Publishers Weekly reports that music and video retail giant Trans World Entertainment has contracted with wholesaler Bookazine to develop and manage manga sections in its more than 800* stores.
TWE operates nine retail chains, including FYE, Sam Goody, Coconuts, Suncoast and Planet Music. The article doesn’t mention a timeline for the sections.
Bookazine’s two-year-old graphic novel and pop-culture program, Popazine, is headed by John Davis, former director of book sales for Central Park Media.
At the Icarus Publishing blog, Simon Jones notes earlier financial troubles at Suncoast, which created problems for the anime industry. TWE purchased Sam Goody and Suncoast in 2006, shortly after the stores’ parent company, the Musicland Group, filed for bankruptcy.
“The upside is that this shows there’s still room for growth in the retail sector for manga,” he writes. “The potential downside is, well, the aforementioned performance history of Suncoast with related material.”
(* Publishers Weekly says TWE has more than 900 stores, but the company website says 800, so I’m going with 800.)
October 5th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Wow, you know record stores are in trouble when they look at comic shops and say “hey, there’s a lucrative business.” Will they sell the manga at a %250 markup?