We Funko Pop-in to The Collector’s Universe in Central Arcade Leeds

We meet Adam Marshall from The Collector's Universe in Leeds' Central Aracde to discuss his shop and extensive ‘Funko Pop!’ collection.

Transcript

00:00 It started with my brother actually. He started collecting the Funko Pops. I started collecting

00:08 Game of Thrones Funko Pops. Then it went from there and then I fell in love with, had icons.

00:15 Stuff like the McDonald's line, all like breakfast cereal lines, Tony the Tiger. And I set my

00:22 task to get every single one. But then I kept bringing them out over and over and the one

00:28 that I really wanted, there's only 24 and it's going to set me back about £20,000 for that.

00:34 It was like when all this started, was during lockdown, being made redundant, was buying and

00:44 selling just to make a bit of extra money. Then I met a good friend of mine. A lot of knowledge

00:50 came from him and it's how it's grown today. It's a man called Mike Becker now who owns Funko. So

00:59 they do lots of Comic Cons. I know that years have become instead of just toys, more collectible

01:06 items. Where the most recent record sale was $230,000 in cash for one. The ones you want to

01:15 be collecting are actually the limited number ones. The rarer to find. And then you get stuff

01:25 like the shared sticker, what we get over here in Europe. And over in America, you got the Target

01:33 stickers, Walmart, Entertainment Earth, the actual Comic Con stickers. That's what holds the money.

01:39 When you think you've caught up, you see that they're announcing even more. And you're like,

01:45 "Oh no." Especially when you're wanting to get them before the prices shoot up. Or you could pay,

01:52 I paid £300 for one Pop ones and then they re-released it. Now it's about £40. Since after

02:00 COVID, I used to come into Leeds all the time. It's been a big decrease in footfall, especially

02:07 in the arcade because a lot of people don't know there's shops upstairs. Now online's taking over

02:13 and making a big impact on businesses. I've talked to a lot of shop owners and they're doing the same.

02:19 There's a lot of them closing down. But the ups of it, being your own boss. Especially interacting

02:31 with customers. Find out what they like, certain pops that they want, certain items you can order

02:37 in. Business in Leeds and all the way around the UK is always going to be hit and miss. Especially

02:44 with footfall shrinking and then online taking over. Just local shops just need people to support

02:54 them. Either it's just coming in, saying hello, giving some support or just buying one item. Everything makes a difference.