Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - ShopTales
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irishninja
 Posts: 344 Location: Seattle-ish |
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About six or so years ago the Seattle area had numerous anime stores all over the place.
Now it's down to... two? I think? And neither one is actually in Seattle. My friend ran the store I used to go to (Kick's) but he shut it down to make it convention- and online-only. |
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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At NYAF/NYCC I love going to the Funi booth and getting DVDs or looking for manga that maybe my borders didn't carry. besides i think the cat ears are over priced. Not to mention it's the only time i think of looking at media blasters titles. |
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vermilionone
Posts: 45 |
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I don't think the request was for "trinket stores" I think the request was for recommended stores largely dedicated to anime. Japan Video doesn't have a huge selection of toys, it's a video store where about a third of the space is dedicated to anime. I very specifically mentioned that it's important because of its history, it's it's certainly one of the first anime stores in the country, and both the founders of Studio Proteus and Viz have close ties to the place; since Seiji (the founder of Viz)'s office is across the street, he still stops by to chat with Tak and ask him for helps with events at New People. It's the store that organizes and hosts all of the cosplay events that take place at Japantown. Brick and mortar stores provide a richer experience than the simple exchange of money for goods, and Japan Video happens to be a good place to stop by and talk to someone who's seen it all as far as anime goes. That was the whole point of the article, wasn't it? to emphasize that with the attrition of anime stores in favor of online shopping, other things of value beyond cash-exchange are lost. I don't see why you'd go into a thread asking for store recommendations, and both broadly and specifically try and dissuade people from going to stores. I should recommend a couple more places. Cards & Comics Central, isn't primarily an anything store, it's fairly evenly splic between sports cards and comic books, and maintains a decent mainstream CCG section but has been carrying anime merchandise for at least fifteen years. I purchased my first manga here, Bio-booster Armor Guyver, shortly after Power Rangers became popular. Now their anime merchandise primarly consists of high-end vinyl figures, with a decently large selection of revoltech and other lines. They tend to order once in small amounts though, so their hottest stock rotates. They have the largest selection of Saint Seiya figures I've ever seen. http://www.yelp.com/biz/cards-and-comics-central-san-francisco The Double Punch gallery is a small toy shop with an upstairs art gallery that hosts a myriad of cartoon artists. The last time I visited the first floor store was very Japanese pop-art oriented, and the vast majority of what they had was either collectible figures or anime/tokusatsu stuff. http://www.yelp.com/biz/double-punch-san-francisco I also need to mention NewType, which closed a very long time ago. As the name implied it was mecha/model oriented and had quite a bit of obscure resin kits from Japanese festivals, as well as relatively (to Bandai) obscure lines like Five Star Stories kits made by Volks. |
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DifferentD
Posts: 32 |
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Sadly I've never been to a real anime store.. I live in a small town in California (4-5 hours from any large city) and we don't have much. We are lucky to have an art supply store that is owned by a comic and anime/manga fan, so he stocks a decent amount of comics and a rather small buy still appreciated selection of manga/anime. The nice thing about him is that he will order anything for you that you want that he is able to order (no $ upfront). He's also interesting to talk with (he got me into Biomega). The downside is that like many people have said.. the tiny bit of anime he has is in individual volume form and is full retail price... and I just can't bring myself to buy it (apparently no one else can either).. But I do try to pick up a manga volume here and there when I can.. just in hopes that he wont stop carrying it.
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1709 |
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I assume that you don't live near Oldsmar in Pinellas County, which is the home of AnimeNation.
Anime Crash was actually a chain (there was a store in Harvard Square, IIRC in the same building as Man from Atlantis/Tokyo Kid). According to the ANN Encyclopedia entry, it was closed by December 2007 (though no source is given for this). This blog post promises a history of the company, which was apparently founded in 1995. ::: An article from The Harvard Crimson on the founding of the Man from Atlantis: "Man From Atlantis Boldly Goes Where No Harvard Square Store Has Gone Before". Another from Cambridge Day on the closing of Tokyo Kid: "Web watching has Tokyo Kid saying sayonara". Note that this article is somewhat inaccurate on the point about Sasuga. I remember walking into Man from Atlantis in the early days (probably 1992), and being surprised to see Aliya Wali, with whom I'd worked at the Blacksmith House Bakery and Cafe in the summer of 1988 (she was a baker and I a dishwasher). I walked out with two or three books on anime—the expanded versions of the con programming schedule plot synopses that vermilionone describes. 
