Kadokawa Forms New Entity to Scale North American Retail

Tokyo-based Kadokawa Corporation has set up a new U.S. subsidiary to run its growing Manga Spot retail chain, the company said on April 27.

KADOKAWA Retail Ventures, LLC (KRV), incorporated in February 2026 and based in New York, will take over management of Manga Spot from KADOKAWA World Entertainment, Inc. (KWE), the group's North American holding company. KWE opened the first Manga Spot in New York in October 2023, and the manga and light novel retail chain has since grown to 10 stores across the U.S., including locations in Chicago, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Bloomington, Ind.

Kurt Hassler, who co-founded Yen Press in 2006 and serves as its publisher and as CEO of KWE, will lead KRV as president. Hassler spent eight years as a manga and graphic-novel buyer at Borders Group earlier in his career, where he expanded the chain's manga sections, according to industry trade publication ICv2.

Global Media Mix Strategy Anchoring KADOKAWA Retail Ventures

Kadokawa positions KRV within its "Global Media Mix with Technology" strategy, which links its publishing, anime, gaming and merchandising businesses around shared intellectual property. Running its own retail channel gives the company tighter control over product launches tied to anime releases and publishing cycles, the announcement said.

The expansion comes as the U.S. market for manga and light novels grows quickly. A Research and Markets report distributed in April 2026 valued the U.S. manga market at $5.26 billion in 2025 and projected it to reach $19.57 billion by 2034, a compound annual growth rate of 15.72%. A separate Grand View Research estimate placed the 2024 market at $1.06 billion and projected 24% annual growth through 2030, indicating wide variance in how analysts size the segment.

Kadokawa said its experience operating in the U.S. since 2023, including in-store events and autograph sessions, has driven sales growth at Manga Spot locations. The company said retail outlets give it direct contact with fans and that many parts of the U.S. still lack physical stores carrying manga and related merchandise.

KRV will focus on opening more Manga Spot locations across North America, improving store-level operations, and tightening coordination with the group's publishing and merchandising arms, the company said.

The new unit comes alongside other recent Kadokawa initiatives, including plans for an anime city production hub in Japan aimed at speeding up IP creation, and the launch of KADOKAWA Creators, a separate initiative addressing the anime labor crisis. Kadokawa said the financial impact of establishing KRV on its consolidated results will be minimal, indicating the unit is structured for expansion rather than near-term earnings.