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Dialogue "Tarzan Yamamoto ×Toudoukan Director" 15.
Next >16.Butcher & Mascaras Legend
15. Deepening "business format"
Director: Professor, it seems that time is running out, but is it okay to be a little longer? In 30 minutes, I'll look back on the remaining 19 years (wry smile).
Tarzan Yamamoto: Yes, do it.
Director: There was a limit. What is it like to do it only on an hourly basis?
Tarzan Yamamoto: yes. There was a limit.
Director: When you enter, you have to pay 390 yen as an entrance fee.
If you go like a manga café, it's obvious, but from the perspective of people who come all the way to get on the train and look for books and videos,
There were quite a few people who were like, "I've heard that you're doing second-hand sales, but do you take money just by entering?"
I was like, "What do you mean it costs money just to choose a book?"
Even if I explained, "Well, no, this is a coffee space, a place where you can relax with coffee."
I was told, "I don't believe it, I was taken money just by looking at the shelf."
I quickly picked up a book and left in about 5 minutes.
Ah, that's how it feels.
Tarzan Yamamoto: Hmm. Hey, it's a study.
▲ Replacement of signboards for transition when using sales and cafes (1)
Director: It's true, there's a gap between supply and demand.
So, after a year, I split the store in half. We separated the sales corner from the café corner.
Half of it was just for sale, so we didn't charge an entrance fee.
At first, it was just books and videos, but now that we have created a dedicated space for sales, we gradually decided that it would be better to buy goods as well.
At first, it was called a library, so I was particular about handling information such as text and videos.
Gradually, I started dealing with figures, T-shirts, and autographs like Shikishi ( Autograph board ) .
When I put it down and looked at the customers, I realized that there are quite a few collectors like that in the world.
So, I started selling second-hand and buying goods on a large scale.
▲ Replacement of signboards for transition when both sales and cafes are combined (2)
But masks were a completely different world for me.
"What are they going to do with this Pro Wrestling if they collect it from ordinary people who are not pro wrestler ?" That's how I felt (laughs).
Sometimes, there were Dos Caras masks in the bulk purchases, but I didn't know how much to wear.
However, one of our regular customers said, "If you put a mask on it, other people will see it again and sell it, so please treat it for the time being in the sense of creating a place like that."
He said, "I'll teach you all about masks."
So I said, I'll give it a try. At first, I had it taken out of that person's collection.
Certainly, if you put it there, people will show up to bring it.
I bought it almost as the customer told me.
If I put it out as it is, it would be bad if I gave it wrong information or a strange amount, so I put it on hold, and the regular customer, who came every day at that time,
I asked him to enter the emergency staircase at the back and teach me how to look at the masks one by one. While taking notes.
▲ Interview article when it was divided into a sales corner and a café corner
In addition to them, the collectors have a lot of knowledge, so all the regulars are teachers.
It's like an expert in each field, this person is about Mil Mascaras , this person is about indie mask man, this person is about Tiger Mask,
Please be the brains of each of them.
It's not just about masks. There are a lot of really amazing people.
Brochure of all Pro Wrestling promotion in Japan, From pre-Rikidozan to the present day, almost all of them are complete.
Someone who has been getting autographs directly from every wrestler since the 80s.
A person who has completed all the VHS released on the market.
A person who collects about 100 real belts used by promotion .
Basically, these people try to collect the range of defense that they have decided perfectly. That's natural.
You try to master your own world. It's like a collector's path.
These people are very particular about their lives, so it's interesting to talk to them, and I learn a lot from them.
Starting a store, I was able to connect with each and every one of the super enthusiasts from all over the country.
That's Toudoukan's greatest asset.
When Toudoukan celebrates its 20th anniversary, the first thing that comes to mind is the faces of various unique customers all over the country.
There are many people who don't want to show it, and there are many things that I can't do publicly, but if I have the opportunity someday, I hope to introduce it in a form like Pro Wrestling Super Mania Retsuden (laughs).
If I introduce them properly, they are all very interesting people.
Tarzan Yamamoto: Super Mania Retsuden! Yes. That's something we should do at some point. It's definitely funny.
▲ Gradually the hall becomes cluttered
Director: With the help of such a large number of brains, the number of things has increased steadily.
In the meantime, the sales corner has expanded the space, and conversely, the café corner has become narrower and narrower, and there is less space for browsing.
After about five years, I quit the coffee shop altogether and changed the course of my business to specialize in second-hand sales.
Well, it was sad to lose the coffee space.
Impermanence, let's change according to the actual demand.
As Director Ishii said, "KARATE is evolving," Toudoukan is a "deepening business format." Let's delve deeper into the antiquities of Pro Wrestling.
We decided to create a store that could express the world of the bottomless swamp with objects.
Then, one day, I found out that the 6th floor happened to be vacant. Until then, it was a church or something.
I asked the landlord directly and he suppressed it.
As a result, the 5th and 6th floors were connected from the middle staircase, and the space was doubled.
I remember that it was around the fall of my sixth year.
▲ Dedicated space for sales that has been enriched
Tarzan Yamamoto: That's right. Widened. We set up a showcase on the 6th floor, and the number of products increased rapidly.
Director: As we were doing that, wrestlers and other people involved gradually started to come to us.