Bam! Smack! Pow! St. Mark’s Comics is coming to Industry City

By Amelia Anthony

St. Mark’s Comics, the beloved indie comic store and former East Village staple, is reopening—in Brooklyn. After shutting down its last store in the East Village in February 2019, the retailers announced today their new location will be in Industry City. The announcement was made on its website and on Twitter late Wednesday afternoon.

We’re back! NYC icon St. Mark’s Comics is making a triumphant return, with a new store in Brooklyn. Media: DM for press release &/or an interview. We’ll see you soon! @LaurenGlassberg @danaschulzNYC @bfishbfish @alexisloinaz @77WABCradio @wcbs880 @1010WINS @NBCNewYork

— St. Mark’s Comics (@StMarksComicsNY) May 19, 2021

“There was such an enormous outpouring of support when we closed our last location. We were a proud part of the East Village for over 35 years,” said owner Mitch Cutler in a statement. “The decision to close wasn’t easy, but it’s what we had to do at the time.”

The reopening is planned for this August, though St. Mark’s has been conducting limited online sales since its initial closure. St. Mark’s Comics opened its doors in 1983—with an underground vibe and a stockpile of rare comics that drew in aficionados from all over the city. It became enough of a New York touchstone that it would feature in episodes of “Friends” and “Sex and the City.” Cutler cited long hours, raising rents and changing shopping behaviors that forced the comic store off the iconic East Village street in 2019.

The move to Brooklyn is not completely bizarre, either. St. Mark’s Comics once had a Brooklyn Heights location on Montague Street from 1988 to 2012, as well as another on Chamber Street in Lower Manhattan that closed in 2004.