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What would you like to see in an Anime Store?


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Otakuforlife



Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:46 am Reply with quote
My firend Cam wants to open an Anime Store ,but, wants to know what types of shows he should carry. Also, what his store should carry in the future... So please respond to this small questionaire.

1) What shows have you bought recently?

2) What shows do you wish you could buy
,but, are usally Out-Of-Stock?

3)If you could recommend a new show for begining fan,
what would it be?

4)What shows do you think will be populare in the future?

Presonal Interest:
5)What don't you like about your current video store?
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^ . ^



Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 53
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 7:38 am Reply with quote
1.Recently I've bought mainly movies like Toyko Godfathers and Memories. Also, I'm in the middle of the Ninja Scroll tv series and Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi at the moment.

2.Well, to be honest, I'd rather an anime store carry a good varity of manga.There's not really any places to get that around here so I usually have to do without certain series.

As for anime, I usually get whatever I want. I guess some of the older stuff that may be hard to find would be nice and just a little hentai.

3.Movies: Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust, Millennium Actress and maybe Metropolis.

Series: Cowboy Bebop and maybe the original Record of Lodoss War. Lodoss War made quite an impression on me back when I was first getting into anime.

4.Wolfs Rain and Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex

5.The prices are a little high. I'll usually go to Best Buy or somewhere else if I know I can get the same thing there for a cheaper price. Also, stuff like Dragon Ball Z seems to take up almost half the shelf space sometimes. I don't blame a bussiness for carring what sells, but just a little more varity would be nice.
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11294
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:21 pm Reply with quote
1) I've actually bought some of the older shows. Recently, I've bought Kare Kano, Saber Marionette, and .hack//SIGN. I'm also thinking of Chobits, Witch Hunter Robin, Ayashi no Ceres, Gate Keepers, RahXephon, Last Exile, SDF Macross, Haibane Renmei, and whole bunch of others.

2) Just limited edition things. Usually the first DVD of a series that comes with that limited edition artbox for putting the rest of the series in. I'm currently shopping all around the net trying to find these things. After I find all of the ones I know exist and are on my list, then I'll start adding the rest of the peices.

3) Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Inu Yasha, Rurouni Kenshin, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly/FLCL, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo!, Vision of Escaflowne, X (TV), Ranma 1/2, or Berserk. Pretty much anime on Cartoon Network might do the trick.

4) Definately Gundam SEED. And possibly: Wolf's Rain, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Detective Conan (big maybe), Inu Yasha (the dub.) and maybe... Tenchi GXP. I'm not very big on upcoming features, so these are just some wild guesses.

5) Actually, my current "video store" is an online vendor www.deepdiscountdvd.com. The only other video store I do buy from, however, is Best Buy. They're OK. They've rasied the prices up on a few titles, but overall, they're still my best alternative to online ordering.
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Otakuforlife



Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:14 am Reply with quote
I want to thank all the people willing to answer this
survay, there are not many times, where a few questions
can possibly make or break future business... So, I would
like to thank all those people who took the time to-fill
-this-out and hopefully more people will respond...

Brian Auxier
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Inu-Yasha



Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 373
Location: Quad Cities, Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:31 am Reply with quote
1. Mostly YYH and Escaflowne.

2. I would love to buy anything on my anime list, Curse of the Undead Yoma, hentai,etc or anime that hasn't been dubbed into english yet but has english subs though.

3.Shows I recommend: YuYu Hakusho the ghost files, Inuyasha, Witch Hunter Robin, the Vision of Escaflowne, Soul Hunter, Berserk, Kenshin, Princess Mononoke basically anything on my anime list that has a rating of Good/Very good to Masterpiece, etc.

4. Hopefully Inuyasha, YYH, WHR, NGE, Kenshin will be popluar in the not too distant future.

5.I get most of my anime from WalMart and I used to get it from ebay. What I detest about Walmart is NO mature/adult titles, limited selection(seeing lots of Yu-gi-oh and DBZ/DB GT gets old), out-of-print/limited released titles and as for ebay it plagued by bootlegs UGH.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7337
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:00 am Reply with quote
(This probably would have been better off in the "Retail" section.)

1. Mostly comedy, but some action too.
2. Can't say I've ever really noticed anything being out of stock, if I can't get something I want I just go elsewhere for it or assume it isn't out.
3. I'd probably tell them to catch Cartoon Network before spending any serious money on something they may find they aren't interested. Otherwise a little variety, usually I say Grave of the Firflies, Princess Mononoke, and Akira.
4. There is no right answer to this, people's viewing habits are far to quirky to predict. Right now things seem to be moving towards angsty teen action shows.
5. Prices, but it would be unrealistic to expect an single store to be able to compete with big box stores like Walmart or Best Buy, or online stores like deepdiscountdvd. If you're looking for buyers you need to look at variety, not just anime but other things like toys, soundtracks, manga, wall scrolls, the usual otaku swag.

Emerje
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ShellBullet



Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:29 am Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
1) I've actually bought some of the older shows. Recently, I've bought Kare Kano, Saber Marionette, and .hack//SIGN.


Man, that makes me feel old. Crying or Very sad

Anyway, what about the questions.
1. Old stuff, Orphen, Maisen Ikkoku, You're Under Arrest. And some movies, Millenium Actress, some Ghibli.

