China - January 06, 2025 Anime, comics and gaming-themed merchandise craze hits China (Voice_over) Shops stocked with anime, comics and gaming-themed merchandise are reviving old shopping malls in China with a new generation of customers. In downtown Shanghai, this shopping mall has dedicated its entire building to ACG-themed shops, including established brands that choose the mall to launch their first brick and mortar storefronts. Beyond shopping for everything from pins to cards to acrylic figures, the mall is a place to hang out for young fans who cosplay as their favorite characters. The business complex's manager says sales have been great. (Sound_bite) Qian Junjie, Deputy manager, shopping plaza: "Our sales increased by 77 percent in 2024, with the customer flow up by 40 percent. For a shopping mall covering an area of about 10,000 square meters, the peak customer flow can hit 90,000. All the data has exceeded our expectations." (Voice_over) Known colloquially as gu zi, a homophone of the English word "goods", ACG-themed products are often sold in blind boxes. And some toys that require assembly, garage kits, can fetch upwards of 100 U.S. dollars. (Sound_bite) Anime enthusiast: "I am willing to pay about 13 U.S. dollars for a badge or a hanging ornament. For some high-end garage kits, those priced at about 137 U.S. dollars are within my reach." (Voice_over) Data from iiMedia Research shows that the market size of China's "goods" economy reached about 23 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]