Calling all Japan/anime fans! new store arriving soon?

J

Japan shogun

Hikikomori
Hi all,
Im seeking any advice and information from all you japanese and anime fans in the u.k
im thinking of opening up a business, a new store selling all things japanese, primarily anime related.
I have been out of circulation for several years though (during my marriage) so i am unsure what is current.
I would like to know if a new company would be welcome and ifso, what you would like me to sell?
I am open to all ideas and suggestions, so please reply as soon as possible.
i would like to bring anime out into the open and make it much more attainable to get whatever you (and I) want from japan.
many thanks,
shogun
 
I'm moving this to General Anime as Marketplace is more for private traders ;)

To answer the question I'd suggest taking a look at other UK stockists to see what's working and what isn't - that DVD shop which was taken down a while ago seems to show DVDs aren't the way forward as sole business but in conjunction with other items they might do well.

Otaku, United Publications, Orbital Manga and Tokyo Toys all seem to be successful with anime/manga as their primary targets. Tokyo Toys and Orbital with their physical stores in London seem to have done well getting a crowd of regulars for their luxury models etc and running events.

Personally, I'd like to see 100% non-bootleg stock, some models at reasonable prices, some popular CDs/DVDs/manga and maybe some apparel. And a bring and buy shelf is always fun to rummage through for old, second hand goods, if you can do that. When I was younger I used to go to Neo Tokyo in Aylesbury (sadly no longer there) which was a comic shop with a manga leaning. It really helped build up my hobby.

Crossing over with SF/comics/HK films (if you're into those things too) seems to work for a lot of anime stores as well.

R
 
Rui said:
Tokyo Toys and Orbital with their physical stores in London seem to have done well getting a crowd of regulars for their luxury models etc and running events.
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I visit those places from time to time, as well as Forbidden Planet. I've noticed TokyoToys stopped selling anime recently- a decision I can understand in view of the existence of the internet.
How can I find out when events are happening there?
 
anime-on-line is good. They sell wallscrolls, keyrings, T-shirts, DVD's, Manga, models, OST's, et cetera.

I would recommend selling things such as those, although that is basically everything there is to sell regarding anime merchandise. Art books and animation cels are the rarist of all though.
 
just a good range of everything. a wide range of figures would be good. if you did region 1 dvds that would be awesome! i would buy them from you! where are you looking to base your operations?
 
Zin5ki said:
I visit those places from time to time, as well as Forbidden Planet. I've noticed TokyoToys stopped selling anime recently- a decision I can understand in view of the existence of the internet.
How can I find out when events are happening there?
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Orbital are usually very hyperactive about announcing things on the internet - I believe my husband gets updates through Facebook from them. No doubt they also have MySpace/Twitter etc. Last time I was there they were marketing this as their next event.

I'm not in with the Tokyo Toys crowd at all somehow but I know a load of people like to use it as a meeting spot for cosplay events etc. They must have some web hotspot somewhere where people plan this stuff...

R
 
Rui said:
I'm not in with the Tokyo Toys crowd at all somehow but I know a load of people like to use it as a meeting spot for cosplay events etc. They must have some web hotspot somewhere where people plan this stuff...
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I tend not to deal with TokyoToys, despite their amazing feedback, because they are very expensive. The Haruhi Nendoroids there are £20.00: I know where to get them for £6, brand new (PM me if you want the link).

Of course this may just be me that thinks this as I am a bargain hunter and know which anime stores are best to get specific things from for the lowest price. UK based, naturally.
 
Amray said:
I tend not to deal with TokyoToys, despite their amazing feedback, because they are very expensive. The Haruhi Nendoroids there are £20.00: I know where to get them for £6, brand new (PM me if you want the link).

Of course this may just be me that thinks this as I am a bargain hunter and know which anime stores are best to get specific things from for the lowest price. UK based, naturally.
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I don't tend to buy from them myself either, but because I live [relatively] near their physical shop I quite like popping in and eyeballing the figures close up. Sometimes I like a figure from photographs and then go off the real thing (unfortunately sometimes I find figures I didn't like in photographs but really liked in person, and that leads to financial ruin). If I was less old and jaded I'd probably love popping in with friends and burning pocket money for the sake of saving shipping time.

Don't remind me about Haruhi Nendoroids, I spent half my honeymoon trying to shave single digit yen off the prices because my husband wanted to find the best deal in Japan for the bally things ;) and now they're staring at me balefully.

