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Vault of Midnight comic book store owner Curtis Sullivan poses for a photograph with a "Coney" toy at the front register of his store in downtown Ann Arbor. Sullivan is opening a second location of the comic book store in downtown Grand Rapids in September.

(Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com)

A 17-year downtown Ann Arbor comic Book store, Vault of Midnight, is opening its second location at 95 Monroe Center NW in downtown Grand Rapids in September 2013.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The question of what will replace Van Hoecks Shoes at 95 Monroe Center has been partially answered.

Vault of Midnight, a popular comic book store with nearly two decades under its belt in Ann Arbor, will open its second location in part of the downtown Grand Rapids retail storefront vacated by the former shoe merchant last year.

“We like the vibe in Grand Rapids,” said Curtis Sullivan, who co-owns the comic book store with his wife, Elizabeth DellaRocco, and business partner Steve Fodale.

“We looked at a lot of different places and think it’s a great town.”

Vault of Midnight will occupy one half of the former Van Hoceks space, with a bakery tenant going into the other half, said Sullivan. Representatives with landlord First Companies did not immediately return a message seeking more information.

Sullivan hopes to open the store in September ahead of ArtPrize. The interior has been undergoing demolition and remodeling since Van Hoecks vacated last year.

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The mix of retail on Monroe Center was draw, said Sullivan, who walked around the former pedestrian mall and Heartside neighborhood — an area of downtown currently bustling with redevelopment and new construction.

The location felt familiar to the 200 block of Main Street in Ann Arbor, where Vault of Midnight relocated in 2006, he said. The business opened in Ann Arbor on July 1, 1996. “It’s a similar mix of restaurants and retail that you might not suspect would work well with a comic book store.”

Vault of Midnight comics in downtown Ann Arbor.

“We really like the museum being right there, and the other businesses around us,” he said, citing the proximity to Madcap Coffee, and the short walk to Cult Pizza on Jefferson Avenue, the Pyramid Scheme venue on Commerce Avenue and Mos Eisley Tattoo on South Division.

Sullivan nearly signed into the Kendall Building redevelopment project up the street, but was swayed by the larger footprint in the Van Hoecks spot. The store will be about 2,400 square-feet when it opens.

They aren't trying to start a chain, he said. The Grand Rapids store will “have its own character."

Vault of Midnight has been considering expansion for several years. Store sales in Ann Arbor have held steady or grown every year, he said, particularly in the last 5 years.

“We came to this point where we want to retain our employees and to do that we need to pay them a wage that keeps them around,” he said. “We want the “super nerds,” if you will, that know what they are talking about and have great customer service.”

Vault of Midnight will likely employ between 3 and 5 people downtown. In order to manage the addition of health and retirement benefits in the employee compensation package, the business needs to grow, he said.

Currently, Grand Rapids is the only expansion project on the business radar. Further expansion should happen organically, he said, dependent on the right location.

“We don’t ever want to do a strip mall or anything like that.”

The bulk of store sales come from single copy comics and graphic novels, as well as board games and designer toys, he said. The store targets a wide customer age range.

“We go from 6 to 80, although our core demographic might be 18 to 40.”

Comic books themselves, he said, are riding a popularity wave thanks to the constant stream of Hollywood blockbuster superhero movies and the popularity of cable shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

“We haven’t had a down year in comics or graphic novels the entire time we’ve been around, and the last four, five years have been remarkable.”

He attributes that, partially, to the mainstreaming of pop culture's ‘nerd’ ethos.

“Pop culture in general is at an all-time high,” he said. “I think it’s fully into the sunlight. Everybody is a nerd in some way.”

Email Garret Ellison or follow him on Twitter.