travelling man comic shop

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Exploring comics and more on the web since 1998, comic retailer spotlight: travelling man.

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• Travelling Man Leeds – 32 Central Road, Leeds LS1 6DE | 0113 245 0822 E-mail:  [email protected] • Travelling Man Manchester – 4 Dale Street, Manchester M1 1JW | Tel: 0161 237 1877 | E-mail:  [email protected] • Travelling Man Newcastle – 43 Grainger Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 5JE | Tel: 0191 261 4993 | E-mail:  [email protected] • Travelling Man York – 74 Goodramgate, York, YO1 7LF | Tel: 01904628787 E-mail:  [email protected]

Travelling Man had its humble beginnings back in the late 1980s, when two friends, Nabil and Simon, were looking to use their passion for role-playing games to escape their dead-end jobs.

Named after the prototypical adventurer from the games it continues to sell today, “Travelling Man” became both a mission statement as well as the company name – to be always moving forward and to keep exploring the rich genres and worlds that games, comics and independent press have to offer.

The first store popped up in 1991 on Hyde Park Corner in Headingley, and a few years later had already expanded and relocated to Leeds city centre. Today, their flagship store is joined by branches in York, Manchester and Newcastle, and we are a three-times Eisner nominated store, and reached the finals twice.

The team pride themselves on having a lovely community around our stores, scheduled gaming tournaments, comic signings and other events, as well as being a proud partner of  Thought Bubble Festival  and  Airecon Festival .

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Travelling Man

Travelling Man is one of my first stops for comics and graphic novels as they always seems to have just what you want on the shelves and also have a good selection of games and toys in stock.

They currently have four stores around the UK in Leeds, Newcastle, York and my local store in Manchester  which is great and manages to compete with the Forbidden Planet Megastore which is located across the road. I would probably put the success into the effort they put into have staff who know there comics, weekly game nights and pretty awesome comic book signings.

With comic book signings from the industry innovators such as Adi Granov who reinvented the modern Iron man which has sculpted the comics and movies it isn’t surprising that they have great roots in the UK comic book scene.

Although Travelling man has a great selection of stores on the high street they have recently opened an online store to go with the official Travelling man blog.

Travelling Man Official Site Travelling Man Blog

Travelling Man Leeds 32 Central Rd, LS1 6DE Tel: 0113 4236461

Travelling Man York 54 Goodramgate, YO1 7LF Tel: 01904 628787

Travelling Man Newcastle 43 Grainger St, NE1 5JE Tel: 0191 2614993

Travelling Man Manchester 4 Dale St, M1 1JW Tel: 0161 2371877

Posted by Adi Mursec on July 18, 2009

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Travelling Man

4 Dale Street | Manchester M1 1JW Phone: 0161 2371877 OPEN NOW CLOSED NOW

This Northern Quarter shop is a goldmine for comic collectors. Travelling Man is one of four shops — the others are based in Leeds, Newcastle and York — which sells comic books, fantasy board games, role playing games, figurines and other collectibles. Residing next to Nexus Art Cafe, Travelling Man is unmistakable for its bright orange shopfront and windows adorned with the latest independent comics, graphic novels and games. It’s not just a shop, either — Travelling Man is a social area for groups of people to play games. The store also holds events including signings by comic book authors and illustrators, cosplay gatherings, and free comic days. The friendly staff provide plenty of information about each product and they strive to stock rare and imported items, and on the rare occasion that you don’t like an item a staff member recommended, they’ll let you return it in exchange for something else. [Charlotte Davies]

Travelling Man 4 Dale Street Manchester M1 1JW

Opening Hours: Mon: 10:00 - 18:00 Tues: 10:00 - 18:00 Wed: 10:00 - 18:00 Thur: 10:00 - 18:00 Fri: 10:00 - 18:00 Sat: 10:00 - 18:00 Sun: 11:00 - 16:30

Phone: 0161 2371877 Web: http://www.travellingman.com/ Email: [email protected]

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Travelling Man   Reviews

In the Comic Book Store category

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Reviews 4.9.

5,751 total

Most relevant

The Travelling Man is a haven for board…

The Travelling Man is a haven for board game enthusiasts and manga fans alike! Their selection is incredible, customer service top-notch, and orders arrive carefully packed and lightning fast. It's a true gem of a store!

