Comic Shop Review: Tate's Comics Lauderhill, FL

Tate's Comics in Lauderhill is just about the most perfect comic store I have visited. The strip mall store is massive, taking up several store fronts. The outside signage is prominent and makes the location very easy to find. The main window display is so incredibly captivating it makes the store impossible to miss.

I swear these faces move

Geiger Meets Robocop

Once inside you are treated to a wide open space filled with comics and comic collectibles. Wide aisles of display cases and shelves are inviting to the customer, and encourage browsing. As I recall you come to statues first, then graphic novel shelves then finally comics in the back. The store makes the most of their very high ceilings with a number of eye-catching overhead displays. 

There is a ton of light inside the store and everything was very clean. The comics wall was well stocked with recent back issues, and there were several cases of back issues. I did not have the time to dig too much the day I visited. I do not recall seeing any dollar or discount bins which is the biggest strike against Tate's. My visit was 4 years ago now, and as I said it was a short one so it is possible I missed them, even still a store of this size must be able to put out accessibly priced books for the youngest readers and for those just wanting readers copies of random books. 

Comics This Way

Worth noting at the time of my visit was a loft space the sold locally crafted jewelry and knick-knacks. This is a great combination of concepts. It is always good when a store owner supports local creators of any type. The cross-over in artisan crafting and comic readers is probably higher than most would readily think. Upon reflection the connection seems obvious, and some stores sell local craft good, especially those with a direct comic link, but not as many as probably should.

The large store had a fair share of workers but I didn't feel pressure by a glut of customer service. A casual, but friendly greeting on the way in, and a friendly smile or two as I browsed about. At checkout thought I received my biggest surprise of the trip. The owner's father was working the till. In the conversation it came up I was from Baltimore, and it turns out he knows the owner of my regular comic shop. In fact the he had mentored my shop's owner when he first got started, small world.

Jim Jay Bullock and Charo were off for that weeks show

Lastly and a big bonus point for the shop, they have a store tee-shirt. The design, at left is, well fantastic. Cleverly named characters so as not to incur any copyright issues, and also provide some in jokes to those in the know. I wear the shirt often. 

Overall Tate's Comics, Toys, and More is a top notch and highly recommended store to shop. It still stands out as one of my favorites to have visited and whenever I get back to the Ft Lauderdale area I will definitely revisit. There are a good number of shops in the area and some are really close by, but I have the feeling Tate's would be my comic home if I was a resident. In addition to the comic store, and local gifts, they also have a large anime store which I did not visit. Anime is too big a genre for me to have made the leap into, although the comic/anime connection is long and well established it has never been my thing. Overall I give the store 9.5 of 10. It would be perfect, but for the lack of dollar bin which knocks it down a couple points, but the store tee (and custom patches) bring it back up. To sum up, Nobody has what Tate's has! ;) to any Baltimore readers.

Comic Shop Review: Green Shift Music & Comics Seminole Heights, Tampa, FL

Strip Malls 

Green Shift Music and Comics is old school. I can think of no better way to describe it. It's been a long time since I visited so I can't recall if the music or comics came first, but at some point back
in the day the combination of these two great tastes that taste great together was made, finding their home here along Nebraska Ave in Tampa, Fla.


The first thing to notice about the low slung, and at this point classic Florida sprawl style building is the custom paintings of musicians that line the building. Morrissey, Roy Orbison (replaced by Johnny Cash?), Hendrix (twice), and right next to the front door Frank Zappa.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced

Approaching the building can be a bit intimidating. The lone trailer on the lot is interesting but the lack of windows is somewhat uninviting. Adding to this is the rather extensive rules list posted on the door. So large is it that it obscures most of your view into the shop. Lost perhaps is the irony that Zappa would have walked in shirtless and barefoot, smoking, talking on his cellphone, and asking to pawn something after he used their bathroom if for no other reason than because he was told not to. Personally I don't mind these weird rules lists, because I don't give a crap about them, but they definitely set a tone.

Long Box Graveyard

Inside Green Shift is kind of dark, though not gloomy. There is a good selection of recent comics on the shelves. Packed in and neatly aligned they carry extra copies of most of the more popular comics of the month. There is a nice room of back issues with a fairly sizable collection. It seems they have a regular sale on older books which is nice. They are well stocked on trades, tchotchkes, and tees, but sadly no store tee.


The staff is ok, not particularly exemplary, but not offensive either . On my visit the man behind the counter was nice enough. He answered my questions about the shop, although I can't recall some of his answers. He did mention that the small new comic rack was the original 1980's comic rack. Otherwise, I don't recall him greeting me or making much small talk, this is neither good nor bad just middling in the impression area.

Blurry Racks of Things and Hidden Comics

Overall I can't give Green Shift a great rating. While it is fairly well-stocked in the new comic dept. it isn't fantastic. There are back issues, but they was not a great selection overall. The store is kind of claustrophobic, I was glad to be the lone shopper as more than a couple of people would have made the store hard to navigate. The plus-side is Green Shift represents the great merging of music and comics. This is a link that is not given enough credit, and often combo shops of this type allow one or the other to suffer neglect. Green Shift does an excellent job balancing their music and comics inventory. All of the comics come bagged and boarded which is nice in one sense, but shopping as I do I like to peak inside to see if 1. I already bought the issue and 2. I take a lot of flyers on stuff so a look at the interior art and writing helps me make decisions.

My Comic Shop Review Rating: 6 of 10  (Bumped up one for Zappa).

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird