Raising a stink: At Broken Frontier, Mike Bullock breaks down the components of a good comic book store. He hits upon some solid points (diverse inventory, friendly staff, etc.) But what stands out are the references to the shop's cleanliness and smell:

"Something overlooked by many who spend long hours in a retail environment is the smell. Is the store musty? Does it smell like old books, body odor, and left over pizza? No one wants to smell that. Make sure the store is clean and smells that way as well."

I don't highlight this to diminish Mike's argument; cleanliness and lack of odor, obviously, are important. They're so important, in fact, that I routinely see them mentioned in discussions of comic retailers. And that's what troubles me. What does it say about the industry that we have to list "clean" and "don't stink" as attributes of the good shops?

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other retail outlet in which cleanliness and an absence of foul smells are areas worthy of special praise. We don't stroll into the Gap and think, "Wow, this is clean." We don't browse the aisles of Waldenbooks and suddenly proclaim, "They're right. It doesn't stink in here!"

So why should we expect anything less from our comic book stores?

Perhaps we've been conditioned to lower our expectations. Maybe we're such a sad and neglected lot that we'll take whatever we can get.

I don't know; I'm afraid to think too much about it.

But, damn. Cleanliness and an odor-free environment shouldn't be on our wish list. That's just sad.