Banbury comics store celebrates 25 years with new Leamington owners

From left: Glyn Smith, the former owner of the Banbury store, Comic Connections and Jamie (middle) and Karl Williams at the Leamington store, Collectors Assemble.

The new owners, Karl and Jamie Williams, already own the Leamington comic-book store, Collectors Assemble (established 2016), and have been looking to branch out.

Karl said: "Comic Connections was my childhood comic-book store. The chance to take charge of that location and bring it under the Collectors Assemble banner was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Comic Connections - founded by Glyn Smith - opened on the November 11, 1994, and has served the town with a very wide selection of comics, graphic novels, toys, merchandise and other media.

In its 25 years it has hosted signings with Jonathan Ross, Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead artist), Simon Bisley (Lobo), Liam Sharp (Green Lantern), Simon Furman (Transformers) and dozens more comic professionals, as well as David Prowse, Warwick Davis and Jeremy Bulloch from the Star Wars movies.

Comic Connections has bucked the modern trend for a small business with a bricks and mortar location, by thriving in an ever changing marketplace against all the odds. With Glyn's approaching retirement, he decided to sell the business to secure the store's future and preserve its legacy within Banbury's community.

Karl added: "We will be undergoing a refurbishment of the Banbury store to match our branding in Leamington. We have some big ideas on how to make both stores more of an experience, rather than just shops. We'll reveal these plans at a later date.

"We are also hoping to run several signing events throughout the year with comic artists and writers.

"Between the two stores we now stock over 100,000 comics, over 5000 graphic novels, first appearances of many different Marvel and DC characters, comics signed by artists and writers and many other different items including POP vinyl, statues and action figures."