BTW, the Tokyo Kid manga magazine was Chibi-Pop Manga (volume 2). The first issue is dated 1998. |
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animefan1238
 Posts: 301 Location: Ma |
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YAY FOR TK! I live in MA and I was so sad when my girlfriend and I went there and one of the clerks said they are shutting shop. I was there two weeks ago so its nice they get a nod in this article. I have fond memories when my girlfriend, our friends and I would go on TK trips. Go to Harvard Sq. mull around, go to Tokyo Kid, hit up Uno's and go home. They have been at Anime Boston as a vender/sponser and it will be sad not to see them at the con next year. Its depressing that these stores can't survive in a time when online shopping is so dominate. Going to stores like this is fun and makes memories with friends. I hope another anime store pops-up but I don't think that will happen in the future.
I when to my phone when I saw the picture because I thought somehow my picture I took got stolen. It basically the same shot; angle and everything but they closed for the day and there was a scroll hanging on the door. For an aside we were talking to the clerk and we were all talking about what he is going to do with the furnature and whatnot, specifically the sign outside. He told us about 8 years ago someone from New York offered a nice lump of cash to buy the sign to put in their appartment. He declined becasue he didn't want to spend another four days making a new one. On retrospect he should have sucked it up and sold it. THANK YOU TOKYO KID FOR BEING MY #1 ANIME STORE! |
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animefan1238
Posts: 301 Location: Ma |
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There's a Ghibli store that has cool house stuff, bento boxes, and other things. Its next to The Garage where TK is. Check it out if you are in that area of Cambridge again. |
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Aeriven
 Posts: 55 Location: Alabama |
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The only anime store I know about in my area is in a tiny strip mall next door to a huge tabletop gaming store. From what I remember, they mostly rented worn out anime VHS's and sold some posters, anime/game OSTs, and a handful of other anime merchandise. Plus, the place was saturated with the smell of cigarette smoke, which makes me physically ill. :X Anyway, I haven't been there in years, so who knows what the place is like now, or if it's even still open.
Aside from that, I've only got some random f.y.e. stores (and their offshoots) that have a decent collection of used anime, and a 2nd & Charles with an impressive manga collection. They also just recently got in a ton of anime DVDs. Was just there earlier today, in fact, and I got a kick out of all the obscure "why on earth was this licensed?" short series/OVAs they had. Hell, I saw a volume of Trouble Chocolate and the Master of Mosquiton OVAs hiding in there. xD |
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belvadeer
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Anime Plus was an awesome store in Northridge that carried all kinds of things including the really hard to find manga as well as import movies you really can't find in the states due to them never being dubbed (the entire Demon Hero Wataru series boxset!), but one day they packed up and left. It was my only guilty pleasure when I went there to burn the afternoon away waiting for the train to take me home. I think they're gone for good too since I emailed the owner over a month ago and didn't receive a reply.
There are no other anime stores for miles around where I live either. I hate it when great places pack up and and go. I understand times are tough, but still. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14886 |
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Yeah, I remember that too, Doc. 
And from the blog you mentioned, IIRC that's Naoko Takeuchi of Sailor Moon fame in front of Anime Crash, yes way back when? 
Yeah, when they used to call it "Japanese animation" (or Japanimation), before "anime" went into lexicon.
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mike.motaku
 Posts: 160 Location: Indiana |
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The days of the so-called "mom & pop" stores, little independents, are coming to an end. And won't they be missed when they are gone.
