I started this business in Spring 2021. At this point we're coming up on two years in business.

The word Takara means Treasure or precious object in Japanese. Cafe means cafe. So as a fun fact, My initials are CT, so while I was searching for words that sounded aesthetically pleasing, I came across Takara. As a collector, I was very much attracted to that word because my manga collection is like my treasure. The reason why cafe is in the name is inspired from manga cafes overseas. 

My name is Cory, I have been running Takara Cafe myself full time for the last almost two years. Recently, I have brought on my best friend Joey as a full time employee to help me out with order processing and warehouse management. 

GOAL #1: My personal goal for 2023 is to be able to take a step away from order processing and have a full time team of 1-2 people that can handle all my warehouse operations. This would enable me to have more free time to attend Cons, livestream and other fun events involving the Takara community.

GOAL #2: I would really like to hit $1,000,000 in sales for the year of 2022. This would allow me to expand the business as mentioned in goal #1. 

GOAL #3: My last business goal would be to have official Takara Cafe merchandising, t-shirts, bookmarks, stickers, etc. This has probably been the longest running goal of mine since forming the business. Ive always wanted to have my own top quality merch.

The Product: To make sure I maximize profits and growth of the company, Takara Cafe is mainly a drop shipping style business. What does this mean exactly? Well, instead of having physical inventory, all products are 'to order' from my distributors. Meaning, when I receive your order, I then place that order with my suppliers and then the products are shipped to me. The result is that I do not have to spend money on inventory sitting on the shelves.

The Operation: Unfortunately because I operate in this manner, the result is that orders have a slower turn around time than some other traditional retailers. Ideally, most orders from my suppliers are received within 7-10 business days, and then shipped within 2-3 business days.  Due to the sheer growth over the last 6 months, processing times have definitely been slower than I would like, this is why I would really like to succeed in having a dedicated warehouse team of 1-2 people that are processing orders all the time. 

ANSWER:

- The customer can cancel their order at any time as long as it has not arrived at my warehouse for processing. If your order is in the shipping queue to be processed, you will be unable to cancel unless you pay a 10% restocking fee for all items.

EXCEPTIONS:

- You placed an in stock order and it still has not shipped out within 30days of placing your order. You can cancel without paying the restocking fee.

- If you have a backorder, pre-order or I just haven't received your items for processing yet, you can cancel with no restocking fee.

ANSWER:

- If you have already received your order but would like to return the items, please contact our customer service team via the Contact Form below. For any returns we process that are non-damage related, we charge a 10% restocking fee that will be deducted from your order total. As well, you will be responsible for shipping to return the item. You will have 14 days from the delivery date of your order to process a return.

ANSWER:

- If your order was not damaged in transit but you would like an exchange for any reason, just reach out via the Contact Form below. You will be responsible for the shipping cost for the return and for the new books as well. However, we will waive the restocking fee, so long as the item isn't damaged. You will have 14 days from the delivery date of your order to process an exchange.

ANSWER:

- If you have selected Navidium insurance at checkout, you can make a claim here.

DO NOT recycle or throw away your box/packing materials until your claim has been completed. 

- If you did not select insurance at checkout, you will not be entitled to any insurance or replacement benefits. 

- YES. We do actually send out partials at customer request. To qualify for partial shipping, you need to have at least 10 items in stock/ready to ship in a single order. However, If you request a partial shipping request, and the items remaining on your order are LESS THAN 10, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXTRA SHIPPING COSTS. (Shipping for domestic starts at $3.80 and goes up $1 per item.)

Example #1: If you have an order with 25 items but only 20 are in stock and you request to have those 20 partial shipped, the customer will be responsible for the shipping of the last 5 items.

Example #2: If you have an order with 25 items and request to have 12 shipped ahead of time and wait for the other 13. This order will qualify for two free partial shipments.