Happy Japan in Nashville Closing!
Posted by ChinkyD on 1/17/2012
Got some sad news yesterday in my e-mail:
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!
It is with great sadness that Happy Japan is going out of business. We wanted to thank our customers for their years of patronage by have a final sale!
Starting Saturday, January 6, all merchandise will be 50% off!!!!
All merchandise must go! Sale will end at the end of January or when everything is sold, whichever comes first.
For those not in the know, Happy Japan is (was?) a great little boutique shop in the middle of Nashville that offered an array of Japanese bento accessories, anime and manga merchandise, and a bit of cosplay items like wigs and dresses. They also carried Japanese snacks and had cold Ramune in stock. Sadly, these are the final days of this unique store.
Knowing that their time was short, my girlfriend and I made the trip today to see Happy Japan one last time. I’m usually not a fan of going to stores that are closing, as it often feels like you’re in a kettle of vultures circling soon-to-be-deceased prey. But we wanted to at least find out the reason they were closing, and also see if there were any final items we could buy before being forced to purchase everything Japanese from the Internet.
Sure enough, the parking lot (which is admittedly small) was packed, and inside was about the same. I’m sure most people that work in a closing store see these clearance crowds and ask themselves where these people were when they needed business. Most everything is up for sale, minus some of the one-of-a-kind signage and artwork of Happy Japan’s mascot Yuki:
What will happen to Yuki now?
Sure enough, much of the fashion items have been purchased, and it looks like a sizable chunk of the anime merchandise and snacks were being picked up as well. But there was still quite a large selection of Pokemon and bento items available. Everything is 50% off, so it’s likely to go quick.
We took the liberty of taking a couple parting photos of Happy Japan:
This shelf used to house jewelry and hairpieces for ladies. Now so empty…
click to enlarge
Still quite a bit of food prep accessories are in stock but going fast.
click to enlarge
Her final purchase from Happy Japan! Framed Japanese patterned fabric, hair ties, and a Miku Hatsune sticker set.
I did take a moment to ask the clerk why they were closing, because it was never made abundantly clear in the email. The clerk told me that some the items they sold were available for less at big-box stores and they just couldn’t compete financially. That’s really sad to hear, of course. But I guess I’ve personally not seen many of the items here in any local store. If she was talking about the Internet, then I guess it makes a little more sense. Anime fans are unique in that they are accustomed to purchasing their items almost exclusively online. But then again one reason anime conventions are so popular are the dealer rooms, where people can purchase items right over the counter. But unfortunately it looks like Happy Japan just wasn’t able to survive running a full-time store.
As for the “Happy Eating” truck, I have no idea what the status is. I do remember that they had some issues with the truck several months ago, but since then the Twitter feed has gone dark. I’d be even more sad to see this go, as the super-cool truck had awesome snacks that even my out-of-town friends would try to hunt down when in Nashville.
It’s depressing to see this business shut down, as it seemed to be filling a niche with a lot of spending power. But we’ll always have the memories…
Be sure to stop by if you are close to wish them well during their final days:
Happy Japan
2817 Bransford Avenue
Nashville, TN 37204
615-457-2906
Goodbye and thanks for everything!
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