Anime shops and retailers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and sell a variety of products catered to different fans and people.
This post is about that very thing, highlighting:
- The types of anime shops you can buy from.
- What those types of anime shops look like.
- Where they are, and who they are when necessary.
- What makes them different to each other.
And how they cater to specific buyers.
Let’s make a list!
types of anime shops:
1. Anime figurine shops
Some anime shops commit themselves to selling anime figurines and nothing else.
Or if they do have other products, figurines dominate their product catalogue.
These anime figurines are the most common in anime figure shops:
- PVC Statues.
- Figma.
- Mini figures.
- Nendoroids.
- Action figures.
- Detachable figures for various body parts (and clothes, too).
With common figurine manufacturers like:
- Good Smile Company.
- Phat!
- Kotobukiya.
- Orange Rouge.
- Megahouse.
- Bandai.
- Alter.
- Max Factory.
- Banpresto.
- FREEing.
And many other official anime manufacturers who officially license these figurines for anime shops to buy and sell at a profit. And of course, for you to buy from if you see the value in the purchase.
Examples of anime figurine shops:
- AmiAmi (Japan).
- Good Smile Company.
- Tokyo Toys (UK).
- Super Anime Store (USA).
- Otaku Box (Japan).
2. Anime shops that sell clothing
Some anime shops like to focus on selling:
- Clothing.
- T Shirts.
- Hoodies.
- Shoes.
- Trainers.
- Tank Tops.
- Jumpers & Sweatshirts.
And anything else you would usually consider “clothing” or part of.
Everyone likes to wear some form of comfortable clothing, even if one fan may be more simplistic than the other (wearing a subtle anime top vs an obvious one that’s in your face, etc).
The majority of anime shops choose to sell clothing alongside other products, as opposed to doing it exclusively.
3. Anime shops that sell “everything”
Crunchyroll might be the best example to use when talking about anime related businesses that sell all types of merchandise and products.
Crunchyroll, thanks to its profitable streaming business sells also:
- T Shirts.
- Hoodies.
- Clothing.
- Accessories.
- Figurines.
And a wide range of other anime products are considered merch.
Amazon also fits into this category for obvious reasons being the “everything” store. Tokyo Otaku Mode being an online anime shop that seemingly sells everything, and is also anime focused like CR.
These types of anime shops have a large catalogue of physical products for fans to seek out.
4. Anime shops that sell original products and designs
Believe it or not, there are a handful of anime shops that focus on selling original anime merchandise and products. But there isn’t a wide range of these shops for obvious reasons.
For one, selling original products means:
- Original anime designs.
- Fulfilment for those original anime products.
- Physical products that stand out.
- Designs that you won’t find anywhere else.
Or in the case of digital products, then digital products you won’t find from any other anime retailer or supplier.
You’ll have to look extra hard for these types of anime retailers since the desire to sell what already has demand vs creating something new speaks for itself.
5. NSFW anime shops (like Hentai products)
Custom-made hentai figurines made from various high-quality manufacturers.
Going a few levels deeper, you have the types of anime shops that don’t focus on the main anime market. Instead, they focus on the “forbidden” market that everyone is scared to enter and dabble with.
That market is Hentai. This genre of animated porn, in the form of merchandise or products, creates a tough lane to follow since some payment processors might not sell what you offer.
This is what makes it a hard type of anime shop, but definitely one that fans seek out and buy from despite them being less “commercial” or promoted in the mainstream.
6. Shops that sell many products, but not with an anime specific focus
There is an anime shop in the UK that illustrates the point being made here. That shop is called Forbidden Planet International.
They sell all manner of things, similar to the Amazons of the world, but they focus on:
- Anime.
- Manga.
- Comics.
- Cartoons.
- Marvel.
And anything related to these genres of entertainment.
Plushies, figurines, toys, t shirts, keyrings, you name it – you can find it with Forbidden Planet but the quantity for certain categories may not be abundant.
Many shops around the world fit this type where you can buy anime products, but they’re not an anime specific business.
7. Anime shops that are exclusively offline (no online store)
The image above is of a shop in Akihabara, Japan, called K Books.
This anime shop is offline, meaning they have no online website or store where you can order products directly from them, with shipping and delivery.
Instead, you have to go to the store offline in Akihabara, and then find what you’re looking for. You can also of course phone up the business and reserve or ask for what you want.
These types of anime shops are common in Japan, given the context, but you can also find some in the UK, USA, Europe, South East Asia, Turkey, and other parts of the world.
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In the end, these 7 types of anime shops are most common when seeking out anime merch, figurines, and products to purchase online (or offline). This can even include books.
If you want a bit of everything, some shops will offer it. At the same time, others are more specialized and even unique, which collectively gives all fans something to offer based on their specific wants.
