Forbidden Planet (bookstore)

Forbidden Planet is the trading name of two separate science fiction, fantasy and horror bookshop chains across the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, and is named after the 1956 feature film of the same name.

The shops sell, in addition to books, comic books, graphic novels, manga, DVDs, video games, and a wide variety of toys, clothing and other collectible merchandise.

History

Founding

Forbidden Planet London is the name of the cult entertainment Megastore in London, UK, flagship of a national chain that includes Megastores in Bristol and Southampton, other stores throughout the midlands and the south of England, and an online presence. Specialising in movie and television merchandise, the stores retail art toys, comics, collectibles, DVDs, and graphic novels. They also host signings and events with authors, artists and other figures from cult media. Forbidden Planet London was the third major comics store in the city, eventually replacing what had been the leading shop, Derek Stokes's Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed, which had started in 1969, and coming after Frank and Joan Dobson's Weird Fantasy in New Cross. Much of FP's growth came after the demise of Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed, which went out of business in 1981. Forbidden Planet had grown out of the Titan Distributors business of Mike Lake, Nick Landau, and Mike Luckman; Titan itself having grown out of Comic Media Distributors.

The first Forbidden Planet began life in 1978 as a small store in Denmark Street. As the scope of the store expanded beyond comics to embrace film and television, a second store was opened just around the corner on St Giles High Street. The store's success led to overcrowding, necessitating a move to much larger premises on New Oxford Street. The original partners, in addition to improving their London store, paired with James Hamilton and Kenny Penman (today the main shareholders in Forbidden Planet International with Andrew Oddie, Richard Boxall and Colin Campbell) to open other stores. Penman and Hamilton were owners of one of the UK's oldest comics and SF stores, Science Fiction Bookshop, in Edinburgh, which opened around 1975. On September 30, 2003, the London store moved to even bigger premises at the eastern end of Shaftesbury Avenue.

The London Megastore opened in 2003. A landmark media event, it became a city landmark, the first high-street retail outlet to offer every kind of merchandise from individual science fiction, fantasy and cult mythologies. Synonymous with the new popular credibility that science fiction has enjoyed since the year 2000, it offers a primary West End location for tourists, shoppers and celebrity appearances.

Forbidden Planet opened a second Megastore in Clifton Heights in Bristol in 2005, and a third in Southampton in 2007. In 2006 the company launched forbiddenplanet.com, an e-commerce retail site offering a wide range of products and hosting details of the companyâ€™s many events and signings.

Expanding

The original chain split into two firms, called Forbidden Planet and Forbidden Planet Scotland (later renamed Forbidden Planet International). Forbidden Planet International grew beyond Scotland to include stores throughout the Midlands, in Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and majority ownership of two stores in New York City. The New York store was originally located at 56 East 12th Street and Broadway before moving across the street to 840 Broadway and East 13th Street in the 1990s. It operated there until its closing on July 22, 2012. On July 24, it reopened several doors south at 832 Broadway, where it would enjoy 3,400 square feet of retail space.

FPI also runs a blog featuring comics and SF related news, reviews and interviews with novelists and comics creators and has recently begun podcasting too. As well as the main webstore with a wide range of comics, SF and cult merchandise and graphic novels (including a number of British small press titles) there are also sites dedicated to new comics and back issues.

In total, between the two groups who trade under the same name, there are currently some 30 stores worldwide.

Locations