Date of experience : 08 March 2024

Arrived promptly

Arrived promptly, well packaged. Only issue was royal mail delivery arriving 6 hours after my expected delivery time. But by no means an issue with seller. Very pleased with purchase and will use again for larger value purchases, but free delivery on smaller items can be found elsewhere for same price.

Date of experience : 04 March 2024

Great pricing and service as always!

Great pricing and service as always! On this particular occasion, I was contacted as a heads up that one of the books I ordered had some minor damage with a picture, and they gave me some options (discount/refund) etc - I really appreciated this as it was going to be a book for my wife who is an avid collector so I politely asked for a refund on that one book which they happily did and I still got the rest of my order in the next couple days! Many thanks, will continue ordering from them :)

Date of experience : 07 March 2024

Excellent 👍

Easy to use website, arrived next day,. Even had an issue with an incorrect shipping address was able to ring and get changed straightaway. I will be using again.

Date of experience : 06 March 2024

Best Place to buy manga from!

Shopped instore and online my go to place to get manga from never had a bad delivery and the help I’ve received in store is always great.

Great place for Mangas

As usual they've done it again. Easy to navigate their website, good prices, delivery is always super quick and the quality of their products is top notch👌🏼.

Date of experience : 05 March 2024

Great range of products

Great range of products. I Often find myself browsing and nearly always find something new, inspiring and exciting. Being a fan of many genres of board games and styles of rpg’s I’m never dissatisfied with what’s available, often ordering several products. Delivery is always prompt and prices are usually very competitive.

Date of experience : 01 March 2024

Great price, great product.

The package was quickly dispatched and received. Well packaged and as described. Would Totally use Travelling Man again

Great Value

Delivery was fast and the models I purchased were cheaper and more accessible than if I were to get them from the local shop due to current work hours. Very pleased with how things went.

Excellent & Fast Service

I orded a product from Travelling Man after seeing they had a product at great price compared to similar online model retailers. Travelling Man delivered it in a fast ammount of time. The package arrived in good condition with no issues. I have visted Travelling Man Manchester numerous times & have found the store to be a pleasant experience, it has wide range of items & helpful staff.

Date of experience : 20 February 2024

Always my go to for my son's Manga…

Always my go to for my son's Manga books! They have a great selection and delivery is always fast!

Date of experience : 29 February 2024

Fast Delivery and Perfect Condition

I ordered 11 books that all arrived very quickly and in perfect condition! Lots of range on the website. Unfortunately, one of the volumes I needed was out of stock but that seems to be the case on all manga and book stores. So cannot fault Travelling Man.

I'm very happy with my purchase

I bought a manga series from here two times, both orders came within 3 days. The delivery was fast and everything was in good shape. I will be buying from here again as it is also a bit cheaper compared to other places, thank you.

Great RPG mail-order company

Easy selection amd ordering from a great range of games. Arrived very quickly in good packaging, would definitely recommend.

Date of experience : 27 February 2024

Fast reply through email,and great…

Fast reply through email,and great amount of titles that I’m interested in .Delivery went extremely quick despite the fact it was delivered to London . Overall I’m very pleased and I would purchase from this company again .

Fantastic delivery.

My order arrived next day, was the cheapest option available and was delivered in good condition. Absolutely no problems and will likely be ordering again.

Great game shop.

Delivered promptly could not get the game anywhere else it was out of stock only travelling man had it in brilliant shop.

Great place to shop

Price was good, item was dispatched promptly and received on time as it was a pre-order item. Overall a good experience. I've ordered from them multiple times and haven't had a single problem. My order was for trading cards and these guys are way better than some of the other known companies in the market who constantly have messed me around in the past. Give these guys a go!

Date of experience : 22 February 2024

Would order from again

I was a bit concerned as it was my first ordering from this company and the FAQ on their website says "If an in stock order is placed after 2pm it will be dispatched the next working day" but I found that there was a slight delay in dispatching my order. I contacted the company to query it and they replied only ten minutes later to confirm all was ok and that they were just running a bit behind schedule due to being busy. The order arrived very quickly once dispatched, and it was neatly packaged. I would definitely order from this company again, and was really impressed with their quick customer service. The only reason I'm rating 4 stars instead of 5 is because I believe the FAQ should make it clear that they will "try" to ship next working day, instead of saying "it will be" - just to avoid any concerns.

