A comic enthusiast has revived his store in a Romford shopping centre - after getting "bored" of watching TV during his retirement.
Jason Rutland returned to the Romford Shopping Hall last month with his comic shop, Comic Box, after a brief retirement of only five months.
Before his retirement, Jason's shop was called Comic Book Heroes, and was based in the Romford Shopping Hall before later moving to The Quadrant.
Despite the name change he is seeing the same "familiar faces" - which he says is "lovely".
The 57-year-old said: "We've changed our name but we have the same customers, the same people know we are here.
"They've all come back again, which is really lovely."
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Jason decided to "call it a day" with Comic Book Heroes and retire at the end of February this year, but he soon got "bored" of retirement.
He said: "After sitting in my house for the last five months, watching TV and eating everything out the fridge - there's only so much TV you can watch - I was like 'I've got to do something'.
"I know the [comic book] trade very well so I thought I'd go back and do that again."
Comic Box is centred around the classic comic books, as well as stocking pre-owned graphic novels and DVDs.
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Jason said he wanted to be a "comic book shop selling comic books only" this time and focus on the reading material, compared to previously when he also sold action figures and other collectibles.
The comic store also has its own TikTok and Jason is looking to host a cosplay day in autumn.
Since the shop reopened, the comic enthusiast has been "surprised" at the response and is enjoying "having a good old laugh" with customers, old and new.
Jason said: "You get lots of people come in and you can have a chat about it all, and talk about all the stuff that they are interested in, because it's the same interests as me."
He added: "I'd like to say thank you to all the customers who are coming back, and it's nice to see the familiar faces really."
Comix Box is located at Unit M8 of Romford Shopping Hall, in Market Place, and opens Monday to Saturday, from 10am until 5pm.
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