2. I can't think of any.

3. Cowboy Bebop, anything Ghibli, Inuyasha, CCS, FLCL, Love Hina, Chobbits, Wings of Honnemaise.

4. If I new that I would buy stock in the right company!

5. One tip, carry J-Pop and J-rock CD's. I have yet to find a good place to buy them. I don't know about the legality of importing them, but if you get in-store prices down to $25 a pop or so, I would be buying for sure.
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Otakuforlife



Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:19 am Reply with quote
Your reponses really help this whole process remeber
that we are serius about this. So, your reponses will
probally effect what ends up on the stores shelves
(if you happen to live near it) Anyway, once again
thanks
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Sword of Whedon



Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 683
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:21 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
5. One tip, carry J-Pop and J-rock CD's. I have yet to find a good place to buy them. I don't know about the legality of importing them, but if you get in-store prices down to $25 a pop or so, I would be buying for sure.


That's not going to happen, ever, for Japanese imports. In order to sell at $25 a pop, you would have to have direct access to the wholesaling network in Japan, which they cannot legally give since the CDs are not licensed for sale in the US.

About the lowest you're going to see is $30, especially with the current exchange rate, and $35 is far more likely

A store that doesn't carry bootlegs would be a nice start
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11294
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:49 pm Reply with quote
Sword of Whedon wrote:
A store that doesn't carry bootlegs would be a nice start.

Oh yeah. I forgot about soundtrack and DVD bootlegs. I know a store that I used to shop at until I found out what bootlegs were. I'd say all of there CDs and DVDs are bootlegged, but they have R1 stuff too.

They actually rent out all R1 stuff though, and they carry a heck of a lot of licensed manga too. It's just the bootlegs that keep me from going there anymore. Plus, it's, like, a 20 minute drive each time, which does less to impress me. Sad
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nagash



Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 280
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 6:59 am Reply with quote
I have a local/online anime/game store. I go to conventions, collectable shows, colleges, and flea markets (well, I used to do flea markets. Not worth it anymore).
A few tips:

1. Make sure your sources for whatever you buy are legit. I go through a national distributor owned by Diamond that sells games and anime, along with whatever Diamond is currently holding on pre-order status. The downside to this is that, for some anime out there, it's cheaper for me to go to Target to buy the anime than it is to go through my distributor. I won't sell any anime released by a major movie studio (Disney), and I always check into Target every month to see what they've got so I don't buy it. I got burned on Spirited Away because I didn't check out the chain stores first.

2. Choose location carefully. The more diversity in the area, the better. College locations also tend to be good, but they also hurt (try selling anime at a college when they all got it off the net for free). Colleges, however, can't bootleg merchandise so easily.

3. Get around. Do the collectible shows and conventions in your area. Don't do a flea market unless you are absolutly shure there are no bootleg dealers or DVD resellers there. Bootlegs are bootlegs, but there are legitimate guys that buy used DVDs in lots from stores and bring them to the flea market. In either case, they both sell DVDs for $10, although they usually don't carry anime. Still, where they are cheaper, you won't sell any anime.

4. Don't buy one type of item. It's tough to stay in business when you only sell one type of item. I sell anime, games (card, board, CCG, RPG), action figures, shirts, game gear (dice, etc.), collectibles. Those also include SF collectables and I can even get sports items (sold some beautiful New England Patriot Snowglobes just in time for Christmas).

5. Make a policy that people will like. Could be something as simple as 10% off anything over $100. In my case, if you agree to pick an order at my next show (appearence), I'll wave the shipping charges. That won't work if you have a store, though.

6. Get feedback. I got burned on this. My first set of feedback forms said to get shoujo. I got them, and now nobody wants the shoujo :(
They want everything but shoujo now.

Hope that helps. And remember, don't spend all your money on anime you want thinking people will buy it because you like it. Of course, if you have some extra cash, don't be afraid to take advantage of that discount :)
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Nuriko-chan



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 192
Location: Konan
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 8:54 pm Reply with quote
1) What shows have you bought recently?
Haibane Renmei
2) What shows do you wish you could buy
,but, are usally Out-Of-Stock?
A certain wallscroll, but I finally found it. It's one of Nuriko
3)If you could recommend a new show for begining fan,
what would it be?
I would recommend Inu-Yasha
4)What shows do you think will be populare in the future?
Haibane Renmei

Presonal Interest:
5)What don't you like about your current video store?
It has hardly any manga! Or anime! Or extras! (such as scrolls)
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tetsusaiga-kyo



Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 173
Location: U.S.A.
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 10:54 pm Reply with quote
1. FLCL, Robotech Remastered Editions, and the Rurouni Kenshin Box Sets are some of the animes I am collecting right now.
2. Not a show necessarily but I find that box sets usually have to be backordered.
3. I would suggest Cowboy Bebop.
4. On cable TV I expect Wolf's Rain and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex to do extremely well.
5. I like the low prices. Very Happy
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chrismage



Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 23
Location: st.catharines,Ontario,Canada
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 1:48 am Reply with quote
i would kill to find a replica of the tower of fang that is worn by the main character in the anime sorcerer stabber orphen. Very Happy
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BERSERK EVA



Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:02 am Reply with quote
1) What shows have you bought recently?
The 2 Evangelion director cuts dvds.

2) What shows do you wish you could buy,
but, are usally Out-Of-Stock?
I can't say, I've never had that problem.

3)If you could recommend a new show for begining fan,
what would it be?
Cowboy Bebop or Love Hina or Trigun.

4)What shows do you think will be populare in the future?
Not sure...maybe the new Ghost in the Shell

Personal Interest:
5)What don't you like about your current video store?
The Berserk manga shouldn't be in the adult section. Not
enough extras: figures, wall scrolls, shirts, etc.
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