There is a kind of disconnect when it comes to buying anything from a massive chain or online retailer which, because they have substantially more money behind them, can order larger quantities & get better discounts from suppliers than the local independent can. The little old lady who lives in an 800 square foot house on social security & owns the local bookstore downtown does not have the same kind of cash as any of Sam Walton's kids. It's true. But people expect her to act like it anyway & price her product accordingly. Customers have been assuming for a long time now that any "mom & pop" store that does not give them the same deep discounts as they can find online is somehow trying to rip them off. The simple truth? People are in business to make money. Selling something at a discounted price means that maybe you can break even on the stock you are trying to sell. But what about payroll? Rent? Taxes? Insurance? If a supplier is selling me stock at a 25-30% discount & , to stay competitive with Amazon for example, you demand I sell it to you at a 40-50% discount I will be out of business before the end of the month. The big online retailers are playing a game of attrition. They want to be the only player in the game. And sooner than later, they will be. And people will shake their heads & wonder where all the little shops went. Or laugh because those "rip-off artists" are finally gone. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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You know, thinking about it, I don't think I can name any anime store I've ever been to that didn't sell bootlegs- even back in the days of the anime boom, where I even had mall kiosks of just anime to visit- the selection was always at least part bootleg (even if I didn't know it at the time.) Makes it harder to support my shops when I do find 'em, y'know?
I only know of two south of Seattle.. first is Sweet Kitty in Kent/Tukwila, by IKEA. Bootleg CDs, DVDs, wallscrolls- but oddly enough, legit figures. They split their space between anime and Sanrio stuff (the sanrio is 100% legit). The people who own it are super-nice and still know me on sight, despite my visits to the shop tanking when my fiance quit working in the area. Last time I talked to them, they were on hard times, so I don't know how much longer they'll be around... but for the time being, their website is still up, so I assume they're still kicking. A place opened up in the Tukwila Southcenter last year... Tokyo Lifestyle or something like that. I've been once. Bootlegs galore and overpriced... I didn't like it. I'm sure there's places in Seattle and north (I know there's a shop in Bellevue called Anime Raku), but I don't head up that far often, so I can't comment on those. The only store I can really say I miss is a place that used to be in Burien called Wonderworld... it was like going to a really geeky thrift store, you had to dig around to find stuff. That was years ago (back when you could put a bootleg VHS of the seizure episode of Pokemon on your shelves and get away with it.) |
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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Here in Puerto Rico, I know of only two anime stores--and they both sell bootlegs.
Names will not be mentioned, because they've done me no wrong. The first one is mostly dedicated to card games--I see more people there to play Magic than anything else. At one point, they were selling manga, but people in Puerto Rico have this thing against buying manga, like it's an alien concept to them--the only way the store owner could get rid of it all was by selling it at firesale prices ("Half off! Okay, three for ten! Okay, just take the damn thing!") They sell a lot of bootleg merchandise, though, even for U.S. stuff--like a bootleg Starscream I saw. Eesh. The second one is more of a small comic book store--there are two bins dedicated to old manga singles. I've seen all kinds of stuff there, and usually Mike Toole talks about what I've seen in there! Time Traveller Ai, Futaba-Kun Change, Change Commander Goku, old issues of Raijin comics, exactly one issue of Outlanders, Maison Ikkoku...they also burn fansubs on disks, sadly. I know I saw a Nadesico Drama CD on sale once, however. I also see model kits in the back room. I've never asked how much they're worth... There used to be a stall in Plaza Las Americas called @ction that sold comics and manga. Sadly, they also sold bootleg DVDs, and they soon lost their place in the mall (rent issues). They still open stalls at some local conventions, though. Besides that, all we have to go on is a single Specs in Plaza... you can find some old stuff for cheap, thankfully. (Godannar for around $10! The Utena movie for $7! Rumik Theater!) |
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gwdone
 Posts: 272 |
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H a H a R. Dorothy Wayneright from Big-O. I want that same figure!! I do have both boxes of the mini figures. Dorothy was great. Really takes me back!!! In fact, I need to watch it again as I own a tangible copy
Nice article!! |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Yeah, although for DVDs I actually tend to stick to Hairy T and 1 Million Comix, who still possess fairly impressive DVD collections and are up to date with the newest releases, God Bless 'Em. I still buy my anime DVDs mostly from stores, even though I'm sure my wallet deserves better.
Have they found a new location yet? Silver Snail on Queen Street announced that they will pack up a few months ago. |
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