Meltdown Comics is closing up shop

Beloved comic book store and event space Meltdown Comics is shuttering.

After 25 years in operation, Meltdown—billed as the largest comic book on the West Coast—will close April 1.

A letter posted to the store’s website signed by co-founder and CEO Gaston Dominguez-Letelier says: “As is the case with all good things, at some point they must come to an end.”

The store’s letter doesn’t say why the Meltdown is closing, but Dominguez-Letelier hints he’s already set his sights set on his next move.

“As I prepare to extinguish Sunset’s neon know that there is a new path for me (more later) and I close Meltdown without any regret,” he writes.

At the news of Meltdown’s abrupt shuttering, many wondered if the closure might have something to do with a condo project that West Hollywood-based developer Faring is planning for the site.

The project, proposed in 2014, would bring 236 condos to Sunset Boulevard between Curson Avenue and Gardner Street. The storefronts along that stretch of Sunset, including the home of Meltdown, would eventually be demolished to make way for the project.

But the project doesn’t appear to be breaking ground any time soon.

One of the biggest hurdles in the path of it getting built is a final environmental impact report that will have to be approved by the city. That report has yet to be released, and Faring tells Curbed that designs for the project are still being reworked.

Meltdown’s neighbors don’t appear to be leaving, either.

Meltdown was a choice location to shop for comics, but it also hosted events. The back room of the store housed the NerdMelt Showroom, a space used over the years for filming live comedy shows and taping podcasts by recognizable names like Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani and Community creator Dan Harmon.