Newbury Comics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newbury Comics is a New England-based music retailer. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. It was founded in 1978 by two MIT students. Over the next few years, the focus of the company changed from comics to music (comics are still sold there in limited amounts). There are now 27 stores in five states (four in New Hampshire, two in Rhode Island, one in Maine, one in Connecticut, and 19 in Massachusetts).
Newbury Comics is today best known as a vendor of CDs and DVDs, and other pop culture-related goods. Newbury Comics sells LPs, CDs, singles, and DVDs. It also offers comics, posters, T-shirts, trading cards, action figures, buttons, sports merchandise, jewelry, cosmetics, novelties and more. Some locations also sell punk-style clothing.
The chain also has a sister store called Hootenanny which mostly sells punk-style clothing, located one floor below the Newbury Comics in Harvard Square.
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[edit] Locations
As of 2006, Newbury Comics operates out of 27 locations, most of which are located in Massachusetts:
- Amherst
- Avon
- Boston: Newbury Street (original store) and Government Center
- Braintree
- Burlington
- Cambridge: Harvard Square and Alewife
- Hyannis
- Kingston
- Leominster
- Marlborough
- Natick
- Newton
- North Attleborough
- North Dartmouth
- Peabody
- Saugus
- Shrewsbury
Four in New Hampshire:
Two in Rhode Island:
One in Maine: South Portland
One in Connecticut: Manchester
[edit] Former locations
A small number of locations have been closed over the years, including a small store in the MIT student center, as well as in Woburn, Bellingham and Norwood, and a second Hootenanny location in Nashua, NH. The Newbury Street, Harvard Square, Burlington, Hyannis, Saugus, Shrewsbury, and Nashua stores have all moved from their original locations, in most cases into larger spaces. Similarly, the Framingham store was relocated down the street to Natick.
[edit] Notable employees
- Andy Bonner of the Boston band Piebald worked for years at both the Harvard Square and Alewife locations. The band's "King of the Road" includes the lyrics, "Andy went back to school. He got sick of Newbury Comics."
- Valerie Forgione of Mistle Thrush is the company's vice president of merchandising[1]
- Joe Guese, guitarist of the Boston band The Click Five, worked at the flagship Newbury Comics briefly before joining the band
- Aimee Mann worked at the original Newbury Street location before gaining prominence with her band 'Til Tuesday[1]
- Alexis S.F. Marshall and Samuel Moorehouse Walker of Daughters have worked at the Providence Newbury Comics.
- Chris Pupecki (Doomriders, ex-Cast Iron Hike) works at the Natick store.
[edit] Company logo in popular culture
- In the movie Hatchet (2007), star Joel Moore spends much of the film in a blood-spattered Newbury Comics t-shirt. In reaction to this Newbury Comics started selling special Hatchet t-shirts like the one in the movie.
