The Silver Sprocket San Francisco storefront has announced on Instagram that it is shutting down, and this is the last weekend to shop there with the store officially closing March 23.
In early 2025 they launched a membership drive to help raise money to support the store, they still were forced to lay off staff. In July 2025, The Comics Journal released an article detailing challenges and issues, including rising debt, for the store and publisher. Silver Sprocket responded the report was misleading and inaccurate.
The publishing side of Silver Sprocket will continue and they recently signed with Publishers Group West/Ingram for distribution with a slate of releases for later 2026. That includes new works from from Elizabeth Pich, Hyena Hell, Corinne Halbert, Em Hoover, Fredde Lanka, Travis Rommereim, Andy Warner, and more surprises.
On Instagram they write:
I’m saddened to announce that Silver Sprocket’s San Francisco storefront’s last day of operation will be this Monday March 23rd.
Everything in the store will be 30% off through our last day.
Please swing by, we’d love to see you at 1018 Valencia one more time.
Your online orders are deeply appreciated. While we are having this sale in-store only to help clear inventory, you can get 15% off online with code: 15sale
Why so suddenly, and why right now?
The unfortunate reality is that even with the positive response to our membership drive, difficult staff cuts, and every other action we could think of, the store continues to lose money each month. To offset the drop in sales over the past three years, I have been supporting the store by taking on personal debt. Personal debt has never been sustainable, and I’m well past the end of the road for what I can take on.
While there were challenges, the store was generally breaking even until 2023. It must be said that I was running this store from a place of deep passion, but not from experience, or expertise in retail. While this may have worked out for a business with wider margins, the factors familiar to all of us experiencing a changing San Francisco had an outsize impact. The drop in foot-traffic, lower sales at all businesses on our part of Valencia Street, fewer tourists, rising expenses, and the general economic uncertainty impacting people’s spending made it impossible for the retail store to sustain itself.
Our Crew
With the store closing, our amazing staff is very suddenly finding themselves out of work. Our managers Josh and Sol, along with part-timers Parker and Chrissy, have been the absolute best collaborators I could have ever hoped for in this undertaking going above and beyond in being dedicated, diligent, hard working, kind, and passionate about all aspects of the operation. Working with them has been an honor and delight. They will be looking for work. Please reach out to josh@silversprocket.com or sol@silversprocket.com to get in touch.
What’s Next?
Eventually, we intend to keep the spirit of Silver Sprocket alive in the local community through pop-ups, events, and collaborations. In the immediate present, I will be taking some time to clear inventory, stabilize the impacts of the personal debt I accrued by keeping the store going, and allow recovery time for stress induced health issues that have been a side effect of this situation. We look forward to coming out on the other side of this store closure in a better place to give our unique community the energy, attention and love we feel it deserves.
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**Silver Sprocket Publishing Continues
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While Silver Sprocket publishing operations continue with our next release this June, our publishing schedule has been disrupted. Last fall, our previous distributor suddenly shut down the CA warehouse that was our primary storage and fulfillment facility. Aside from an urgent scramble to establish a new distribution pipeline, this came with an additional financial shock, including $45k+ to relocate over 100 palettes of inventory to our new warehouse. We’ve carefully planned a slow ramp back up, through a new distribution partner we are thrilled to be working with. This schedule and partnership will be more manageable for our small crew, in a solid and sustainable way. Without store issues draining our resources and attention, we’ll be able to better focus on our roster of incredible artists. The parts of Silver Sprocket that are working well and bringing joy deserve our full energy: shepherding incredible new indie comics from important, fresh voices into the world.
**Thank you ♥️
The past 9 years of a Silver Sprocket storefront has truly been the dream. We’ve been able to champion our favorite indie comics, worked with hundreds of creators, hosted countless community events, provided space, resources, and a platform for artists within this loving and creative Bay Area community and far beyond.
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Just last month during our event for Pride In Panels, the Silver Sprocket shop was recognized by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as a Sacred Space. Being recognized this way, for the unique and important community space we created, was an incredibly moving experience that brought us to tears. It is a peak achievement we can hang our hats on and be proud of, as the lights go dark.
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I hold tremendous gratitude to everyone who has brought their work to our storefront over the past nine years. To the people who stopped by to read on the couch, used our scanners to make a zine, borrowed our stapler, attended readings, shows, book launches, skill shares, drawing nights, and came to our parties; to those rallied to support our membership program; and especially to each and every member of our amazing staff over the years; thank you. For everything.
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Thank you all so much for being part of this journey with us.
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I have a lot of work ahead to wrap things up, and will do my best to answer any questions via avi@silversprocket.com.
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I hope you will join us on the next chapter.
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-Avi Ehrlich
Owner & publisher, Silver Sprocket
No matter, if we want comic shops to survive, we need to support them, especially in uncertain and rough economic times.
You can purchase directly from Silver Sprocket from their webstore.
