Anime Boston

I went to Tokyo Kid last month, only to see that it was closed during the middle of the weekday, and that its hours were only 12-4 in the afternoon. Then I found an article online that they're closing for good, though they may have to stay open because of their rent agreement or something. Here's the article:

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/ ... -products/

I did see on the AB page though that they're having a registration event going on near the end of the month though....is that still happening? And does anyone know the situation of the store right now?

I'm not sure what the official scoop is... Their weekday hours have been reduced to 12-4, but I believe they are still open 12-8 on Friday & Saturday. Someone on their Facebook page was saying they were already closed & gone, which I can assuredly say they aren't because I was just there two Saturdays ago

I hate to say, but I think they are definitely on their way out. To be honest, the business wasn't handled correctly for the past 5 years at least, between lack of new product and exuberant prices keeping the old stuff on the shelves for 10+ years. So while it pains me to see a place I have loved since I was 12 years old or so be on their way out, at the same time I can definitely see a multitude of reasons why the place wound up flailing.

As for the Halloween event... I haven't gotten an actual answer, unfortunately. It's been asked at the Facebook page and on Twitter, and I haven't seen any attempt at a response from the owner. I'm probably not going to bother -- AniMadness in Waltham is doing a similar event, even having a sale, cosplay contest as well as AB pre-reg, so I'm probably going to go there. :<

Edit: Well, looks like the main page just answered for us about Sunday!

For more information and discussion, see the thread for the "ShopTales" edition of ANN's "The Mike Toole Show" column.

I'd been talking to enough folks about this across enough different forums about this store closing that I think it warranted me getting all my thoughts down in one place. XD So, I wrote a piece over on my site Otakuholic about it, and the internet's effect on business in general, over here: http://otakuholic.com/2011/11/the-internet-v-tokyo-kid/ if anyone is interested in reading it.

Chrissii wrote:I'd been talking to enough folks about this across enough different forums about this store closing that I think it warranted me getting all my thoughts down in one place. XD So, I wrote a piece over on my site Otakuholic about it, and the internet's effect on business in general, over here: http://otakuholic.com/2011/11/the-internet-v-tokyo-kid/ if anyone is interested in reading it.

Very well put. +1 for the Animadness love.

Haha, thanks for that. <3 AniMadness. I'm going to try to hit up Tokyo Kid at some point this upcoming weekend to see what's left, if anything.

Huh, so they are closing.
Thankfully Animadness is very close nearby *^*

Does anyone know when their last day is? Their website is highly un-informative.

Syagria wrote:Does anyone know when their last day is? Their website is highly un-informative.

No idea, but I do know this much: I was there Saturday 11/19 at about 5:00 pm. The store was dark and locked tight. Not a good sign...

Per Twitter earlier today, Tokyo Kid's final day in business will be December 24th. I inquired if they would be staying open a bit later than 4pm from now til then to try enticing some after-work holiday-shopping from people to clear out some stock... Unsurprisingly, I received no reply.

Edit: I was shocked, a couple days later I got a reply from them confirming that they weren't increasing hours at all for this last week of theirs. Ah well. I may try to make it in Friday the 23rd to see the place one last time :\

So sad to hear about TK. I will miss them. Every time my friend and I go into Boston, it would ALWAYS be for Tokyo Kid and Porter Square....sadly, I have been unemployed, so I have been unable to get around there again lately. .... I need to save for the Hotel and AB coming up, and round trip is going to set me back 20 alone, without our food budget, merch budget, and so on and so forth.

I never been to AniMadness though... Maybe it is time to move though. One of our good eateries near TK closed a while ago. Only things left there worth going to is Newbury Comics, and that Japanese Knick-knack shop that happened to play X-Japan when I was in there last time, and I was pretty damn happy. >_>

Yukito Kunisaki wrote:I never been to AniMadness though... Maybe it is time to move though. One of our good eateries near TK closed a while ago. Only things left there worth going to is Newbury Comics, and that Japanese Knick-knack shop that happened to play X-Japan when I was in there last time, and I was pretty damn happy. >_>

AniMadness is pretty great, they have a ton of figures and such. I like Kofuku shop; Never heard him playing anything other than music from Studio Ghibli films in there, though o.O Love the selection of Ghibli merchandise in there, just wish I could afford more of it.

I stopped counting on Newbury Comics to be good a few years ago. They used to have a good & varied selection of trading figures & blind box figures, but now it's pretty much entirely American stuff like Kidrobot. Not that I have a problem with Kidrobot, I just wish they didn't feel they couldn't do both import and domestic ones. Really miss being able to go in there and get, say, Kingdom Hearts Formation Arts blind boxes, or the Bleach blind-box figures.

Well, I don't actually think I ever bought anything at Newbury Comics before.... just they have such outrageous things I have never seen at other places, so it is always great to go there and see just what they have. I love seeing cool items I never would see in a normal store, haha.

Anywho, could sometime tell me.... if I was to take the subway to AniMadness, which stop on which line would I want?

Hm, the only T stop in Waltham is Waltham Center stop on the Fitchburg line of the Commuter Rail, but there are a bunch of buses that go near there.

Chrissii wrote:Hm, the only T stop in Waltham is Waltham Center stop on the Fitchburg line of the Commuter Rail, but there are a bunch of buses that go near there.