R
 
Rui said:
I don't tend to buy from them myself either, but because I live [relatively] near their physical shop I quite like popping in and eyeballing the figures close up. Sometimes I like a figure from photographs and then go off the real thing (unfortunately sometimes I find figures I didn't like in photographs but really liked in person, and that leads to financial ruin). If I was less old and jaded I'd probably love popping in with friends and burning pocket money for the sake of saving shipping time.
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O, how I wish I could do the same thing. Alas I am two hours (driving time) away from London where one is lucky to stumble across one simple manga. I would love to live near an anime store to have a nose in and see what is for sale. I see the odd Street Fighter or Final Fantasy PVC statue in a game shop but that is all. The other day I almost fainted when I saw a DVD of Neon Genesis Evangelion...ON A SHELF!

That is how bad things are here in the more rural landscapes. Which is why I rely on internet shopping for my manga and anime merchandise, of which I have lots of, not to mention extremely rare merchandise found by luck by looking on the right sites at the right time.

Don't remind me about Haruhi Nendoroids, I spent half my honeymoon trying to shave single digit yen off the prices because my husband wanted to find the best deal in Japan for the bally things ;) and now they're staring at me balefully.
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Haha, you would be happy to know that season 3 of Haruhi Nendoroids are out now. I got Haruhi with her guitar, brand new, for £6 from eBay...and the seller was a local too! He was either very good at special offers or has no idea on what he is selling. XD
 
Is this going to be a online or offline venture?
If you are planning on opening a proper shop i think you will have to be very careful to choose your location well. Choosing the right location is half the battle!

I'm going to second what others have said and say stay away from DVDs.

What you sell really depends upon where you are opening. If you open in London don't bother with things that are already being catered for e.g. Manga.
I think there is a further market for Cosplay clothing and Gothic Lolita. There are many sellers on ebay that you could make a deal with. Also you could offer ordering facilities.

I love the really cute, girly Japanese things you can find on websites such as: Artbox and Tokyo Jazz Panda
Alot of people are really into things that are popular in Japan, and Japanese fashion items e.g. bags, accessories etc.

Picking up on what someone else mentioned, there never have been many Anime T-shirts over here. Whenever i do find any they are always only available in really large male sizes!
There are shops/websites that already stock a good selection of different kinds of merchandise, but there are still many, many things out there. I would love to see merchandise from more anime series that arn't yet released over here. The series that i want to get merchandise from are often ones that havn't been licensed yet, for which its hard to find anything that isn't fake.

Also have a look at these stores: Akadot, Jbox
 
What about the location? This interests me, definately.

Somewhere in central London would be nice : p

There's already the Japan Centre that sells more or less anything you could want, and Yo-sushi, and TokyoToys so a lot of stuff is already catered for.

One thing I'd be interested in is imported music, and sheet music, because I have to get it all online but it'd be nice to be able to look through the books first, and it's too expensive to import music with the £8 customs charge, now all the prices are above £18-ish.
 
I would actually like a shop around Birmingham/Wolverhampton other than Forbidden Planet and some random show I found up B'Ham while walking around aimlessly for a day =P
But the location for a store is key.

I would also like to see some Soundtracks/Imported Music, Keyrings and Wallscrolls.. and yet more Figures :p

Oh and some decent item pictures.. it's hard to choose things with just one tiny image to look at.
 
Only thing I'd add would be see if you can get some older or more unusual stuff. Most places have enough Naurtard, Bleach, Gundam and flavour of the month stuff to sink the proverbial ship, but some us don't give a crap. Also CD's, books (in either langugae) would be good too.
 
More competition is always welcome, but seeing as the established shops are struggling, you want to be right thin on your margin to give a cheaper price. Also you will have to offer titles that the others just can't, or won't, to make yourself the place to go. Though it's not my favourite cakes, yaoi, yuri, and moe, seems to be the void in the UK market at present. If you can pull all that off you might have a fighting chance of surviving in these recessionary times. I bid you good luck. :wink:
 
Otaku-san said:
I need to physically looked round Tokyotoys too
never knew they had a physical store
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You should do it quick if you're going to, because they probably won't be around for much longer. They're located in the Trocadero (Picadilly Circus), which is going to be developed into a hotel in time for the 2012 games, so the bottom part of the Trocadero may or may not be completely redeveloped as well.
 
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