Is there a market?

andgoodbye

Alright, straight to the point here, I would consider opening a shop in the general Dublin area, in which the sole product would be manga.
I'm interested in replies as to whether it's commercially viable?

owlwink

andgoodbye wrote: »

Alright, straight to the point here, I would consider opening a shop in the general Dublin area, in which the sole product would be manga.
I'm interested in replies as to whether it's commercially viable?

I think so. If you have good prices I can't see why not. Alot of the current manga outlets have extortionaly high prices + are not specialist enough. If you keep your prices bellow them you should do well. Let me know if you go ahead, cuz I wouldn't mind gettin the rest of the battle royale collection at a good price. Good Luck. Try get together an extensive range too.

p.s. Let me know if you need an employee for the weekend:)

owlwink

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055243931

check that out too if you didn't spot it. Might help

johnny_ultimate

I think a lot of people would appreciate it, but I am not sure how commercially viable it would be in the long run. It is still a niché market, and I think you would need something else to support the business. However, I am not an expert on economics - I just now a lot of comic shops (which would have a lot wider variety) have gone under due to lack of business.

It is a great idea, and I know I for one would absolutely adore a well priced manga store (even the 2nd hand ones in Chapters can be costly, let alone the brand new ones) but I would recommend a hell of a lot of market research.

owlwink

Balls of steel + market research = potential business

summer_ina_bowl

i think if your gonna do this, you need to do it big! i'm not from dublin, but i know a hell of a lot of people would travel if it was a big store with a wide range of stock. make sure you saturate relevent media with advertising, get someone to do you a website and sure all of us here will spread the word to our mates!! people won't travel to visit a shop that they don't know exists!! good luck! x

K.O.Kiki

How about a Manga Cafe?

Hadesdominion

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

How about a Manga Cafe?

yeah a manga cafe would be great! or even a cosplay cafe... (yes they do exist)

andgoodbye

Wow, lotte replies!
Thanks for the input, but it was kind of just an idea fo rthe distant-ish future, not a solid business idea. If I had the money I would, but unfortunately I don't.
I agree that all the manag in this country are ridiculously overpriced!
I mean, forbidden planet, 10.50 per volume!
I have a japanese friend, and she informed me that the same volumes in Japan are the equivalent of two euro!
It's insane!:mad:

owlwink

I think there is a man that sits in a very large leather chair who must be donated a few euro for each manga purchase. Why I don't know, better to think than the reality that they are thieves. (speciality)goods. Not where there being bought.

K.O.Kiki

andgoodbye wrote: »

Wow, lotte replies!
Thanks for the input, but it was kind of just an idea fo rthe distant-ish future, not a solid business idea. If I had the money I would, but unfortunately I don't.
I agree that all the manag in this country are ridiculously overpriced!
I mean, forbidden planet, 10.50 per volume!
I have a japanese friend, and she informed me that the same volumes in Japan are the equivalent of two euro!
It's insane!:mad:

I think some of it has to do with the way a lot of shops import their books from US, so they mark-up accordingly.

Was over in France, and saw manga for €5-6 (fully translated).

Incidentally, bought a load of manga for at half-price there online (forgot to post the link on boards, sorry guys!).

RetroRainbow

In Forbidden Planet down here in Cork, it's about eleven something.
Crazy, completely crazy.
I usually buy my manga off the internet, for around seven euro each.
Good, considering usual prices.
But yeah, there's a market there, and if there was anytime to do something like that, it'd be now. It seems like other people are only after finding out about it now, so to speak, and maybe it's at it's peak. It'd be great if it just kept getting more popular. More people buying, slightly cheaper prices.
And it'd be nice to buy a manga volume without waiting a week or so for it.

Sephiroth_dude

RetroRainbow wrote: »

In Forbidden Planet down here in Cork.

Did'nt know there was a forbidden planet in cork,wait is that in paul street,where other realms is?


back on topic,yes please do open a store that sells manga only,and please sell the old school manga and not the new age crap thats going around lately .

ztoical

andgoodbye wrote: »

I mean, forbidden planet, 10.50 per volume!

you've got import costs, at least 13.5% VAT and all the costs of running a shop esp in the city center. The temple bar area use to have some sort of Tax break that they got rid of as of january '08 so the shops in the area have few more euros of tax to pay. The cost of the manga itself is always going to be dearer then in Japan as you have to cover the cost of licensing it outside of japan and translating it into english.

You've only three options for ordering manga wholesale. It's either via diamond who are the only comics distributor in the world and Diamond have high minimum orders, or through Easons who are the only Irish based book wholesaler [Ireland doesn't have a big enough book market so Easons has no competition] or via a book wholesaler in the UK. You could order manga from Japan but you'll get stuck with loads of customs costs and the manga wouldn't be in english. I have bought piles of japanese manga for $1 in shops like Kinokuniya when I lived in new york and gone home and download the english translation but [a] not everyone is going to want to do that and alot of the stuff I got I couldn't find english subs for.

It's a nice idea but as it is most of the comic shops in Dublin sell manga and they aren't reaping it in from the sales - one comic shop closed down in Feb stating the likes of Amazon or Play.com were taking all their business.

andgoodbye

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Did'nt know there was a forbidden planet in cork,wait is that in paul street,where other realms is?


back on topic,yes please do open a store that sells manga only,and please sell the old school manga and not the new age crap thats going around lately .

New age crap!? You dissin the new stuff?
It's the best!

Sephiroth_dude

no I think the stuff that came out in the 90's is the best,anime just isn't what use to be,most of it is in 3d now,and the storylines,plots etc are all crap and have been done before,but like I said before please do open this store :-).

Cy_Revenant

While it is a very nice idea, I'm not sure if there is the market to support such a store, selling at a low markup.