Grand Rapids Comic Con 2018
Grand Rapids Comic Con is western Michigan's big annual convention. This year it was held over the weekend of November 9-11, 2018 at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids. This change of date put it opposite Windycon, which made it impossible to attend both. Because Grand Rapids Comic Con is so much larger, there really wasn't a question of where we'd go.
This year was interesting for us because of the vehicle problems we'd had at Youmacon the previous weekend. We'd gotten the van safely to the Goodyear store on Tuesday morning, just in time to have a line burst and fluid come spilling out. It turned out to be the hydroboost, which runs the brakes off the power steering pump in vehicles that don't have room for a standard vacuum booster. It was scary to think that we could've lost both our brakes and power steering on the road.
At the time I had no idea how long it would take to repair, so I'd written to the dealers' room head, letting her know that we had vehicle problems and might be late getting up there, and that our booths should not be considered unclaimed. The mechanics at Goodyear had done a heroic job of getting the new hydroboost installed and the rack flushed, and we picked the van up right as they were closing for the night. Then I ran up to our storage unit and got merchandise changed over to be ready to go, since we needed to remove some items and add others.
As a result, we were able to hit the road north on Wednesday as planned. The van seemed astonishingly quiet after all the howling and whining we'd endured on the way home from Youmacon.
We got in at Grand Rapids in good time and were able to get checked in at our hotel. This year they'd finally gotten a new heater installed in the hot tub, so our first order of business after getting our personal belongings into the room was to get a good soak in the hot tub. After everything that had happened over the past several days, it was really nice to be able to climb into that hot water and soak out all the tense, sore places in our muscles. However, I was so tired from the drive that I started nodding, and it was scary when my face almost went straight into the water.
Afterward, we heated up our supper, and then we settled in to do some stuff on the computers. I got some writing done, but fell asleep sitting up. We decided to just go ahead and turn in for the night.
On Thursday we got up and had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we took it easy until it was time to go downtown to DeVos Place and load in. I did a little writing, since I had no idea whether we'd have time to do anything when we got back.
We got to DeVos Place in good time and got a spot right beside the freight elevator. However, when we started unloading merchandise, we made a disturbing discovery -- we had water coming up in the back left corner of the van, and it had soaked one of our table covers and dampened the bottom of a box of merchandise. I arranged stuff so there'd be a folded-up tarp in that location to protect things in the future, but it was still a disturbing discovery, and another sign that our van is getting old. Not good when money is tight, and we certainly wouldn't be able to make payments on a new van.
Once we got unloaded, I took the van over to the parking lot on Schriebner Street, which is a lot cheaper than than the one under DeVos Place. Then I set to building as many structures as I could manage for our merchandise. Because of the excellent help we'd had loading in, we had all of them done and even started loading them before the vendor hall closed for the night and we were shooed out.
I retrieved the van from parking and we headed back to the hotel. It was too late to take another soak in the hot tub, but I was able to get a blog post done and some work on my fiction writing.
On Friday we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast and then headed back downtown to DeVos Place to finish setting up. There was some snow on the ground, which made for an unpleasant drive, especially on the neighborhood streets.
We discovered that our neighbor across the aisle had acquired some vintage Japanese dolls as part of an estate sale acquisition, so we ended up buying the whole lot off him. It was really outside of his niche, so he was glad to be rid of them and have cash in hand, making it a win-win situation.
We got set up in good time and even had some time to walk around and look at other vendors' setups. I visited with some friends about our misadventures with vehicle troubles.
Then the show floor opened and customers began flowing in. It was a lot lower-key than Youmacon, mostly because it's a different demographic. In this area, people walk the floor and look around, planning their purchases before actually buying. We did make a few sales, but a lot of it was people looking at what was available.
When the doors closed, we headed back to the hotel, but by the time we got back, it was really too late to go to the hot tub. We had supper, and I did a little writing and light blogging before we turned in for the night.
On Saturday we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast, then headed back downtown to DeVos Place. This time we had ice on the side roads, which made driving even more hairy than the snow the previous day. And then I had to walk on icy sidewalks from the parking lot to the front door, which I did not enjoy.
Foot traffic at our booth did pick up, but not to the extent I'd expected from previous years. We had people pouring past our booth, but they weren't stopping to shop. And way too many of them were shooting straight through the middle of our setup, effectively using the space as an aisle. I decided that in future years we were going to need to set up our displays differently to create a dogleg in that path and get people to slow down.
In the afternoon we had some unwelcome excitement when we realized that a very expensive nylon sparring sword had vanished from our display. To make things worse, this was a consignment item rather than our own merchandise, so I had to text our consignor and let him know while my husband went to get someone from con staff. They contacted the Grand Rapids Police Department, who sent an officer over to take a formal report. They were also going to talk to DeVos Place security to run back the security cameras and see if they could get a clear view of the face of the culprit.
Later, some people we knew came by and promised to keep an eye out for the missing item. I warned them very sternly that under no circumstances were they to confront the thief, and they should only contact security and report the situation. However, we resolved that in the future we were not going to simply hang high-value items on the gridwall. Instead, we were going to zip-tie them, so that a potential buyer would have to ask us to handle them.
When the doors closed for the evening, we headed back to the hotel. This time we got back early enough that we were able to get a soak in the hot tub. Then we had supper and I did some writing.
On Sunday we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we headed back downtown for the final day. We decided that, since previous years' sales had been much better and this year's crowd felt off, perhaps as a result of the extremely contentious election, we'd give the con one more chance. However, we'd want to make sure to take a good look at what had sold well in previous years when making our stocking decisions for next year's convention.
When the doors opened, sales remained insipid, so I started packing right after lunch. However, I did sell some items I'd already packed when people came around and asked about them. I dug them right out, and in one case sold them to fellow vendors.
We had great help packing and taking everything down the freight elevator to the van. I just had to get everything in its proper place as quickly as we could. We did have one misfortune in which a box fell off a cart and the lid of a tea canister was broken, but as poorly as the tea canisters had sold, I figured it could be turned into a vase and sold for a reduced price.
We drove back to the hotel and had supper. Then I blogged and did a little writing before turning in for the night.
On Monday we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we loaded out our personal belongings and got checked out of the hotel. With so little sold and new merchandise acquired, things were rather tight, so it took a fair amount of judicious wiggling and jiggling to get everything to fit. But we didn't have to abandon anything on the way.
The trip home was rather rough, mostly because we really couldn't afford to stop and rest along the way. It took me several Monster energy drinks to stay awake and safe to drive, and I was very glad to pull into our driveway and shut down.
Copyright 2019 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated June 24, 2019.