The Comic Hunter Plans Move Down The Street To New Moncton Home
MONCTON – The Moncton home of a comic book store chain that boasts the Maritimes’ largest selection of board games is going to reopen its game room for the first time since the pandemic, with a move to a new location planned for the end of the summer.
Remi Leclair, manager of The Comic Hunter in Moncton, confirmed that the shop will be moving from its berth at 467 Main Street to a new footprint at 321 Saint George Boulevard – about a ten-minute walk away.
The motivation to move is to gain more space to bring back the Comic Hunter’s beloved game room. Pandemic restrictions forced staff to convert what was once a game room to an office space as the business pivoted to an online sales model to adapt to pandemic restrictions.
“We have been looking, kind of casually, for more space. At first, we just wanted storage and maybe a place to put an office, and then the real estate guy mentioned something was coming up for sale and offered to let us take a look,” Leclair said.
The Comic Hunter, which began as a university project, has three locations – one in Moncton, a second at 98 Regent Street in Fredericton and a third in Charlottetown.
The chain was launched and is owned by Jeff Smith, a Charlottetown native who also owns The Comic Hunter’s new Moncton home-to-be on St. George Boulevard. In addition to more than 500,000 comic book titles and board games, it sells a variety of specialty items, including action figures, trading cards and merchandise.
“We weren’t sure what we were looking for and this landed in our lap; it had a good location and a good price. We were certainly running out of space, so one way or the other we were shopping around for options. When it came up, we thought, ‘Alright, well this is kismet, perfect timing, with what we were trying to do,” Leclair said.
Leclair said the new space will be similar to the first, but split across two 2,000-square-foot floors. The first floor will be devoted to comics, toys and other hobby products. The second will be reserved for board games, card games and tabletop gaming.
Leclair said there’s excitement at the prospect of bringing back The Comic Hunter’s game room and its regular game nights.
“We used to do that, pre-COVID, and that had to go away. When we were able to do them again, our play space had been turned into office space, because we redoubled efforts on the online side,” Leclair said.
“To go backwards was sort of impossible. Once we move into our new space, we’ll be able to do online things with the office and have our play-space back. I’m excited to get in there, I wasn’t hired to be a contractor, but that’s what I’ve become,” said Leclair, noting he has been coordinating contractors and fit-up efforts for The Comic Hunter’s new location.
“I’m going to be happy to work into the space and make it work.”
The plan is to officially launch at the new location in September, but Leclair noted there’s no set date.
“Things are moving along as any construction would – it’s ‘hurry up and wait,’ so the stuff is going as fast as it can, as we wait for the next guy to come along and do his part,” said Leclair.
The Comic Hunter employs a dozen people, pending how busy things are, and may end up hiring a new part-timer or giving more hours to its current staff, to accommodate an increasing amount of business.
“We always hire as sales go up, but we’re going to settle into our new location. Because of the way it’s laid out, the conversation has come up that we might need to make some adjustments to our hours, and maybe hire another part-time person,” he said.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].