessey, and was one of the more legendary LA comics shops for most of its run. They sold the business to Patterson in 2015. There’s more of the story in this interview at ICv2 from last year.

I was always attracted to Hi De Ho for obvious reasons, and in days that are so long ago they seem like a dream, I worked my first crappy job at a publishing company a few blocks away in Santa Monica. It was a frequent lunchtime destination for me, and given the weird glitz-meets-beach atmosphere of Santa Monica, the shop had its own unique goofy surfer vibe. Happy, innocent times, as all such dream memories are.

As Patterson has prominently emphasized, Geoffrey’s/Hi De Ho will stay open as a subscription service, with an ambitious plan to set up pick up spots and “Pull Parties” for fans to gather and talk comics. Comics shops are mostly about community, and one hopes this community will stay alive despite the despite the stress and costs of brick and mortar retail in these chaotic times. But thus the book closes on a few more chapters of comics history.

 

 

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2 COMMENTS

  2. Sad news. I now have several shops closer to me in West LA, and I know they’ve gone through several owners, but as a UCLA student in the 1980s, even though we had a shop outside campus, I’d still regularly trek to the Hi De Ho in Santa Monica because it had a more comprehensive selection.

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