Date of experience : 30 January 2024

Super quick delivery as always

Super quick delivery as always. The website doesn’t always show item availability in search results, so it was a little annoying to click on items I was searching for & find out they were unavailable— but this is fairly minor!

Date of experience : 29 December 2023

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• The Best Comic Shops in Manchester
• Arts & Culture

By London Calling

Top comic book shops in Manchester to visit and explore…

Manchester is known for many things, its history, landmarks, museums, nightlife and football. But unbeknownst to many it also boasts some cool comic book stores.

Who doesn't love superheroes? They have the ability to save the world from destruction time and time again without even breaking a sweat. This is why we enjoy reading the stories that feature these characters. We all have our favourites: whether it be Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman, or Superman. While they have featured in many mediums, including a prominent presence on the big screen, their origins in comics dates back decades. Therefore, the question I wish to pose is where are the best places to buy these comics that have provided us with joy since our childhood years?

65-67 Oldham Street, M1 1JR

Forbidden Planet has been selling comic books around the world for years now. Thankfully, Manchester has its very own Forbidden Planet comic store in the Northern Quarter. This building serves as a Mecca for comic book nerds to gather and enjoy just being in the presence of many great stories.

Every inch is covered in comic, film, and T.V. memorabilia and the staff are just as enthusiastic about comic books as any of the custo mers that walk through the door.

Filled with Pop Vinyl figures, action figures and merchandise of all kinds from various film, T.V shows, video games and comic books - there’s an endless amount of entertainment to get lost in. For those simply looking to indulge in the classic comic book tales, there are a wide array of graphic novels and single comic issues… even manga.

For more information, click here .

4 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 1JW

Not far from Forbidden Planet lies another comic book store capable of quickly nicking cash from your wallet. Travelling Man offers a range of single comics, graphic novels, zines, manga, board games and regularly hosts book signings and game tournaments. Theres also cosplay days, and opportunities to get your hands on free comic books… and as we know this hobby can get pricy.

If you’re looking for further updates on what’s in-store then click here .

52 Church Street, M4 1PW

If you’re familiar with Manchester, you’ll know Afflecks Palace . However if you’re new to the city we highly recommend you check it out. ‘An emporium of eclecticism’ it’s got four floors of ‘indie commerce’ and some independent stores that comic book fans would love!

Whether you’re into comics, Star Wars merchandise, anime or retro games, take a wander around Afflecks and you’ll be sure to stumble across something that tickles your fancy.

For more information, click here

Local News | Flipping through downtown San Jose’s comic book…

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Local News | Flipping through downtown San Jose’s comic book history

Bob sidebottom’s comic collector shop actually wasn’t the city’s first comic book store.

In a recent column about the history of the fire-damaged Lawrence Hotel in downtown San Jose , I remarked that the building was once home to San Jose’s first comic book shop.

After the article published, though, I heard from Jim Buser , who told me that Bob Sidebottom ‘s Comic Collector Shop wasn’t the first. It actually was a store down the block on San Fernando Street called Seven Sons — and Buser would know because he was one of the guys who started it.

This was a stunning piece of news. Not because I was wrong — just ask my wife how often that happens — but because it had been well-established San Jose lore that Sidebottom’s store was the first in town when it opened in the late 1960s and one of the first in the country. It’s like finding out Sarah Winchester really lived in an apartment on North Third Street instead of her sprawling mansion. (In fact, she spent most of her later life at her home in Los Altos, not the Mystery House.)

I asked Buser to tell me how a store I’d never heard of turned out to be a big part of my hometown’s history.

“It’s a very obscure part of comic book history, and because Bob Sidebottom had a much longer presence in downtown San Jose, many people did believe his shop was the first,” said Buser, who now lives in the East Bay. Seven Sons was opened March 1, 1968 by six people, including three teenagers — Buser and Bud Plant were 15 and John Barrett was 16. The eldest was 23-year-old Frank Scadina . They added an honorary partner because “Six Sons” didn’t sound right.

The store at 40 E. San Fernando St. was “incredibly amateurish and rinky-dink,” Buser recalled. Comics were displayed in cardboard boxes and on wooden crates. They had a little cash box instead of a register, and when things were slow, they’d sit out on the second-floor balcony and play poker. “Sometimes when we made a sale, the customer would toss coins up at us and we would throw down the change,” Buser said.

