Timmy Mac's cards, comics, and conventions

At Timmy Mac’s Comics and Games, customers shuffle in and out within minutes of opening, wandering around the store and chatting with shop owner Tim McMahon.

McMahon was hard to pin down, bouncing between calls about comic subscriptions and customers haggling over collectibles.

Upon entering, a maze of current trade paperback comics, video games, Funko Pops, and even a life-size Boba Fett greets customers.

“It mainly started out as comics and trading card games. Then, I did have some sports stuff, which I’m starting to wean away from, as much as I love it,” he said, patting the Miami Dolphins sweater he wore on the chilly February morning.

According to McMahon, sports memorabilia sales are declining, and he needs the real estate for other shop endeavors, like trading card games (TCGs).

THE SHOP

McMahon began collecting comics as a teenager.

After some time in military service, he opened a comic shop with a business partner in Savannah, Ga. They split after a year and McMahon headed to Morganton, where he sold collectibles at flea markets.

“There were no (comic) shops in town,” he said. “So, I built a little bit of a clientele, I found a good place, and I opened it up.”

The shop, now going on two decades of operation, has moved homes a few times since it opened on Sept. 6, 2006. It now sits at the end of a strip of stores on West Union Street in Morganton, where it’s resided for about 10 years.

Attendance at the shop and comic cons has remained steady over the years, McMahon said.

“A lot of people who’ve come to (Morganton Comic Con) have been coming to it,” he said. “They just love it. A lot of the customers know the vendors by their names. It’s a community now.”

Timmy Mac’s will host the next Morganton Comic Con, in conjunction with Hickory’s Time Tunnel Comics, at the Collett Street Recreation Center on Saturday, March 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

THE COMICS

McMahon said that, among all the titles he carries, “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” are selling like hotcakes right now. But “Absolute Batman” takes the gold.

“‘Absolute Batman’ is probably the biggest seller, though,” he said, explaining that even though he stays pretty busy making sure the shop runs smoothly, even he has squeezed in reading time for a few issues.

Over the years, the only real fluctuation in shop traffic came when titles breached the mainstream — such as “The Walking Dead” becoming a hit television series or when Post Malone purchased “The One Ring” Magic the Gathering card.

Both moments sent fans into the shop, looking to raid the shelves and showcases of related issues and cards.

WHAT’S NEXT

According to McMahon, phasing out sports memorabilia isn’t only about a decline in sales. He said the store needs more space for TCGs.

A hub for tournaments, Timmy Mac’s hosts Magic the Gathering on Fridays and Sundays, Pokémon on Saturdays, and Yu-Gi-Oh! on Fridays. The One Piece Card Game makes an occasional Saturday appearance.

Themed mats covered the playing tables in the back of the shop, displaying characters across a wide range of popular games. McMahon said the shop is prioritizing the TCG route, planning more cons for the future in that domain.

“Those are pretty fun,” he said. “We have a bunch of card vendors, and we have a couple little tournaments as well. Everybody’s collecting a lot of stuff right now, so we always try to have the different types of card games in stock.”