Backyard Comics & Records

Backyard Comics & Records in Spartanburg crosses records, comics, laserdiscs, CDs, cassettes, and sports cards. Tony's answers explain how a lifetime of collecting, moving, selling, and re-acquiring shaped a shop where condition, price, and unusual collections all matter.

Interview with Backyard Comics & Records

Backyard pairs comics with records — plus CDs, cassettes, and sports cards. How do those sides share the space and the customers?

I served 30 years in the military, so I lived a lot of different places. I acquired and accumulated different stuff along the way. With each move I seemed to sell off one segment of the collection in favor of others. Atleast twice I sold off my Record Album and Comic Book inventory to make the move less painful. In each new location I seemed to re-acquire available inventory. It seems the Laserdisc inventory was always saved from the sell-offs. I guess that's because they seemed to be harder to find. In addition, they cross over to lanes Movies & Music. Sports cards have always survived because that was my childhood passion. I also share that passion with my now adult daughter and grandson.

You focus your buying on rock and on work by Black artists across R&B, blues, and jazz. How did that focus come together?

I grew up listening to country music at home in the late 60's. I turned mostly to rock in the mid 70's. In the late 70's early 80's started listening to R&B. But as i grew older my taste shifted to most genres including Jazz. With regards to inventory, it was obvious the R&B and Jazz (Black Artist) was the best sellers for me so that's where I focused my attention. But I never pass up Rock, and I've don't well with Country as well.

Condition is critical for you — free of scratches, water damage, and mold. What makes a collection an easy yes?

Price Price Price... if I can buy it cheap enough I never say NO. It helps to have available funds, but I guess the limiting factor has always been available space.

Spartanburg has its own Upstate South Carolina scene. What do your customers reach for most?

I sale more Laserdisc than anything. I think that's because I'm in several Facebook groups an I've shipped all over the U.S. for a few years now. On a side note, I probably have the largest Laserdisc inventory in SC, maybe the Southeast U.S.

Do the comics customers wander into the records, or are the vinyl buyers their own crowd?

The comic customers seem to stand alone. However, horror buyers will cross all lanes to buy. Record album buyers go for CD's and Cassettes. Occasionally, I convert record buyers over to Laserdisc but it rarely goes the other way.

What's the most memorable thing that's come across the counter?

Because I'm a small shop, open by appt only, I rarely get offers to buy inventory. But I do have 2 stories...

• Once I got a call, guy had some records he wanted to trade for comics. I reluctantly agreed to invite him over to see what he had. As it turns out, he was looking to "unload" some very rare Hard Metal music. To my surprise he only wanted a handful of cheap comics.

• Not too long ago, I was on vacation an found a large collection of Laserdisc for sale on Facebook. I coordinated a price via txt and agreed to pickup when I returned home. After a 3 hour drive, I discovered a very nice collection, 1200+ movies & concerts. Long story short, they belonged to the world famous Elton John.

What condition issues do you see most in local collections?

I'd say Laserdisc are cared for the best. It's rare to find a Laserdisc in less than NM condition.

Record Albums are notorious for being abused. I find more cat scratching issues on record covers than anything. Those claws can shred a record album.

First visit to Backyard — what should someone dig through first?

It changes from month to month as inventory arrives. But it's hard not to notice my Laserdisc inventory. I usually don't display my sports cards so the real gems are probably hiding in those.

Final thought... I operate I little different depending on the item I'm purchasing. But as a rule, I try to follow this principle.

When I buy a collection, I pull as much good stuff out of the collect as I can, then sell-off the rest in bulk to cover my investment and in most cases I make 50%. This leaves me with the cream of the crop and no debt on my inventory. It also leaves me not needing to sale anything thus I find myself not pushing or advertising as much as others might. For this to work, I have to buy at the right price and have a network of local buyers to quickly take my bulk, leaving them enough meat on the bone. I do best moving Records & Sports Card collection in this manner.

Hope that gives you enough info to work with.

Last updated: 2026-08-09

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