Support Your LCS: Black Stars Over Los Angeles County

 

by Troy-Jeffrey Allen

Just because it's Black History Month doesn't mean that we're only meant to acknowledge Black icons of the past. We can also acknowledge the future of Black culture and Black history in the making...

Feon Cooper and Kareem Burton, owners and founders of Black Star Collectibles, are taking the concept of a comic shop and putting culture at the forefront. Located in Carson, California, Black Star Collectibles is exclusively the home of Black heroes past and present. And they haven't limited themselves to just superheroes. Traveling through the aisles of their shop you'll see everything from Funkos of Salt N Pepa and Apollo Creed to memorabilia of The Rock, comics featuring Miles Morales, and images of Lieutenant Uhura. But that's far from it. 

In the following interview, co-owner Feon Cooper talks about how Black Star weathered the pandemic, why the community has been key to their success, and even puts us on to what he's currently reading.  

 

Troy-Jeffrey Allen: When did you open?

Feon Copper: November 26^th of last year.

TJA: And you’re in Los Angeles, right?

Feon: Technically, you can say Los Angeles County, but really it’s the city of Carson.

 

TJA: So, why the name Black Star Collectibles? Are you a Mos Def, Talib Kweli fan, or…?

Feon: I am a Mos Def, Talib Kweli fan [laughs], but the name Blackstar pretty much came from Black people being stars. We wanted to let them know that Black people are amazing, phenomenal people. That was pretty much the origin of the name.

 

TJA: Springboarding off of that, what made you want to open your own comic shop? I mean, I have to point out that you opened in a pandemic, too.

Feon: Well, it wasn’t planned. Trust me. [laughs].  But we already had the ball rolling. [The pandemic] had already happened, but we just said, ‘let’s continue to do it.’ The opportunity presented itself for a store space that we’d been wanting for a while, so it was just like…now or never.

 

TJA: Are you a big comic book and sci-fi fan? That had to have something to do with it too, right?

Feon: Yes. Big comic book and sci-fi fan. Marvel, DC, and Star Wars all the way. At an early age, I started reading and collecting comics. Then I went from playing with toys to ultimately collecting them. 

 

TJA: What are you currently reading?

Feon: I am currently reading everything Milestone Media from DC - from Static to Icon and Rocket to Hardware. Some Black Panther…Miles Morales…Black Cotton…Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer…

 

TJA: What has the community been like in your area? How have they taken to Black Star Collectibles?

Feon: Oh, they love it. We’ve had pretty much great support. The online engagement, the turnout for our grand opening…y’know, it’s been overwhelming. And it was a gamble because we weren’t sure how this was going to go. This was the first time - as far as I knew - that someone was doing a store like this. That was just like, ‘Hey, we are a pro-Black culture pop culture collectibles store.’ We weren’t sure what the response would be but everybody loved it and more than I could have possibly imagined. We're still just overwhelmed, grateful, and humbled by the support that we’ve been getting from everybody of all ethnicities, not just Black. Everybody! Latino community. Asian community. White community [laughs]. Everybody has been loving our store. We really appreciate that.

 

TJA: How did the pandemic affect your store? Did you have to switch over to online-only or deliveries or…?

Feon: It didn’t affect us at all. Yeah, we opened right when L.A. County said the mall could reopen. That was the hold-up, actually. We weren’t able to open because we’re in a mall and all the malls were closed. Once the county said we can open up it never affected us at all. So, we really wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t know if it was bad or good or anything. Our online store has been really great and in-store sales are really great!

 

TJA: What would you say is the primary focus of your store?

Feon: To promote representation. That’s what we’re about. We’re about representation. We’re about somebody going to the store and seeing someone that looks like them and shares their skin color. You just don’t see that pretty much at all in stores like this.

 

To discover more about Black Star Collectibles, be sure to visit their official website at https://blackstarcollectibles.com/.

#SupportYourLCS 

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