By Connor Lālea Hampton, March 11, 2025
The Funny Business Comic Shop in Pomona, California is around 200 square feet. It’s the kind of shop that looks like the afterthoughts of a teenage boy’s bedroom, filled with comics, posters and toys. Action figures hang from high shelves, some still wrapped neatly in plastic, others loose and well-loved, like forgotten souvenirs out of a time machine. Some boxes are chipped and yellowed from years of wear.
From the outside, and maybe the inside as well, the shop doesn’t appear to be much. But the warm atmosphere of the shop is in the hearty laughs that fill the room whenever owner Joey Samaniego, 78, speaks.
Over 40 years ago, Samaniego and his siblings launched the shop as a pastime. Comics weren’t the only thing they sold originally; they had dolls and baseball cards, too. Eventually, the other members of the family died or stepped away from the business. Samaniego stayed, and so did the comics. The shop will reach its 41-year anniversary in April.
“I’ve always had a job that was demanding,” Samaniego said. “This was my escape. I could come here, talk to people.”
Just spending 20 minutes inside the shop is enough to see how much it means to Samaniego.
The storefront’s metal door rattled as one man and a child walked into the shop, each carrying a bag of sweet treats. The child held one box each of Oreos, Nutter Butters and Chips Ahoy. Samaniego urged everyone in the store to pick something from the box and promptly handed the child a bill and a water bottle. He told him to keep up with his grades and made him promise to stay good.
Samaniego’s connections with customers are more than just transactional. They’re personal.
Samaniego pointed to a Spider-Man figure hanging from the ceiling on a metal chain. The man who made the model in 1986 brought his children into the shop.
Over time, a lot of Samaniego’s customers grew up and had kids. Watching people come in and out of the shop and grow up makes Samaniego feel old, but he said he wants to leave an impact on people.
“You want people to come in here, feel like they’re family, feel like they’re at home and talk,” Samaniego said. “I want people to feel they come in and could talk about anything… This isn’t just a comic shop. This is a shop where people come in, I give my advice.”
During the shop’s opening hours, Samaniego talks to his customers about anything including politics, music, business and literature.
Running the shop isn’t always easy, however, Samaniego admitted the tariffs, placed by the Trump administration, will harm the shop. Samaniego said a 25% tariff on imports from Canada would cause him to raise the prices of his comics by $1, which could drive customers away. Samaniego also said buying from distributors has gotten more expensive as comic companies have switched to other suppliers.
It’s also a difficult experience because he has lost a lot of customers, according to Samaniego.
“There’s a lot of people that you meet, and you hear bad stories,” Samaniego said. “Some of them become homeless, it’s just — that’s emotion, because you become attached to them.”
Samaniego admitted he doesn’t see the shop continuing after him. He said as long as running the shop stays fun, and as long as it pays for itself, he will keep it open.
“The shop will close when I pass,” Samaniego said. “I am old, and I do have cancers. The shop is old. I don’t think my son is going to run the shop because he has a life. I’m sorry. This is my escape, not his escape.”
Samaniego remains at peace with that. He said he’s not in it for the money. For him, it’s personal.
“This was never my livelihood,” Samaniego said. “This was a hobby the government calls a business.”
For the people who have come to know Funny Business over the years, it has been a sanctuary to them. Jose Vazquez said he’s been coming to the shop every Saturday for 17 years. He’s even helped keep inventory. For Vazquez, the camaraderie is what keeps him coming back.
For first-time visitor Stephanie Alvarado, the experience was unexpected but heartwarming.
“I was kind of shocked once we started talking,” Alvarado said. “It kind of got me out of my shell. It’s very different. I don’t go into every establishment expecting conversation, but when it does happen, it’s a really nice thing.”
In a sense, that’s exactly what Samaniego has done. While he may be selling comics, what he’s really been selling all these years is experience: connection, family and conversation. He’s mastered his true passion, which is the connection with the people who walk through his door.
While Funny Business may not last forever, it’s clear the memories shared between the shop and its customers will stay etched in its walls long after it’s gone.
“If you’re going to start a business, you have to love what you’re going to sell,” Samaniego said. “You have to know what you’re going to sell.”
Feature image courtesy of Connor Hampton
