Store search! The latest info for January 2014

We never let on, but that awning was always supposed to be temporary!

It's been a while since our last update on Tokyo Rebel Gen2, and we know from your emails and Facebook comments that some of you are wondering when a new store's going to happen. We thought it was time to provide whatever new info we can. Long story short, there's still not much to tell yet, but believe it or not stuff is actually happening behind the scenes. A real estate search is not a fast moving process, as anyone who's bought a house or even searched for an apartment in New York will tell you!

In the past week alone, we've looked at five potential locations. That's a typical week, and has been for quite a while. You might wonder what's taking so long - surely one of these locations would work, right? After all, people open stores all the time. Heck, we did it once ourselves, and with a lot less product to sell than we have now.

But consider the facts that most new stores end up closed and that these locations are all empty for a reason. They're empty because the store that used to be there left, either by choice or because they went under. Like our last store (which is now a motorcycle speed shop!), all of these locations so far have had unique problems that would require the web site to subsidize the physical store. The trick is to find that one place in a good location with reasonable terms that the previous tenant just moved on from, hopefully because they outgrew it. That's what we're looking for.

There are also things being talked about between us and others that we can't, well, talk about yet. These things may or may not eventually happen, but the point is that plans are being made and ideas tossed around, and we want you to know that we're not just sitting back and relaxing. (We're not on vacation whenever we pause our shipping to head for Japan!) We're working hard on this whole process; but it is taking a little longer than we wanted.

And hey, if you know of any good spaces you think might work for us, let us know. We've seen pretty much all the advertised spaces, but many spaces never make it to the internet and we've no doubt missed some. If you're in the Manhattan/Brooklyn area and spot a free space that you could see us in, give us a shout.

Hopefully we will have more concrete info to share with you soon. We want to open a new store just as much as you want us to!

In the meantime, please keep ordering from our web site!