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Starting an Anime store.

Do you have an independent anime store in mind that is serving as your model/ideal? If so, why not get in touch with them and ask if you can come and talk to the manager, spend a day helping out or something?
In my experience (of independent bookstores at least), people can be very kind and collegial — and especially if you're not thinking of going into business in their own town as a direct competitor!

You might strike it lucky and get yourself a mentor, or at least learn something useful.

Wait, wait, let me get this straight... You make this post, with absolutely no business experience, know-how, or anything, thinking that this is a simple matter of "point me to a wholeseller, and I'll buy crap from them and sell it for profit", and when people post real, completely valid advice for you, you claim they've "nothing better too do then sit on the internet and be rude too people who have serious aspirations because your own miserably failed"?

Yeah, I'm 100% certain you're going to fail. Least of all because you obviously have no clue what it requires to do this, since you're talking about doing this straight out of high school without taking any college courses, and you obviously won't be able to write any legally-binding contracts because you can't even spell correctly.

Hiro94 wrote:

I have always wanted too start an Anime store since i was a kid and now that i am an adult i would like to make it a reality.I am currently looking into starting one but the problem is i don't know what distributer's to go through for my merch.I have no idea how much it cost for the merch.I would like too sell Anime dvd's, Blurays, Manga,Body Pillows,Visual novels,Figurines and other odds and ends.I understand how to purchase a building and start up the business i just don't know where to go through for the merch itself.I would also like too know in order to make my business Sustainable would i have too charge msrp or could i charge and in-between price in-between Rightstuff.coms prices and msrp prices?

If you haven't already, I suggest hitting up your local community college and seeing if they have a business course you could take. I imagine it would answer a lot of your questions and maybe give you some tips on how to make yours successful.

You asked for advice and you got it. Don't go crying and calling people bullies just because it's not what you wanted to hear. Starting a business is very hard work and you're incredibly naive and stupid if you think you can just buy stuff cheaply then sell it on for a profit. Eve's advice is probably the best advice in this thread in terms of what you might actually need to start a viable business. He is not bullying you or trying to crush your ambitions in any way. Grow up and come back in 10 years when you actually have some real life experience and you're not just a barely literate brat who's straight out of high school. Then you can call other people's advice stupid. Till then, go cry to someone who cares.

Hiro94, STOP TROLLING EVERYONE WHO IS TRYING TO HELP YOU BY BEING REALISTIC.

The simple, sad, unfortunate truth is, opening an anime retail store right now is a horrible, horrible idea- doubly so for someone with no experience in running a business.

I live in the northwest, in the Seattle suburbs. We have at least one Asian grocer in virtually every town in a 50 mile radius from my home- two within walking distance of work. We are home to Sakura Con, amongst the top 10 biggest anime cons in the US. This should be prime space for anime retail. Do you know how many of the anime shops are out of business now? Practically ALL OF THEM. of the dozen-ish I used to visit, 3 are still open. The bootleg store in the mall, the Hello Kitty and bootleg store across the street from the giant Asian market, and the hole-in-the-wall model shop in Seattle. When I talked to the Hello Kitty store owner last year, she said they might be gone by the end of this one.

You are facing a double whammy of retail falling out of favor as people which to online, and anime falling out of favor as fans from the boom continue to age out of it. If your store fails, you could end up neck-deep in debt with destroyed credit, unable to secure the funding to go to school and learn to do anything other than minimum wage labor as you attempt to pay off your bills.

If you're really, truly serious about this- go to college, get a 2 year degree of some kind in business FIRST. That, at least, will improve your chances. While you're at it, pitch your idea at your professors- I'm sure they'll be able to explain much more succinctly how risky this whole thing is.

DuelLadyS wrote:

Hiro94, STOP TROLLING EVERYONE WHO IS TRYING TO HELP YOU BY BEING REALISTIC. The simple, sad, unfortunate truth is, opening an anime retail store right now is a horrible, horrible idea- doubly so for someone with no experience in running a business. I live in the northwest, in the Seattle suburbs. We have at least one Asian grocer in virtually every town in a 50 mile radius from my home- two within walking distance of work. We are home to Sakura Con, amongst the top 10 biggest anime cons in the US. This should be prime space for anime retail. Do you know how many of the anime shops are out of business now? Practically ALL OF THEM. of the dozen-ish I used to visit, 3 are still open. The bootleg store in the mall, the Hello Kitty and bootleg store across the street from the giant Asian market, and the hole-in-the-wall model shop in Seattle. When I talked to the Hello Kitty store owner last year, she said they might be gone by the end of this one. You are facing a double whammy of retail falling out of favor as people which to online, and anime falling out of favor as fans from the boom continue to age out of it. If your store fails, you could end up neck-deep in debt with destroyed credit, unable to secure the funding to go to school and learn to do anything other than minimum wage labor as you attempt to pay off your bills. If you're really, truly serious about this- go to college, get a 2 year degree of some kind in business FIRST. That, at least, will improve your chances. While you're at it, pitch your idea at your professors- I'm sure they'll be able to explain much more succinctly how risky this whole thing is.

Thank you for the advice.I have been seriously considering going too college for Business.If it will help me get a kickstart on learning about Business then im all for it.My problem before was i wanted too go to College but i had no clue what i wanted too go for.This definately gives me a reason too go now.