November
1 Golden Apple Opens on Melrose

The opening of a comic shop’s new location is usually not big news — unless you’re talking about Golden Apple, the popular family-owned Melrose shop that opened the doors at 10 a.m. to its new location today at 7018 Melrose.

A large crowd of loyal customers and a camera crew from G4 TV’s “Attack of the Show” assembled on the sidewalk out front just prior to the store’s opening. General manager Ryan Liebowitz, who came in to help run the store after the death of his father and Golden Apple founder Bill Liebowitz two years ago, spoke a few words about the new location and how it is a big step toward achieving his vision for the store.

His mother, Sharon Liebowitz, took the stage to thank the store’s staff for their hard work and introduce special guest Stan Lee. Lee’s appearance was brief, but he cut the ceremonial ribbon that opened the store and the crowd quickly filed in.

Inside, the store is larger than the previous location, with more shelf space to display new comics and books. It also is more spacious, well organized, very cool looking and far less cluttered. The high ceiling, fresh coat of paint, large windows and tile floor give the store a polished feeling that the previous location lacked.

A long line quickly formed as people lined up to buy new comics. David Mack, creator of Kabuki, was already on hand to talk with fans and sign comics even though his appearance was not slated to begin until 7 p.m. Other faces in the crowd included DC Comics sales and marketing VP Stephanie Fierman and “AoTS” comicbook critic/reporter Blair Butler.