Nottingham city centre has undergone extensive changes over recent decades, with once popular shops fading from the high street, to a surge in cafes and the arrival of the tram network. But one shop has stood as a constant for almost 30 years, providing a 'diverse' and 'interactive' experience.
Page 45 comic shop has operated from Market Street since October 1994 and in that time has attracted fans from as far away as Finland. Today, the store is as popular as ever, with customers coming from across England, many of whom often travel from London.
Stephen Holland, who runs the store alongside his business partner, said: "I love working here, people no longer use VHS because they now stream but books, they haven’t been made redundant.
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“I remember the shop 'Selectadisk' - there used to be 3 on this road - and there was one at the top of Broadmarsh. People came to Nottingham just to go there. Now, the homogenisation of the high street is awful.
“At this shop, we’ve had someone come all the way from Finland to visit and I’m very proud of that, we get people from all over, too, especially from London.” One thing Page 45 is very aware of is to not have superheroes be the first thing you see when you come into the shop.
Superheroes can sometimes put women off. Back in 1994, when the shop first opened, unlike shops in America, Page 45 started with a 50/50 female readership.
Stephen continued: “Mental health for example, concerns all of us, we all know someone who suffers from anxiety or depression and I’m glad my customers care. You walk in here and find authors talking about mental health in an entertaining way so other people can understand other people and sometimes, you can’t get that in a leaflet from the doctor.
Stephen added, “Comics are a medium where time is represented by space.”
One of the best-selling comics currently is The Many Deaths of Laila Starr and IN. by Will McPhail. There is also a local author stocked at Page 45, Luke Fearson. Stephen describes comics as ‘expensive or affordable as you make it.’
Many of the comics at Page 45 have spines, just like you’d find at a book shop, this leaves people feeling less alienated and more familiar when they come in for the first time. Stephen added: “When someone walks in and they’re not familiar with comics, I always ask them a bit about themselves: what they read, what TV they watch to try and understand who they are and what perspective they have.
“We don’t have one sort of customer, people have a preconception of what comics are but it’s more than that; you can get comics in genres such as politics, travel, mental health - the list goes on. Before our new design, around 2% of our customers were Black and Asian, it was embarrassingly low and now, it’s probably well over 25% and surely, it has to be down to the quality of our new design.
“Our customers are as diverse as our comics. Here, you’ll find fun, interactive and entertaining comics. I can think of only 4 shops like this in the country; a lot of Sci-Fi shops call themselves comic shops but they’re not.
“In France, there are a couple of comic shops in every city. I’ve persuaded so many people over the years to open shops because it would only benefit me, shops like this are rare.
"We care about who you are here and yes, you can get comics online but computers are not the same as going into a shop where you'll be greeted with a smile, the value of a human smile is huge to so many."
For anyone wanting to get into comics for the first time, Stephen advised to not start with a series and start small.
Passers-by shared their thoughts on the ‘rare’ shop. Travis Morton, 21 is a student.
Travis, who lives in Lenton said: “I’m a massive anime fan and I never knew there was a comic book shop in town. I’ve read comics before and they’re underrated art, they’re great so I’ll have to go there [Page 45] at some point.”
Leanne Fearson, 34 lives in Carlton. The social media assistant said: “I have a little boy who loves colour and comics are very expressive and colourful.
“You never think of going into a comic book shop, you’d go to Waterstones or W H Smiths unless you’re a comic fan but I can imagine that the illustrations [in the books] are fantastic.”
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