showyourspace: uk's orbital
presenting TOYSREVIL's first ever SHOWYOURSPACE-post featuring UK's ORBITAL! with answers to my inane-questions gamely put forth by Emily Man of Orbital (cheers for the trouble Emily :p)TOYSREVIL: why the name Orbital? (im thinking the music group with Dr Who's theme LOL)
ORBITAL: My boss can't remember why he chose "Orbital" - He said he was spaced out when he thought of the name.
TRE: what does Orbital carry on their shelves? and secretly stashes in the storeroom?
ORB: Orbital Comics sells comics dating back to the 1940s. Orbital comics also sells a huge range of back issues, graphic novels, loads of related merchandise, and tonnes of independently published comics.
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Orbital Manga - sells a massive range of translated manga books, art books, magazines, T-shirts, cosplay, wall scrolls, Models, Toys, plushies, collectible figures, Transformers ... the list goes on....Orbital Designer Toys - sells "more affordable" artwork but in 3D...this shop stocks western and eastern toys - Pete Fowler, Toy2R, CI Boys, Crazy Label, Medicom, Kidrobot...etc. They also have one off customs (see the Smurf custom that the Triclops Boys did) ... The Tokidoki range and the House of Liu has been flying off the shelves!!
Each shop stocks and sells some items from the other two shops. Orbital doesn't hide anything in the storeroom apart from cleaning products lol
TRE: a triple-threat, eh? LOL - what is the one special thing/aspect of Orbital that folks'll be sure to remember?
ORB: Orbital customer service...we pride ourselves on giving our customers a number 1 service, remembering our customers names, what they have on their standing orders (comics), recommending reads which customers may be interested in from the kind of comics / manga they read. The staff in the shops always love to have a good banter with customers about anything to do with comics, manga, films, US series anything. Orbital is not a corporate company, we have a friendly family atmosphere. Also the fact that we can get items straight from Japan faster than our competitors and Orbital is cheaper!
TRE: i personally appreciate being "remembered" - i remember walking into a comicbookshop a while back (where i have not visited for near 6 years) - and i was greeted with a simple: "hello, Andy, how are you doing?" = they remembered my name. that was cool ... what's the one place folks always seem to not see, but you folks are most proud of?
ORB: The shop is pretty open, and customers see everything, but one thing folks seem not to see is our effort, sweat and tears ... we work very hard trying to get the latest toys etc from Japan, restocking the manga or putting out comics for New Comics day, buying designer toys from the Far East and America for our customers, we endeavour to try and get in any requests for our customers. New products from Japan we try to be the first ones with it! We get an enormous amount of CVs for all three shops because customers think it's more of a doss than hardwork. Staff love working at Orbital because its laid back and not corporate but there's loads of hardwork involved.
TRE: what is the strangest/weirdest non-toy/comic thing anyone has ever walked in and asked you guys for?
ORB: Do we photocopy, sell stamps...
TRE: and what did you folks say/do?
ORB: We politely said no and directed them somewhere else.
TRE: who are the mad folks running Orbital? (ie. who are the folks the customers need to kiss-up to LOL) and how did you folks end up starting Orbital?
ORB: Orbital has about 15 staff altogether. Some are part timers at university, for others this is their "rice bowl" too. Damian is the "Big Boss" even some customers have started to call him that too!
Damian's love and passion for comics, manga and toys led him to open his first shop "Orbital Comics" in London in 2001. It was a real struggle for him and many of his competitors doubted he would survive 6 months especially with huge competition like Forbidden Planet located just a walk away. Through sheer effort and the drive to succeed his comic shop has now grown into three shops in central London. When he first started he was the smallest comic shop in London. Now, he's the second biggest comic shop in London after Forbidden Planet.
TRE: what do you folks collect yourselves?
ORB: Comics like Dark Tower, World War Hulk, The Boys, all the action comics
Manga -Naruto,Deathnote, Bleach, FruitsBasket, GTO
Toys - Tokidoki, Cardboy Sneakers, CI Boys, Toy2R Qees, House of Liu
TOYSREVIL: cheers for your time and trouble Emily! in closing, do share with us what can regulars look forward to at Orbital (in the near future)
ORBITAL: We already have signings but we're aiming to do more, especially as there are more and more films these days are based on Comics. 40 days of night is coming out soon and we hope to get Ben Templesmith and Steve Niles to come and do a signing. May be we'll be able to get a couple of designers to do a signing at our shop for Orbital Designer Toys. For Orbital Manga we're hoping to organize a Gundam Workshop, where we show customers how to make, paint discuss great little tips, cosplay competitions and for all three shops lots of different promotions through out the year. Next year February will be Orbital Manga's first year anniversary so we'll be doing something special there too. To hear about our promotions join us on "Facebook". Do a search for Orbital Comics. [peep here]
EMILY/ORBITAL: Whenever you're in London give us shout and we'll take you around ... our Designer Toy Shop is small but has lots of little goodies :) Triclops boys named it a "Treasure Trove" and very Japanese/HongKong style layout...
TOYSREVIL: will definitely take you up on that offer whenever im in town, Emily! cheers :)
