• Dear customers

    Thank you for always using Toranoana.

    We regret to inform you that as of Wednesday, August 31st, 2022, we have decided to close the following 5 stores.

    Akihabara store A
    Shinjuku store
    Chiba store
    Namba store A
    Umeda store

    Similarly, we have decided to abandon the opening of the Nagoya store, which we have been seeking to reopen since last year.

    As to the Ikebukuro store, we will continue to operate by focusing on women’s doujinshi.

    Since 2020, the physical store business has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are no signs of recovery at this point. We deeply apologize for the lack of our efforts in this matter.
    We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your long term support, and sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this may cause.
     fig1.Trends in the number of physical store / online store users

    Although the number of our directly managed stores will be temporarily reduced, the “in-shop” business, which we have been engaged in since the year before last, has expanded to more than 10 stores at present. In addition, we plan to open new stores in Toyama, Aichi, and Shizuoka prefectures in July, August, and September.

    In order to deliver creators’ works to as many users as we could, we will continue to promote in-shop development nationwide, including areas where it has been difficult to open directly managed stores.
     fig2. Trends in the number of physical stores, and the list of physical stores after September

    As to Akihabara, which has played a central role in our business, we are preparing to open a gallery-type store where illustration exhibitions can be held, and we will continue to seek new ways to open new stores while discussing the possibility of the reopening. We would like to inform you again when we are ready for reopening stores.

    Although the DX strategy that we have been working on for the past two years has resulted in our online store and Fantia growing significantly (*1), we deeply regret the inconvenience to our customers and creators as a result of the selection and concentration we have made as a business.

    *1 Reference link: TORANOANA Inc. FY2022 earnings estimates and progress of business structural reforms
    https://www.toranoana.jp/company/pr/ir202206-02.html

    Considering the continuous difficulty of the current situation, we have decided to focus on our DX business centered on the online store and Fantia, in the short term.

    We would like to say thank you for your support in operating the store in the Akihabara area for 28 years.

    From now on as well as our existing online services such as the online store and Fantia, we hope to expand our support for creators with our physical stores such as the Ikebukuro store, in-shop, and the illustration gallery shop as our new shop form, and ToraCon. We appreciate your continued patronage.

    We will inform you about the change of service to “customers” and “circles” due to the closing of the stores, at a later date.

    We would like to appreciate your continuous support of Toranoana.

    July 5th, 2022
    TORANOANA Inc.