From Anyone to Everyone… the folks behind Anyone Comics in Brooklyn have teamed up with a comics industry veteran to open a second store in Long Island City called, aptly, Everyone Comics and Books.
Co-owners Alex Rae and Dimitrios Fragiskatos have high hopes for the store, which will be located at 41-26 27th St. in Long Island City, Queens, but there may be a pop-up opening before then. Anyone Comics has earned a solid reputation with customers and creators over the past five years, and this part of Queens is a promising location, easily accessible from many subway lines.
The opening is scheduled for March 12, 2022. More details in the official announcement below:
If you got off at the Queensboro Plaza stop on the 7, N, W trains or Queens Plaza on the E, M, R trains, you may have seen a new store being built in the neighborhood.
Owners Alex Rae and Dimitrios Fragiskatos promise that Comics and Books will focus on superhero comics, young adult novels, children’s books, and independent graphic novels.
“My experience operating Anywhere Comics for 5 years in Crown Heights, Brooklyn during a pandemic has been transformative,” said Fragiskatos. “Unexpectedly, for a small business, we not only survived, but we performed better in 2021 than in previous years. Anyone Comics was a place to get new graphic novels, but it was also a place to share your own stories. We hope to recreate this experience for the people of Queens. People’s need for escape in this climate has made a bookstore like ours feel essential.
“Long Island City is the perfect place to plant new business roots. There’s a strong community here and we’re ready to serve that community with comics and books!” Rae added excitedly.
The two owners have been in the comics business for over 15 years, having met at one of New York’s biggest and go-to comic book retailers, Midtown Comics, Dimitrios was promoted to manager of their Grand Central location before to leave to create his own store. After being similarly promoted to Back Issue Buyer and having such high-profile experiences as appearing in National Geographic’s Comic Book Heroes, Alex went on to work for the legendary Wizard World, managing their Artist Alley. , tracking sales for Valiant Entertainment, one of the biggest superhero publishers and helping start Ace Comic-con. He is currently working with ReedPop as a comedy talent coordinator. Throughout it all, they stayed in close contact until they came together for this.
“Opening this store with my longtime friend is a dream. We both think the Queens community could use a greater influx of comics. After all, this is the neighborhood where Spider-man is from! winks at Rae.
