would a anime/manga cafe work in socal?
 

it's been my dream to have a anime/manga joint.you know,have a few sealed off anime booths.some couches and shelves loaded with the latest manga.serve coffee and snacks and japanese sodas..yes?..no?;) ;)

It may work, but it depends on where you are planning on opening it, it would be best if you opened it in a place where you know it will be successful and have make a list of regulars, but it will cost you a lot of money to put it up and maintain it, still if you can do it, I say go for it.

Brilliant idea. Brilliant. :p

But how would you make profit? Unless you need to pay to read the manga and drink the coffee/soda. Or make it too nice of a place that people donate $20 every time they come in :p
I say go for it, I'll be your first customer!

Yeah it would be cool. That kind of business would not survive around here though, not enough people have heard of anime/manga let alone like it. A maid cafe would do well here, since theres a ton of pervs, LMAO. Saying that, theres no shortage of pervs anywhere really :p

Lol, I've always had the same idea.

I figure, own a small shop with a maid/manga cafe type place attached, or maybe just a restaraunt renting out a section of the store.

That way, people come for the food, stay for the cafe, and leave with a DVD or book.

Of course, that's probably gonna cost a ton, and the company won't take off immediately, but one must be willing to persevere, as with all things in life.

I'm sure that's not true. There's plenty of people who would come in out of curiosity, or because "Oh, I found a cafe that plays cartoons". Not to mention that not every anime fan is a HUGE anime fan that watches things online and imports figurines, etc. Some just enjoy dubs and a plushie or two they might find at some store. Those people would probably like it to. Laugh at it? Why would some one laugh at it any more than any other kind of special interests place? Not everyone will like every idea, but getting laughed at is no reason not to do it. If people stopped liking something just because they were laughed at, there'd be a hell of a lot less fans of ANYTHING, not just anime.

I don't know much about the southern California area, but I think it's a great idea.

You know I've been wondering the same thing lately. I've never really had any aspirations for opening one, but I would definitely love to have a local anime/manga cafe. I could see probably working though in a big enough area, like a city or something. Comic stores seem to always have a pretty large group of people that just hang around so an anime/manga would probably attract the same kind of crowd. If you think you might have a good customer base then I say go for it. Good luck! :)

Y'know, that would actually work in Arlington Heights.
There's a lot of Japanese in the area, or they travel there
because of all the other Japanese stores around there.

It would depend on the area. As the above poster mentioned, some areas will have a higher Japanese population.

Maybe consider including american comics/cartoons as well as manga and anime.
It's a great idea though, I'd definitely visit for a cuppa.