In 1996, he decided to purchase the shop, which was originally called Comicology, after learning it was going out of business because the owner was moving to Asia.
The shop is named for Jay and Silent Bob, two prominent characters from the View Askewniverse, the world of his movies.
Kevin told AMC, “This was right after I’d finished Mallrats. I came into the store one time to pick up my weekly books, and he said, ‘You know, you’re always talking about how one day you want to own a comic book store,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, that would be amazing… That’s my dream. One day, when they’re done with me in the movie business, I’ll live the rest of my life behind a comic book store counter.’ And he goes, ‘Well I’m going out of business, and I was wondering if you wanted to buy the business.’ So this jumps my decision way earlier. I knew somewhere in the back of my head, I wanted to go into comic book retail. It’s a passion of mine; I believe in it. I just didn’t know it would be then!”
From 2012–18, AMC aired a reality show about the shop called Comic Book Men.