Toei will open its first U.S. store devoted to all things One Piece this fall, the company announced. The new store, officially named One Piece Mugiwara Store (Mugiwara means “straw hat”), will be located in Westfield Century City, a 1.3 million square foot outdoor mall, in Los Angeles.
In addition to a wide variety of One Piece merchandise, the store will offer exclusive items available only at the store and products featuring original animation artwork.
Japanese companies are increasingly opening U.S. stores to sell manga and anime-based products directly to U.S. consumers. Kadokawa is operating 10 Manga Spot stores in the U.S. as of April (see “Explore the Store: Manga Spot“), and Bandai has a Tamashii Nations store in New York’s Times Square, as two examples.
Beyond the manga (Volume 112 releases in the U.S. this week), the One Piece Card Game from Bandai is the most popular One Piece line in our world; it will be interesting to see if the store carries the game, and if so, how it manages supply and demand issues.
Crunchyroll began streaming the latest season, One Piece – Elbaph Arc, in April (see “Crunchyroll Spring Lineup“). The anime series has been running since 1999.
Source: ICV2
