Reece Newell, 26, brother Kyle Newell, 24, and their best friend Jordan Doyle-Moxham, who are all from Harwich, will be opening their new collectibles store on April 8.
Reece said the shop named ‘JRK Collectables’ was named after the trio’s initials, saying: “It was a dream of ours, we never dreamed of riches and fame, we wanted to have a shop.
“It has been challenging but we each have a different area of expertise – we are not stepping on each other’s feet as we are all different.”
Space – The trio have made the most of the space within the store (Image: Submitted) Reece said the trio firstly shared all their collectibles and that as they know different people, they have been “helped out” too by friends to get started which has also created a sense of community.
The shop will sell collectibles including comic books, trading cards, film props, books, magazines, statues, Lego, Pokémon cards and will cater also to adults with more “retro” items.
Idea – One of the idea’s is to have visitors try on the Infinity Gauntlet (Left) on the opening day (Image: Submitted) Reece said that the main target audience was children with plushies, cartoons, and the popular square-headed Funko figurines of favourite characters being sold.
Reece said: “Our unit is right next to the Snug Café and the amount of people going there with their children will help.
“There is nothing that caters to children to Harwich, with toys and games like this. We thought there is no competition and also a community with the Snug being here for us.”
Reece said the “nerdy collectible store” was originally planned for the High Street but that was too expensive.
Instead, one of the 18 units at Kingsway Plaza was chosen with though “not a big unit” has been made to look bigger with space also being used vertically.
Reece, who has recently been a manager at a Caravan Camp, said the aim for all three of them was this to become a full-time job but for now the trio is using shifts to help them work both part time at the store and at their salaried jobs.
The shop will open on Monday April 7 to coincide with the start of the Easter Holidays with a potential cosplay competition and more to come.