Comics Boom

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Co-owner Curtis Sullivan says Hollywood helped insulate his niche from the sales slump that's hit books and magazines. "Comics have had steady growth for eight years now because we have these billion-dollar commercials out there," he says. "Batman, Iron Man--the list goes on and on."

Sullivan and Steve Fodale--who met in first grade at Bach School--started Vault of Midnight in 1996 with about $500 in capital. "We were like little kids," Sullivan recalls. "We didn't have a business plan. We stocked what we liked, and that was about it. It sounds really cool, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Yet within two years they were doing well enough to move the store from an old house on Ashley to a former gas station at the corner of Huron and Fourth Avenue. Two years later they moved again, to the basement of the Darling Block on Liberty across from the Federal Building. And three years ago, they made the big jump to Main Street, taking over the former After Words store just north of Liberty.

Sullivan credits Fodale for much of the store's success. Though Fodale no longer works in the store (he's now a full-time accountant with the Charles Reinhart Company), he still keeps Vault of Midnight's books.