Our Story
Thank you all for joining us today as we share our journey of how we started, and the story behind it.
It was Late 2003 and I noticed my daughter staying up way past her bedtime to record a show on Adult Swim. The show was Full-Metal Alchemist. I had known about anime a bit prior, but only knew about Inuyasha and Cowboy-bebop. During this time, my family and I were going through a rough patch in our lives; divorce, money-troubles, the whole 9 yards. A few days after catching my daughter staying up late, I asked my two kids what they wanted to do for a vacation. I was dead-set and determined to give them the world. I thought they were going to name some expensive place like Disney, but no, they said that they had a place in mind and it was close by. That place was Acen, an anime convention in Chicago, Illinois.
Looking at the details of it all, it was super cheap compared to going to a fancy place like Disney or Universal. So, shortly after confirming that this is what my two kids wanted to do, we purchased our badges and booked a hotel room, waiting eagerly for May to come around. Nothing could have prepared me for what was to come though. We fought through hell and high water to get to that convention as our car broke down a week before. I was so dead-set on getting there, that I got us 3 train tickets to Chicago, and we embarked on our journey there.
Seeing the joy my kids faces was everything to me. On the way to Acen, people were boarding the train in costume and it took me back, because I realized that this convention was bigger than I thought it was. We finally got to our hotel and seeing the thousands of people dressed up, excited to celebrate this culture that my kids loved so much was breath-taking. We met Voice actors, anime directors, and my kids couldn't be happier.
One night during the convention, I went down to the bar that they have in the hotel and sat down, and a group of other adults came and asked if they could sit with me. I said of course and we all shared drinks, and our stories. I received amazing support from them, and learned that these folks were some of the voice actor guest at the convention. They gave me their business cards for some of the biggest companies at the time and that's when I decided to open my own anime store. The convention eventually came to an end, and we had to bid Acen a farewell, but we knew we would be back next year.
Following the convention, I started getting this business off the ground, getting what merch I could and opening a booth at a flea-market in our small town of Godfrey, Illinois. We held card tournaments, video game tournaments, sold manga, clothing, and collectibles. At one point, we were even featured in our local news paper. People drove hours to come to our store, because we were the only shop selling anime products. Sadly, circumstances arose. the flea market closed down, and we tried to open up a store front in our local mall, but it just couldn't stand on its own, since the recession was hitting everyone extremely hard.
That was then, and this is now. With our digital storefront, we aim to continue spreading joy through anime to everyone who visits! Thank you for being a part of our journey and supporting us all these years!