Retail chain Animate is dedicating an all-new store in Tokyo to girls’ anime and manga.
Animate, Japan’s largest chain of anime specialty stores, already has two branches in Tokyo’s Akihabara, one of which is a six-story tower of Japanese animation and comics. But it’s still not enough to satisfy the passionate hunger that fans have for merchandise from their favorite series, and so next month Animate is set to open a third shop in the district.
Since Animate will soon have three different stores all within a five-minute walk of Akihabara Station, the company has decided to differentiate its newest store from the others, and has thus christened it Animate Akiba Girls Station.
▼ Even the grand opening announcement has a feminine touch to it.
With the growing number of female anime and manga fans, and more importantly the growing number of female anime and manga fans willing to financially support the industry, several of Animate’s shops have already expanded their selections of merchandise with women as the target market. An extreme case is the company’s branch on Ikebukuro’s Otome Road, at which the majority of the floor and shelf space is stocked with girls’ manga and anime items. Animate Akiba Girls Station, though, will be the first Animate location expressly and wholly dedicated to serving female fans’ shopping needs.
The new store isn’t going to be the undersized runt of the chain, either. The shop will stretch to seven stories above the street, with an entire floor set aside for what’s been dubbed “2.5-D merchandise,” referring to items related to live-action adaptations of anime such as musicals and stage shows.
Animate Akiba Girls Station opens Saturday, July 16.
Shop information
Animate Akiba Girls Station / アニメイトAKIBAガールズステーション
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 1-2-13
東京都千代田区外神田１－２－１３
Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Website
Source: Niconico News via Jin
Top image: Animate (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert image: Animate
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s wondering if Akiba Girls Station will be selling Marmalade Boy merchandise.