03-04-2025
Knoxville comic book shop owner concerned tariffs could raise prices, impact small businesses
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Recently imposed tariffs are expected to affect many goods, including comic books. Nearly all American comic books are printed in Canada, which has been targeted by 25% tariffs from the Trump administration.
Comic book owners are worried that these tariffs will raise costs to bring their products across the border, leading to higher prices for customers. Grant Mitchell, one of the owners of Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, explained that comic book price margins are slim enough that a 25% adjustment is noticeable.
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'Back in 2020, a lot of [publishers] switched to Canada printing due to Amazon buying a lot of the cardboard for their packaging. So, a lot of paper couldn't be made out of that. It's also cheaper. So if publishing companies were switch all the printing to America, we'd also see a price hike in that,' said Grant Mitchell, one of the owners of Nirvana Comics in Knoxville.
He noted that the comic book industry has seen a lot of changes in the past year, with one of the main distributors no longer being in the game.
'There's been a lot of chaos already this year with comic publishing. So that one company did step in to absorb that cost. But our customers unfortunately could see a potential price increase or we'll see it on our end and do our best to make sure not to impact our customers,' said Mitchell.
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When asked, why he thought a company would be willing to absorb the cost of the tariff, he explained how close-knit the comic book community is and how they work to support each other.
He added, 'It's a very tight knit industry. When one person is in trouble, people step up. Several creators when they've had health insurance problems or health problems, a lot of people step up and GoFundMe and support them in that. So no, that's they're not surprising to me at all, that there are companies out there willing to absorb that to protect comic shops like this.'
He closed by asking people, whether they support the tariffs or not, to support small businesses that could be impacted by the tariffs.
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Canada faces the 25% tariff on imports on the grounds that they have not done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Trump previously announced that goods covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) were exempt from those tariffs.
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