The rent was dirt cheap — between $50 to $100 a month, Buser thinks — and Seven Sons fit right into the counter-culture world that was growing downtown in 1968, joining bead stores, poster shops, import joints, and another classic San Jose business, Underground Records. Things went well for the first few months and then business seemed to nose-dive that summer. Scadina, who had been working the day shifts while the teens were in school, offered to buy his partners out and they accepted. A short-time later, a story appeared in the afternoon San Jose News about the store that was now Scadina’s alone and business skyrocketed. To this day, Buser suspects the younger partners were outfoxed by a shrewder businessman.

Scadina moved the store a few doors down and renamed it Marvel Galaxy, around the same time in 1968 that Sidebottom opened his store, also on San Fernando Street. Buser, Plant and Barrett — along with Dick Swan , yet another comic-collecting San Jose teen — tried again a year later. They opened Comic World in a hole-in-the-wall space on First Street, a venture that lasted less than two years. But for a while, downtown San Jose had three comic book stores.

After Comic World closed, Buser and Swan decided to concentrate on college, while Plant and Barrett opened a store in Berkeley in 1972 that grew into the Comics and Comix chain. Buser drifted back to comics for a while, got a degree in psychology from Stanford and did well in the button and bumper sticker business. Swan went on to own Big Guy’s Comics in Mountain View and still deals comics on eBay. Plant eventually went into the distribution business and became one of the nation’s biggest mail order sources of art books and comics-related merchandise.

Marvel Galaxy eventually closed, but Sidebottom’s Comic Collector Shop continued until 1996, operated by his wife, Liz, after Bob died in 1993. That longevity in the business — Sidebottom was known for his ads in the Comic Buyers Guide and was a regular at early conventions — coupled with his distinctive, curmudgeonly personality is likely why Sidebottom’s store left such a lasting impression.

“I liked him a lot. We were friendly competitors,” said Buser, who would sometimes hang out at the store. He remembers once when famed underground artist Robert Crumb came to visit Comic Collector Shop while he was there and Sidebottom asked him to keep an eye on things while he and Crumb — both passionate jazz and blues fans — went upstairs to swap records.

Plant remembers being friends with Sidebottom, too, as well as selling new comics to him after he started his distribution company. But their business relationship soured and was never put right before Sidebottom’s death. “I wish I would have gone down to San Jose and buried the hatchet somehow with Bob,” Plant said. “He was a decent guy, and we had a lot of history together.”

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Travelling Man   Reviews

In the Comic Book Store category

Visit this website

Company activity See all

Write a review

Reviews 4.9.

5,751 total

Most relevant

The Travelling Man is a haven for board…

The Travelling Man is a haven for board game enthusiasts and manga fans alike! Their selection is incredible, customer service top-notch, and orders arrive carefully packed and lightning fast. It's a true gem of a store!

Date of experience : March 08, 2024

Arrived promptly

Arrived promptly, well packaged. Only issue was royal mail delivery arriving 6 hours after my expected delivery time. But by no means an issue with seller. Very pleased with purchase and will use again for larger value purchases, but free delivery on smaller items can be found elsewhere for same price.

Date of experience : March 04, 2024

Great pricing and service as always!

Great pricing and service as always! On this particular occasion, I was contacted as a heads up that one of the books I ordered had some minor damage with a picture, and they gave me some options (discount/refund) etc - I really appreciated this as it was going to be a book for my wife who is an avid collector so I politely asked for a refund on that one book which they happily did and I still got the rest of my order in the next couple days! Many thanks, will continue ordering from them :)

Date of experience : March 07, 2024

Excellent 👍

Easy to use website, arrived next day,. Even had an issue with an incorrect shipping address was able to ring and get changed straightaway. I will be using again.

Date of experience : March 06, 2024

Best Place to buy manga from!

Shopped instore and online my go to place to get manga from never had a bad delivery and the help I’ve received in store is always great.

Great place for Mangas

As usual they've done it again. Easy to navigate their website, good prices, delivery is always super quick and the quality of their products is top notch👌🏼.

Date of experience : March 05, 2024

Great range of products

Great range of products. I Often find myself browsing and nearly always find something new, inspiring and exciting. Being a fan of many genres of board games and styles of rpg’s I’m never dissatisfied with what’s available, often ordering several products. Delivery is always prompt and prices are usually very competitive.

