TIFTON — Five years ago, Gray Ghost Comics first opened its doors, and now, the owners couldn’t be prouder of how far they and their store have come.

Tifton’s local comic and collectibles shop held its fifth anniversary Sept. 7, inviting the community to join them in celebrating what started out as a tiny store barely a quarter of its current space and has since become a cornerstone of the Downtown Tifton community.

“We started out with kind of a small portion of the store and worked our way out,” said co-owner Andrew Elder. “It’s been really cool — it’s a really good feeling to know that we’ve built up to this.”

As with previous years, owners Scott Beasley and Andrew Elder commemorated the occasion by assembling a collection of industry professionals in the comic, gaming, and writing fields for store patrons to meet and greet, and potentially snag some exclusive artwork.

Among the headliners were local writer Jess L.M. Anderson, author of The Source Keepers series, Steve Ekstrom, writer of the SOKO crime thriller comic book series and editor and letterer for comic publisher Sumerian Comics, and comics artist and illustrator Jason Flowers, known for his work on the cover art for the TMNT: The Last Ronin series and his original comics Bounty Bullfrog and Demon Blood.

Gray Ghost also expressed their gratitude to their customers for years of patronage through a collection of sales on nearly every piece of merchandise in the store, encouraging their patrons to grab that graphic novel, figure, or Funko Pop they’ve had their eye on for a little bit less than usual.

The comic shop was even offering an exclusive item as part of the celebration — store patrons were free to purchase blind bags that would contain a random assortment of the shop’s products, as well as a chance of original art drawn by Bryan Silverbax, a comic book cover artist with works from Spider-Man to Spawn under his belt.

Alongside this, customers could earn rare comics, figures, and other collectibles through a series of hourly giveaways.

Elder noted that the store had received a near constant influx of customers during the celebration, which, while it certainly left him and his staff a little slammed, was a gratifying turnout for their anniversary and a touching reminder nonetheless of how much the Tiftarea had come to appreciate his and Beasley’s little comic shop.

“Tifton’s really turned out for us. … I think I’ve counted about 200, 250 people coming through today, so I’m really proud,” Elder said. “It’s been a really good event — you can tell that Tifton really cares about its home businesses.”