Giant Robot Store and GR2 News – Page 1864 – GiantRobotStore

News · May 19, 2006

By Eric on 2006-05-19

Part 8 of the publishing series. 8. Thinking ahead – thanks for the idea… Poketo asked this question: With all of the things on your plate… mag, store, restaurant, and chilling out… daily stuff seems to consume. how do you make time and what is your approach to ‘thinking ahead’, taking GR where its been and where its going? Now, it’s late nite talk show time For Giant Robot, thinking ahead isn’t exactly part of the program. There are two ways to go about growing just about anything. It’s force feeding it, and pushing growth, which is sort of like steroids via marketing and getting whatever you’re doing out there in a hurry. It’s the notion of forcing a square into a circle. The second way, is to go organic, which is good and bad. In GR’s case, we grow as we go. There’s no five year plan, marketing plan, or growth plan. Nothing is written down and nothing is deliberate. However, we do care about where we’re going, but we don’t exactly plan it. Souther Salazar is having a show at GR NYC, where I’m at right now. If you know Souther, you can pretty much guess that he doesn’t plan too far ahead. It works for him. The last entry was about diversifying. We did that without planning it. As we saw needs, we tried to fill them. The needs weren’t public needs, but they were our own needs. The first store opened in 2001 because our webstore was overgrowing it’s space. We needed a place to put our goods, and a store was a logical way to deal with that. The second store happened when our first store got overpacked, and the art exhibitions we wanted to have required more space. We opened GR2 in 2003. The restaurant was a little different. I ate at the udon shop which was the previous occupant of the gr/eats space. One day I ate there, and they told me they were closing down. The next day, we decided to try our hand at opening a restaurant, and that was an idea until I ate udon that one day. Thinking ahead for GR isn’t a big concern. It may be something important for others, since without a plan, you won’t be able to borrow or get investment. Who’s going to believe that you’ll spend their money without blowing it? For us, these kinds of plans aren’t our style. Right now, we’re happy with the direction things are moving, and we’re letting time, the changes outside of us, and our own needs dictate a little of our direction. The only plan I have now is to keep on going, and that’s actually a long term plan.

May 19, 2006

By gr on 2006-05-19

Part 8 of the publishing series.

8. Thinking ahead - thanks for the idea...

Poketo asked this question:

With all of the things on your plate... mag, store, restaurant, and chilling out... daily stuff seems to consume. how do you make time and what is your approach to 'thinking ahead', taking GR where its been and where its going? Now, it's late nite talk show time :)

For Giant Robot, thinking ahead...

News · May 18, 2006

By Eric on 2006-05-18

Part 7 in the publishing series. 7. Be a Pimp and Diversify. For small mags, I think you gotta do this. At any given time, there are thousands of magazines running in the US. This includes industry only magazines. For example, there might be titles like: Sugar Beet magazine (not the one about whacking the stalk), Bowhunter (a mag about shooting down animals with a bow – this one is real and it’s subscription only, so you never see it), and stuff like AAA’s Sunset magazine which you get free as a member. With so many magazines out there, and let’s say “you” being a small entity, how can you survive? The answer is, not everyone can. As many magazines that come up, that many have to close down. If you’re a newsstand magazine, then there’s only so much space you can occupy on a person’s newsstand shelf for the month, and a step after that, there’s only so much space on one’s bookshelf or coffee table at home. Someone’s gonna fall. Hustle and Flow, the movie actually serves as a decent example. Terence Howard was a pimp with a car and only one ho. They’d sit in the car until a “john” rolled up looking for the menu of, $20 in the frontseat, $40 in the backseat. But even Terence knew that he needed to diversify. How did he do it? I’m sure he would have loved being like SF’s real super pimp, Fillmore Slim with a stable of 10 ladies. But instead, he got into the rap game. So now he has his ho, who doubled as a agent/manager, found some friends, and cut some songs onto a CD with no money! He also went to prison which ups his street value, while his song gets played on the radio. So now, he’s a pimp (revenue stream #1), and has a song on the radio which sells his single. (NEW revenue stream #2). It’s an example of diversity. Giant Robot started making t-shirts in 1995 or 1996. We’d do iron-ons. Then we sold stuff like stiletto knives from Mexico, books, and toys. We did mail order, then it became webstore, then real store, then stores. (This is a long story that I’ll get to this another time) If you know GR, then you know that there’s a lot going on. I wouldn’t dare say we’re like a pimp, but I think the idea is to be diverse. It’s the same reason why you’re supposed to invest across the board and not just in one company. It’s why there’s a Dow Jones Industrials list, so one can see that there’s a benchmark average of growth (or not), and it’s a list of many companies across the board. It’s also why retail stores sell more than one item. You most likely won’t get enough money to make it in publishing. So step two has to be, hedge your bets elsewhere to make yourselves “wider.” This is all easier said than...

May 18, 2006

By gr on 2006-05-18

Part 7 in the publishing series.

7. Be a Pimp and Diversify.

For small mags, I think you gotta do this. At any given time, there are thousands of magazines running in the US. This includes industry only magazines. For example, there might be titles like: Sugar Beet magazine (not the one about whacking the stalk), Bowhunter (a mag about shooting down animals with a bow - this one is real and it's...

News · May 17, 2006

By Eric on 2006-05-18

Part 6! 6. Hold it! Have balance. After reading my last two entries which would surely drive most people crazy, now I suggest to do something completely opposite. Be into what you do, but don’t forget what’s outside. A lot of publishing and DIY-anything is about sacrifice. People don’t tell you that part, but it’s true. You’re going to miss parties, shows, and your favorite TV show, and that’s part of the territory, but learning how to balance work and the non work is one of the toughest things to learn. Admittedly, I haven’t quite figured it all out yet. This is me picking off some snacks at Saelee Oh’s opening in NYC. Not an exciting photo, but look at the Red Vines font! You know that feeling, when you go out of town for a week, and you come back and it feels like you missed out on a lot of stuff? Maybe it happens less with internet and cell phones, but that weird feeling can happen when you’re trapped inside working on your project. Although the hard work is usually fun, it’s a good idea to pull your noggin out of your work, use the flim flams and join in on other things in the world. Another issue with being an editor is that even though the hard work you put in is valuable, not being part of the world will eventually make you useless to your own publication. Ideally, a long term editor or publisher or store owner should improve with time and not end up being a fossil. In GR world, we’re sort of fortunate, since the publication has always been based on whatever we’re into. That means, we don’t need to be up on the latest Asian American “rock star” who’s the invisible bassist of a top 40 band, the cute actress who’s in a film for a blink of a moment, or identity finding comedy / theater group. I think we can do the hermit issue if we wanted, and I’d put my money down that it would turn out interesting.