St. Mark's Comics Closing After 36 Years In East Village

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A beloved East Village comic store will shut its doors after 36 years in the neighborhood, business owners announced this week on social media.

St. Mark's comics took to Twitter to confirm rumors that the store will close at the end of February.

"Yes. After 36 years of serving the #EastVillage, world famous St. Mark's Comics will be closing at the end of February. Thanks for all your kind words and concern as word has gotten out," the store posted.

St. Mark's owners elaborated on the reasons for the closure in a Facebook post, saying that there are "lots of obstacles to running a retail storefront in NYC; too many of them at once to fight, and after 36 pretty intense years, not enough left to fight them."

Store owners then thanked their customers, families, friends and staff.

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A store-emptying sale began Wednesday, but discount rates were not revealed, according to business owners.

Customers, former employees and comic book creators lamented the loss of the East Village institution on social media. Many people replied to St. Mark's Comics' post by sharing their personal experiences with the store.

"Sorry to hear this; I have very fond memories of going to your store when I started visited NYC from the UK about 25 years ago; there was always something interesting to get hold of and staff were consistently helpful and good fun. All the best for what comes next," a Twitter user named @thesavage wrote.

Comic book writer Tom King commented "Horribly sorry to hear this."

Read the store owners' full statement below:

Photo by Google Maps street view