Last week in this space, I wrote a celebratory post about Broadway comics shop Phoenix Comics & Games that was bucking trends for comic stores by expanding into a much larger space next door. That expansion is continuing even as you read this — one wall at Phoenix is now open into the new space and the store is a few weeks away from moving into the bigger space.

But I didn't realize when I wrote last week's column that another Seattle-area comics shop had already announced that it was going to close at the end of this month.

On Facebook last month, Aron Tarbuck, owner of The Dreaming Comics & Games, announced that he would be closing down The Dreaming. Tarbuck said the shop "has been my life for nearly 20 years and I have been incredibly blessed to have had this place in my life for so long."

Tarbuck's post ruled out anyone buying the business, or reopening in a new location. He said the decision to close came from declining business due to "the sale of physical comics and games slowing, and online competition (being in the home town of Amazon.)" This is the second comics closure in the University District over the last few years — the Comic Stop location by the Neptune, which for many years was an outpost of downtown's (also-now-closed) Zanadu Comics — has been shuttered for some time now. The nearest comics shop to The Dreaming is Wallingford's Comics Dungeon, which recently made the transition to non-profit status.

It would be easy to turn this column into a doom-and-gloom elegy for the future of comics shops, but the truth is that some businesspeople are making it work. The healthiest shops in town seem to be those that are diversifying their business model, like Fremont's wonderful fashion-forward Outsider Boutique, or the aforementioned game-centric Phoenix on Broadway, or the pop-culture-stuffed Golden Age Collectables in Pike Place Market. The secret to success seems to involve a wider portfolio of geek-centric products than simply selling comics.

But there's plenty of time to talk about the future of comics. For now, I'd like to praise The Dreaming and Tarbuck for their two decades of comics retailing. Tarbuck is the nicest man in the Seattle comics scene: a genuinely friendly and caring person who seems ready to open his heart to anyone who walks in the door. His passion for the medium is palpable, and it is surpassed only by his downright decency. It was a great run, and the Seattle comics scene was lucky to have The Dreaming for as long as we did.