In 1994, Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, two UCLA grads, published the first issue of a black-and-white zine called Giant Robot that focused on a hodgepodge of "cool stuff"—from collectible toys, comics and Hong Kong action films to anime and street art—and helped usher in an era of fascination with Asian pop ephemera by hip consumers and highbrow academics alike.
More than 10 years later, Giant Robot has grown into a fringe cult enterprise. The publication is now a slick, full-color magazine, and the company has added a retail component that includes an online store, five bricks-and-mortar outlets, a gallery and a restaurant. The five GR stores include new outlets in New York City and in Los Angeles's Silverlake district. Brent Fierro, manager of GRNY in New York, described the store as "a place that brings GR readers together." The store has about 500 square feet of selling space jammed with GR's mix of colorful toys, T-shirts, comics, zines and books—a cutting-edge inventory that attracts a young, hipster clientele.
Books make up about a third of GRNY's inventory, said Fierro, pointing to long shelves full of titles on street art, photography and edgy designers, plus lots of graphic novels. Publishers include quirky art-book houses like PowerHouse Books, Last Gasp and Gingko Press, along with titles on history, culture, music and design from the likes of Yale University Press and Chronicle Books.
All the buying for GR stores is done by Nakamura, who works out of GR1, the original Giant Robot store in Los Angeles. Nakamura said GR stores focus on "products steeped in design and graphics." He favors indie publishers and unusual packaging, and laughed when asked about the product mix. "Everything we sell is basically stuff I like," he said. Additional stores may come, Nakamura said, "but not right now."