AniMadness is actually a short walk from the Waltham Commuter Rail station. You just go south on Moody Street, and you'll see it on your left. The 70 and 70A buses go to and from the Commuter Rail station in Waltham from Central Square in Cambridge.

Tokyo kid is closed now

Never got back to this. Animadness seems like it is a bit further out of my reach than I hoped for. Blah.


As for TK, I heard there is a SIMILAR store going in that spot now? Is that true?

Yes, it's called Anime Zakka... their website and Facebook page are already existing, and last time I was in the Garage, the windows of former-TK were covered with paper and you could hear work going on inside... it seems like it's going to be quite similar to Kofuku Shop from what the website the flyer I got (lots of Ghibli stuff... I was given the flyer a couple months ago after shopping at Kofuku) so perhaps it's going to be owned by the same guy? Or maybe he's moving and just doing Anime Zakka once it's done? I'm not sure yet.

The place right outside the garage mall down the stairs, right? Place was pretty cool. Underground too, I would much rather have my store there personally. I went there one time. Didn't even know of the place for a while, and when we went, they had some really cool things there. Like....a giant keyboard key bank I think was something.... and alot of really cool things I sadly cannot remember, but made me say "whoa"....

Still will miss TK though. The mascot will always be remembered. AB bags, store image and all. I'll remember.

Just want to give everyone a heads-up, Anime Zakka is officially open, and they are indeed in the same spot as Tokyo Kid was in at the Garage. They remodeled in there and I can't believe how nice it looks! Very classy looking. It's run by the same owner as Kofuku was (Kofuku has closed, this is what it has moved/renamed to) and as expected, their initial merchandise selection is mostly the same as Kofuku. A lot of Ghibli and kitschy Japanese stuff! This is not a bad thing at all, and they are stocking quite a bit more anime stuff... I have to say that most of it is pretty "retro" like Kofuku's selection was, but he has a few Nendoroids and Gundams and such that are more current. There's also a lovely selection of cool, trendy/subtle-looking anime bracelets with brass emblems on them (like the One Piece pirate symbol, Naruto Konoha headband symbol, and the one I bought, the Kuroshitsuji "contract" emblem ^^)... they're underneath the register counter, and I almost didn't even notice them!! Had to do a second transaction once I spotted the Black Butler one. XD Oh, they also seem to have a lot more snacks now... big Ramune selection, more Pocky flavors, Meltykiss flavors, and quite a bit of Hi-chew .

Anyways, the owner said he's starting with smaller, affordable things to try and gauge what people are interested in, so if you live close enough to the area you should check it out to show support, and if you have input give it! Don't expect them to stock manga and DVDs though... they're very aware of how little turnover products like that get. I'm curiously looking forward to seeing how the store grows. ^^

I'll have to check it out next time I'm at the Garage. It sounds like a cool store.

Where is this located in relation to the pru? I have time to kill Sunday night or monday morning (possibly even Thursday night depending how we break down our non-con festivities), and we always want to go to fun places with Japanese stuff around the con! (:

It's in Cambridge. Best way of getting there is by subway, specifically, the redline. It takes you to a stop about 2 minutes away.

Gotcha. I'll have to see if my friends are up for a trip. (:

It's at Harvard T Stop. From the Harvard T stop, go towards the now gone Curious George shop and take a left and keep going straight. You'll see the signs for the garage.

Green line (Prudential or Hynes station) to Park Street then Red Line to Harvard
or
Orange line (Back Bay station) to Downtown Crossing then Red Line to Harvard

And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

HG Revolution wrote:And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

Really? When did this happen?

HG Revolution wrote:And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

This sucks. I never was able to check it out...

Yukito Kunisaki wrote:

HG Revolution wrote:And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

This sucks. I never was able to check it out...

Me either and I really wanted to next time I was in the area. So's the life, I guess.

HG Revolution wrote:And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

Ehhhhhh?! Damn, that was a really nice store, too, based on the one time I went there... and the street it was on was pretty fun to just walk up and down to window shop and stuff. Jeez, dropping like flies... :T

I'll have to give Anime Zakka a look, though, if it's replaced Tokyo Kid. I might as well offer my patronage if I want at least ONE anime-related store to not crash and burn like the past two.

HG Revolution wrote:And it seems Animadness closed without notice.

woah woah woah.. WHAT!?!? When did this happen!?!? I NEED DETAILS!! That shop was super-awesome

Yeah, I think it closed back in June. I really liked that store too.

As neat as it was to have a place like Tokyo Kid, they were full of bootlegs, and the owner didn't give a crap.

Nearly every music CD I ever saw in there was a Miya Records/Alvion bootleg. Tons of unlicensed posters and wallscrolls, too.

I'll have to check out Anime Zakka, but I don't have much faith that they can stay in business more than a year or two. Online retailers have been extremely destructive to any kind of independent store catering to a niche.

redseedsprofile wrote:As neat as it was to have a place like Tokyo Kid, they were full of bootlegs, and the owner didn't give a crap.

Nearly every music CD I ever saw in there was a Miya Records/Alvion bootleg. Tons of unlicensed posters and wallscrolls, too.

I'll have to check out Anime Zakka, but I don't have much faith that they can stay in business more than a year or two. Online retailers have been extremely destructive to any kind of independent store catering to a niche.

At least around here it seems, yea. There are still stores like this on the west coast but that's not at all surprising since a lot of the online stores have their actual storefronts in LA or NYC. They have been around and well established for years and yea, they sell most of their stuff online so that pays their bills.