Date of experience : March 01, 2024

Great price, great product.

The package was quickly dispatched and received. Well packaged and as described. Would Totally use Travelling Man again

Great Value

Delivery was fast and the models I purchased were cheaper and more accessible than if I were to get them from the local shop due to current work hours. Very pleased with how things went.

Excellent & Fast Service

I orded a product from Travelling Man after seeing they had a product at great price compared to similar online model retailers. Travelling Man delivered it in a fast ammount of time. The package arrived in good condition with no issues. I have visted Travelling Man Manchester numerous times & have found the store to be a pleasant experience, it has wide range of items & helpful staff.

Date of experience : February 20, 2024

Always my go to for my son's Manga…

Always my go to for my son's Manga books! They have a great selection and delivery is always fast!

Date of experience : February 29, 2024

Fast Delivery and Perfect Condition

I ordered 11 books that all arrived very quickly and in perfect condition! Lots of range on the website. Unfortunately, one of the volumes I needed was out of stock but that seems to be the case on all manga and book stores. So cannot fault Travelling Man.

I'm very happy with my purchase

I bought a manga series from here two times, both orders came within 3 days. The delivery was fast and everything was in good shape. I will be buying from here again as it is also a bit cheaper compared to other places, thank you.

Great RPG mail-order company

Easy selection amd ordering from a great range of games. Arrived very quickly in good packaging, would definitely recommend.

Date of experience : February 27, 2024

Fast reply through email,and great…

Fast reply through email,and great amount of titles that I’m interested in .Delivery went extremely quick despite the fact it was delivered to London . Overall I’m very pleased and I would purchase from this company again .

Fantastic delivery.

My order arrived next day, was the cheapest option available and was delivered in good condition. Absolutely no problems and will likely be ordering again.

Great game shop.

Delivered promptly could not get the game anywhere else it was out of stock only travelling man had it in brilliant shop.

Great place to shop

Price was good, item was dispatched promptly and received on time as it was a pre-order item. Overall a good experience. I've ordered from them multiple times and haven't had a single problem. My order was for trading cards and these guys are way better than some of the other known companies in the market who constantly have messed me around in the past. Give these guys a go!

Date of experience : February 22, 2024

Would order from again

I was a bit concerned as it was my first ordering from this company and the FAQ on their website says "If an in stock order is placed after 2pm it will be dispatched the next working day" but I found that there was a slight delay in dispatching my order. I contacted the company to query it and they replied only ten minutes later to confirm all was ok and that they were just running a bit behind schedule due to being busy. The order arrived very quickly once dispatched, and it was neatly packaged. I would definitely order from this company again, and was really impressed with their quick customer service. The only reason I'm rating 4 stars instead of 5 is because I believe the FAQ should make it clear that they will "try" to ship next working day, instead of saying "it will be" - just to avoid any concerns.

Date of experience : January 30, 2024

Super quick delivery as always

Super quick delivery as always. The website doesn’t always show item availability in search results, so it was a little annoying to click on items I was searching for & find out they were unavailable— but this is fairly minor!

Date of experience : December 29, 2023

Travelling Man

Location & Hours

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74 Goodramgate

York YO1 7LF

United Kingdom

Amenities and More

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About the Business

We feel passionate about comic books, boardgames and RPGs and we want you to feel the same. Our goal is to get everyone in the world to love at least one comic or game. We want to let the uneducated know that they're not just for kids. Comics can be about love, hate, politics, religion, life, death, anything. Sometimes stereotypical and sometimes the most amazing out-there pieces of literature you will every read. We want to bring comics from subculture to mainstream because we love 'em. We see boardgames and RPGs as activities which bring people together Face to Face rather than distant online events. They are about friendship, community and good old traditional fun! We run regular gaming events at all our stores, for more details just give us a call, we'd love to tell you about them :) We want to meet other people who feel the same and people who are just curious! We are a small independent business run by some of the friendliest people you will ever meet! …

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Overall rating

Travelling Man sells things like comics, clothing, and games. It's a nice shop and whoever is working there is normally helpful, as I normally go in for a gift rather than for myself. Prices seem ok too and I just think it's a good shop as if you know anyone who loves comics/role play/games then you are bound to find something for them here.

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