An oasis for comic and pop culture enthusiasts, The Entertainment Store comprises of all things quirky and fun for one’s personal merchandise collection. Established in early 2013, the Entertainment Store is the brainchild of two pop-culture fanboys Satish and Sunil Khemchandani who through this brand are reliving their childhood and celebrating their passion from TV shows, Movies to Video Games Music and Comics.
Growing up in the fictional world of comics such as Batman, Phantom, Tintin, Chacha Choudhary and many more, Satish and Sunil understood that the comic book world was something that would stay with an individual and will always have a deeper impact in their lives. Having been exposed to the western culture of comic con, public screenings and movie marathons, the fanatic duo realised the lack of fan merchandise stores in the country and that consumers would resort to stores aboard. This encouraged them to design a unique space where the Indian audience would get an opportunity to explore and own merchandise of their beloved characters. From Harry’s wand and Darth Vader’s lightsaber to AC/DC’s poster, Entertainment Store is created with a vision to celebrate the love for pop-culture, which focuses on the characters as opposed to the category.
The pop-culture destination showcases a range of original merchandise from the most popular TV Shows, Movies to Video Games Music and Comics; From games to toys and apparels, figurines, posters and even knick-knacks, the brand provides a diverse collection of products to their customers. From old classics to hot favourites, the store showcases a range of merchandise be it classic cult movies like The Godfather to favourite TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Game of Thrones. The brand also presents classic merchandise for fanatics of not only Phantom and Asterix, but also Archie, Garfield and Tintin, providing a colourful escapism, Entertainment store has created a space to let a person rejoice in their fandom.
The latest flagship store is nestled at the entertainment hub of the city in Todi Mills, Lower Parel. The Entertainment Spread across 1600 sq ft, the store exhibits a fascinating range of merchandise right from Lightsabers, Game of Throne’s novelties, action figure collectible from Harry Potter wands, figurines of Asterix, Simpson, Batman, Joker to list a few.
Mumbai Live interacted with Satish Khemchandani - Co-founder & Partner of Entertainment Store
Inspiration behind starting 'The Entertainment Store' and the journey
My brother Sunil and I are both fanboys and grew up on a steady diet of comics, TV shows, video games & music. Being 80's kids- He-man, Gi Joe, Phantom, Tintin, Asterix & Superman were a big part of our lives growing up. While traveling abroad, we realised the lack of fan merchandise available in India, ideally If one wanted to purchase some fan merchandise they had to typically wait for someone to come down from the US /UK to get these. This got us thinking of creating a destination in India for fans like us; space which celebrates the love of TV, movies, comics & music.
We are second generation entrepreneurs and our Dad was in the business of distribution of audio cassettes, CDs & DVDs. When we got involved we wanted to cater to more than just music fanatics and understanding the lack of retailers for pop-culture merchandise, pushed us to start with the Entertainment Store. While setting up the store we were quite clear that we would sell only official merchandise so we contacted content producers, licensors, licensees, and distributors from across the world and to our surprise, many of them responded quite positively. The core idea of Entertainment Store came from the need of creating a one stop destination for fans, that caters to the character as opposed to the category.
How far has India come in terms of accepting western pop culture
Its come quite far- a good indicator of this is the growth in viewership in India for Hollywood content. To give you an example, a couple of years ago the highest grossing Hollywood film in India had a box office collection of approx. ₹100 cr. Last year the highest grossing Hollywood film in India had a box office collection of ₹297 cr.! Which gives us an indication that the market is growing rapidly. We also see this growth reflected in the growth of the merchandise business.
How much has original Indian content contributed to pop-culture?
Sadly, Indian content has not been explored too much in terms of merchandise, especially in the youth segment. We did create official merchandise for Baahubali and it did quite well for us. We worked on whole range of apparel, accessories, stationery, posters & mugs for Baahubali and the response from fans was really encouraging. We hope to try more such content in the near future.
What does the entertainment store want to achieve in the future?
In the future, we hope to be the leading pop culture retailer in India. We are looking at doing this by continuing to expand our store foot print to other locations in the country and by providing great product through experiential stores. We're also going to expand our digital business through our online website entertainmentstore.in.
With the first dedicated store in the city, do you believe that physical presence will be more effective than digital presence?
I do believe that at present, physical stores will be more effective in India as there is a lack of space which cater to fans of pop culture. One can't ignore the digital medium though, an ideal set up in our opinion would be experiential physical stores supported by an online channel to cater to consumers who can't access our outlets.
Through physical outlets, we can create an experience for pop culture fans. At our outlet, fans cannot just touch and feel merchandise from across the world but can also meet up and hang out with other fans, take part in events or just sit down and read a comic. Through a digital medium, the business becomes largely focused just on selling more product and there is very limited engagement with the fan community.
The Entertainment Store is the Robin to your Batman, the Bucky to your Captain America or even the Ron to your Harry. Just like Hogwarts, Entertainment Store intends to be there to welcome you home.
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