This year marks roughly two decades since Ivy Kuo’s toy business started to expand beyond her home.
She and her husband, Eddy Kuo, initially launched their anime-centered toy store out of their living room in California. Since its inception 20 years ago, she said, their company has continued to grow — first into their garage, then into a warehouse, and eventually into a storefront of their own.
As the latest step in the company’s growth, they’ve brought the concept to anime fans in Johnson County. Anime Store Near Me celebrated the opening of its new Leawood store in June, which marked its debut in the Kansas City metro area.
Anime Store Near Me opened at 4837 W. 117th St.
- The store moved into a space at the Town Center Plaza shopping center, just off 117th Street and Roe Avenue in Leawood.
- The space had been vacant for a while, but it most recently was occupied by vitamin and supplement retailer GNC.
- Anime Store Near Me is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
The store offers a variety of anime-themed toys
When customers walk into Anime Store Near Me, they’re met with all things anime, which is a style of cartoon animation originating from Japan.
The shelves are stocked with items like action figures, plush toys, cards, backpacks and posters. One of their most popular items right now, Ivy Kuo said, is Gundam model kits — which are robots that customers can take home and build themselves.
Initially, their store originally opened under the name Toys Logic. It later rebranded as a strategy to give more of a specific nod to the store’s anime-centered offerings, she said.
“We were definitely one of the earlier ones, so there was no competition,” she said. “I think we brought sort of a fan point of view. When people visit our website, they can tell that it’s run by a fan.”
This marks the first Anime Store Near Me in JoCo
Ivy Kuo said opening a toy store had been a childhood dream of her husband’s, who had always been an anime enthusiast. (“He would sacrifice sleep to watch anime,” she joked.)
Today, in addition to Anime Store Near Me’s flagship store in Walnut Creek, California, and the new Leawood store, the company also has stores in Aurora, Colorado, and Columbus, Ohio.
Eddy Kuo went to school in Kansas, so Ivy said Anime Store Near Me’s expansion to Leawood came, in part, from nostalgia for the area.
So far, she said, the arrival of the store has been met with enthusiasm from anime fans in the area.
Oftentimes, she said, anime becomes a “destination” or a haven for people who want to feel safe and accepted. That’s the most exciting part of expansion for her — bringing a little piece of that joy closer to the people who appreciate or need it.
“The people who are fans in this industry or who are into anime, in my opinion, they have the purest heart and intentions,” she said. “Overall, this whole environment is very positive, and it’s just something that we want to give people more of.”
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