Forbidden Planet (bookstore) - History

History

Forbidden Planet London is the largest cult megastore in the UK, flagship of a national chain that includes megastores in Bristol and Southampton as well as an online presence. Specialising in movie and television merchandise, the store also retails art toys on the high street and hosts genre signings and events.

Forbidden Planet was the third major comics store in London 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.

As well as improving their London store the original partners 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 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 original New York store was located at the corner of Broadway and East 13th Street, where it operated before 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.

Forbidden Planet Ltd. has concentrated its growth across the south of England and into the Midlands. In 2003, they moved the flagship New Oxford Street store to the much larger Megastore premises at 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London. A landmark media event, it became the first high-street retail outlet offering every type of merchandise from individual science fiction, fantasy and cult mythologies.

The London Megastore is a city landmark, hosting signings and events throughout the year. 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 an e-commerce retail site offering a wide range of products and hosting details of the company’s many events and signings.

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.