Comic Cove hosted its grand opening celebration on April 20 at 528 Westerly Plaza, State College, Pa. StateCollege.com reported that the shop, which is owned by Justin and Liza Behrens, offers new and vintage comic books, Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards, and more. The store will also offer a subscription service.
An army veteran, Justin Behrens became a comic book enthusiast while serving in Iraq and said he wanted to open a store as a way to make comic books accessible and affordable for everyone.
"There's not a place around here to get older comics or vintage comics and I wanted an opportunity to get them into the hands of people," he added. "Alan Moore is one of my favorite writers in comics, and he made a comment in an interview one time that comic books are no longer for the middle class; they're for the rich because the prices are going so high. So I want to get them back in the hands of the middle class.
"I want the younger kids to get back into comics and people that said 'You know I really wanted that fancy No. 1 'Iron Man' but I can't spend that exorbitant amount of money,' I want to make sure I can give the opportunity for them to get it at an affordable price."
Behrens selected the Westerly Parkway location in part because it would be accessible for students and to help revitalize the shopping center. "I'm looking to do a whole bunch of other things and community outreach than just be a comic books store," he noted. "It sounds weird, but I'm not looking to make a profit off of this. I'm looking to build the community to a better place. If I can use comic books, which is a hobby of mine, to do that then that's awesome."