Dearborn's Green Brain Comics had already locked its doors to the public before Gov. Whitmer even announced her executive order closing non-essential businesses for the COVID-19 crisis. On March 21, two days before Whitmer's announcement, Merritt says his employees "registered concern and anxiety over dealing with the public, and I totally appreciated that." He sent them home, ran the shop alone for a few hours, and then closed indefinitely later that night.

Since then, Green Brain has done surprisingly brisk business – but there's great uncertainty ahead.

For comic retailers like Green Brain and their customers, Wednesday is "new comic day," when all publishers release their new single-issue comics and graphic novels. Merritt and Green Brain co-owner Katie Merritt sais they still sold about 30% of what they do on a typical Wednesday. Dan Merritt says the day was "super busy, very hectic" as the couple fielded constant phone calls from customers, ran orders out for curbside pickup, and mailed other orders.

"We were very tired but excited at the end of the day," he says.

However, looking ahead, Merritt is worried about having already ordered and paid for weeks' or months' worth of product that may never sell. Comics retailers order their product as much as three months in advance through Diamond Comic Distributors, the exclusive distributor of most U.S. comic book publishers including behemoths like Marvel and DC Comics. Retailers rely heavily on customers who have monthly subscriptions to request the comics they want in advance – and to pick them up on Wednesdays.

"Their freshness date is quick to come and go," Merritt says. "If we don't make our money off of them in the first week or two, we basically eat that loss."

Green Brain faces two separate pain points in the coming weeks. Diamond announced this week that it would halt shipments of new material starting April 1, leaving Merritt without the reliable Wednesday bump for the foreseeable future. But when shipments resume, Merritt will likely receive a backlog shipment of product that some customers may never pick up despite his already having paid for it.

Merritt notes that some smaller publishers are throwing retailers like him a lifeline by making retailers' orders eligible for return and refund during the COVID-19 crisis.

"We are really going to rely on them not only for the short-term but the long-term health because those are positive business practices," he says.

Merritt says he'll be leaning on his existing inventory of comics, graphic novels, and games to keep Green Brain afloat. He anticipates bringing in 10% of his normal income.

"That's an optimistic projection, and we're going to have to hustle for that online," he says.

Merritt says he's "absolutely" worried about being able to keep his business open. He has the advantage of owning his building and hopes that he might receive some relief by having his mortgage payments temporarily suspended. With the ultimate duration of Whitmer's executive order still uncertain, Merritt says Green Brain will be taking it "day by day" – and he encourages people to browse the store's inventory online in the meantime.

"We've got some tabletop games that are really entertaining for a cooped-up family," he says. "For every reader that's interested in any genre or reading level, we've got something for pre-readers all the way up to the very mature and sophisticated readers."