‘A place of community’: Keith’s Komix in Schaumburg to shutter after 30 years

A beloved suburban destination for comic book collectors will shutter this fall.

Keith’s Komix owners Keith and Cathy Anderson are retiring and permanently will close the store at 528 S. Roselle Road in Schaumburg after 30 years.

The Streamwood couple announced the move this week on the store’s Facebook page.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Keith Anderson subsequently told the Daily Herald. “I’ll probably bawl like a baby when we’re closing up, when we’re locking the door for the last time.”

The store’s last day will be Sept. 20. It will be missed.

“This was a place of community,” said Joshua Winchester, a West Chicago resident who’s shopped at Keith’s since 2018. “For 30 years, Keith's Komix and Keith himself have been making the Chicago suburbs, our little corner of the world, a better, brighter and nerdier place to live.”

A haven for comics fans

Anderson, 60, started in the comics business in 1985, working for the now-defunct Moondog’s retail chain. After Moondog’s was sold in 1994, he briefly worked for the buyer before launching Keith’s Komix in 1995.

Keith’s occupies a roughly 2,400-square-foot storefront in the Farmgate Shopping Center. Spider-Man, the Hulk and Thor are painted on the front glass, ensuring passersby won’t mistake Keith’s for a pizzeria or pharmacy.

Inside, pale-blue walls are lined with long, wire racks filled with comics and graphic novels. Statues, T-shirts and other fandom-inspired goods are arranged on shelves and displays throughout the shop; a table offering comics-themed pillow cases and other textiles crafted by Cathy Anderson, also 60, is near the cash register.

The couple’s 30-year-old son, Brandon, works part-time at the store; they also have a 27-year-old daughter, Amanda.

Through the years, Keith’s has hosted meet-and-greets with Chicago-area comic book writers and artists including Jill Thompson, Scott Beaderstadt and Alex Ross. Arlington Heights’ Brian Babendererde is among the suburban creators whose books have graced the store’s shelves.

“Keith’s Komix leaves an amazing legacy,” Babendererde said. “It was more than just a store for cool books and toys, but a place to meet talented people and make new friends.”

The Andersons’ impact went beyond the store. They frequently participated in comics-themed library events, such as the Schaumburg Township District Library Comic Con and the Comic Book Mania! bash at Elgin’s Gail Borden Public Library.

Customer Pearson Mui of Hoffman Estates called Keith Anderson “a kind, generous, decent man who loves comics.”

“We could use more people like Keith Anderson and fewer like Comic Book Guy from ‘The Simpsons,’” Mui said, referring to the acerbic, snobby and ponytailed proprietor of the fictional Android's Dungeon shop.

A struggling industry

Charlie Balicki, owner of Libertyville’s Dreamland Comics, said the pending demise of Keith’s Komix is a blow to the comics community. It will leave about a dozen comics shops in the North, West and Northwest suburbs — far fewer than existed during the industry’s speculator-driven heyday in the 1990s.

While many of the Andersons’ customers will migrate to other stores, some may shift to online shopping or drop the hobby, Balicki said.

“It would be a shame for all those longtime, loyal customers he had to have nowhere to go,” he said. “That’s a lot of customers left hanging.”

In their Facebook post about the shutdown, the Andersons blamed “the state of the industry and our distributors” for the decision.

Comic book sales have dropped off considerably since the 1990s. Back then, top titles had monthly sales in the millions; today sales of the most popular individual issues typically peak in the low-six-figure range — and estimates are difficult to determine because of changes in the sales pipeline and how sales data is reported.

And as the Andersons hinted in their note, the distribution system that gets books from publishers to stores is in disarray. Publishers for years have been abandoning the largest of those middlemen, Diamond Comic Distributors, for other avenues, and the once-monolithic company filed for bankruptcy in January.

The Andersons also are concerned about how U.S. tariffs may affect the comics industry. For decades, many American publishers have printed books in Canada to save money; a tax on imports could lead to higher retail prices.

‘Going out on our terms’

Regardless of the economic factors, the Andersons just think its time to hang up their capes and utility belts.

“The store’s had him for 30 years,” Cathy Anderson said. “I know he loves it, but I kinda want him back.”

Rather than unloading all the store’s contents to a rival retailer, the Andersons expect they’ll sell items over Facebook Marketplace or eBay.

“We’re going out on our terms,” Keith Anderson said.

A drive to California along Route 66 is chief among the couple’s post-store plans.

“We want to do all the corny things like Clark Griswold,” said Keith Anderson, referencing the road-tripping protagonist of the “Vacation” films.

And after that?

“When she gets tired of me,” Anderson said, “I’ll find a comics store to hang out in.”