Rolling Tales comic book store moving online, closing downtown Edmonton shop

Action figures and comic books, past and present, line the walls of the Rolling Tales comic book store in downtown Edmonton, immersing customers in a collection of unique superheroes and stories.

Sadly, the owner of Rolling Tales will soon close the doors for good and move the business online, to help him try and get out from underneath the crushing weight of his debt.

“I didn’t realize you could go beyond bankruptcy, but I’ve managed to do that. Hahahaha, you can actually go so far into debt that you can’t get assistance to get out of it,” said Jay Bardyla, the owner of Rolling Tales.

Bardyla has run Rolling Tales for the past four years but has been managing comic book stores for nearly 35 years, starting this business in Terwillegar before moving downtown two years ago.

Despite having a steady customer base, he says a combination of nearby construction and the stigma of coming downtown, helped hinder his ability to bring in more foot traffic, and the business suffered.

After a year of unsuccessful attempts to expand his customer base, he made the decision to give up his storefront and lay off his staff.

“It feels like failure. It’s not good, and I don’t want to do it, but the problem is what I’m doing now is impacting other people in my life for the worse,” said Bardyla.

Jonathan and Karen have been loyal customers of his for over 15 years. When they heard the news, they showed up to Rolling Tales bright and early the first day the doors opened after the announcement online.

“It means a lot. It is a second home. There’s joy here. There’s creativity. It is a place that brings people together,” said Jonathan.

They say they will continue shopping with rolling tales after the store is emptied out. But they’ll miss the community that gathers here.

“We got on a first-name basis with all the staff at the previous store, and so I’m happy that some staff continued on with this one, so that was great, but you’re not going to have that with the online. We’re not going to have that same interaction with the in-person staff, which I’m going to miss,” said Karen.

Bardyla says the website is already up and running, ready for when the walls of this store are cleared out.

He says there isn’t just one single solution to his problems.

As for his level of optimism? It’s recovering from this setback.

“I feel zero optimism hahaha. Yeah, I’m pretty defeated and pretty crushed. Fortunately, I am Gen X, so we just like, f*** it, do what you’ve got to do and just get through it,” said Bardyla.

The last day for Rolling Tales in downtown Edmonton is July 26th.