Desert Island Comics (540 Metropolitan Ave.) is sadly closing at the end of the year, they announced on Instagram.
“Someone approached our landlord and offered almost double what we’re paying in rent, we have no lease, and landlord says we have to match it or vacate by January 1st 2025,” the caption reads in part. “Their price is untenable for our modestly successful business, and frankly it’s too much for anyone to pay.”
The store was founded in 2008 by Gabe Fowler and quickly became an invaluable resource for fans of underground and independent comics. Desert Island offered a wide selection of all things comics, zines, graphic novels, and other miscellaneous art books. Next to Quimby’s Bookstore, a store with a similar ethos, the stores made great companions and were beloved local businesses for many a Williamsburg resident (and many comic fans just passing through, as the post’s comment section can attest).
The block of Metropolitan suffered a similar blow just over a month ago when the decades-old Crest Hardware shut its doors for good.
Absolutely heartbreaking. And word is…it’s gonna be another liquor store. Yay. There’s already one on that corner! And across the street! But sadly, money talks and the greed outweighs what was a beautifully curated thing of beauty that is Desert Island. Screaming to the gods that D.I. relocates somewhere in the hood and continue their showcasing of out-of-this-world comix and art.
Boycott the next business that opens up here.
Desert Island, just like Crest Hardware, are the kind of stores that make a neighborhood… and made Williamsburg what it is. (Was?) I was never really a customer but I always admired the kept the Sparacino’s Bakery sign on the store, something that has been there since at least the early ’60s, possibly even the late ’40s. Hell of a shame.