We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ernesto Gutierrez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ernesto, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I was born and raised in Managua, Nicaragua, and as a kid in our local channels I used to watch anime in the afternoons after coming back from kindergarten. I remember growing up watching classic animes such as Dragon Ball, Samurai X and Yuyu Hakusho and my love for it just grew with time. As I got older and turned 14 I stumbled across an Anime Exclusive Channel named “Animax” and discovered what anime really was and all the shows that existed! Since then I’ve grown a massive appreciation for the culture and the work that goes behind each and every one anime. However, in my country there was no place to go shop for figures, posters or anything in particular, it just wasn’t mainstream or known at the time and place.

I continued to love and watch anime and when i turned 16 I worked part-time as a Receptionist for my family’s small business a small dry cleaner in Managua. While working with my parents I started learning how to use Photoshop with the help of youtube tutorials, forums and as I navigated the internet and it’s functions further, I learned about an “Anime Convention” that was happening in my city. My friends and I attended and saw all these vendors selling posters, small artifacts and most notoriously pins. I thought to myself that this would be something I would like to partake in all the time. The atmosphere and the comfort of being surrounded by people that love what you love was very fulfilling.

I spoke to my my mom about a business idea I had and she introduced to me to an old family friend who owns a Print Shop, he the explained me the costs of printing, posters, brooches, and the format he needed the files in order to print them. I immediately started designing different styles for an entire month. I was designing tons of posters, calendars and pins! Meanwhile I was saving up money as I continued to work with my mom to start my own “Anime Store”. After a Month of preparation I managed to save up 50 USD (which was roughly around 1,200 Nicaraguan dollars) I used all of my savings and invested in printing posters and brooches, I talked with the organizer at an anime convention and purchased my first booth as a vendor at the event to be able to sell all my designs. I asked one of my friends from High School to help me out at the event, and surprisingly after the end of the day I had made 100 USD and I realized I had doubled my money!

I really liked working the convention and since I made a lot more money than working for my mom plus it was something I really enjoy making I realized this was something I can create a business in. After my first convention I started attending these conventions on a regular basis at least once every two months. My dream at the time was to save up enough money to open my own Anime Shop in the city so, I started going to more events and eventually my small business started making more money than I could’ve ever imagined. From a $50 dollar profit after my first event to later on making 1,000 USD per convention!

Unfortunately due to political issues in the country and the instability I left the country and immigrated to the US in 2018. I got an Office Job in my Field (Digital Marketing) and started working with some Luxury Brands, and although I liked my job I knew this wasn’t where my heart was at. However, one day I was at home alone in my apartment in Miami and I wanted to go ahopping for some anime merchandise and to my surprise there were no shops near me. There wasn’t a single anime Shop in Miami. That’s where the idea popped up in my mind and I said to myself let’s open our own anime shop!

Besides working at my regular job I also did some marketing consulting on the weekends. I became friends with one of my clients, and I pitched him the idea of the shop and he told me “Let´s start small, you manage it and I´ll put the money and we go 50/50.” We started it as an Ebay Shop, and almost as soon as we started a whole year went by. Sales were good but the profit was not exactly what we needed it to be in order to go from and online store to a physical one.

I knew there were no Anime shops in Miami and according to the market research I did we have over 600K anime fanatics in Miami. I decided to quit my full time job and get a loan to open the business.

That’s how we opened our first Blackjack Store in July of 2021. I wanted Kids to have the dream place I didn´t have when I was a kid. I wanted teens and adults to be able to have some place they can go to and indulge and submerge themselves in their favorite animes. As a kid , I always wanted to be able to shop my favorite Anime, get a shirt or a Backpack and I couldn’t have that. I believe in spreading the appreciation for the culture and building a community around the country and make Blackjack a place where kids can be kids and adults can be kids and to be able to acquire high quality goods and also a great time with others like myself who love anime.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am someone who is deeply passionate about anime so it doesn’t feel like work for most of the time. It is so much fun to interact with people that like anime, and it is so enjoyable to receive new merch and feel that excitement others feel when they buy products from my store. It’s like sharing my happiness with others. I’m very disciplined and I personally think that’s what led me here. I work 6/7 days a week and I work very closely with my employees who are like my family to me. We sell everything from stickers, pins, and keychains to fugurines and large scale statues. I think what sets us apart in Blackjack is that we want you to leave the store happy and with something, wether it’s not in your budget or is something we gifted you. We always want the customers to feel appreciated and welcomed. We also don’t believe in a huge profit margin so we price things accordingly and we make it accessible to anyone.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started making my own pins and going to small conventions that were organized in my home country Nicaragua. I then understood this was something I wanted to make something out of so, I continued to work with my mom until I made enough money to be able to buy more merch and started selling online. I moved due to a political crisis in my country to the United States and I met someone in my work line that was interested in investing and that was it. Blackjack anime was created shortly after that.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met him through my old marketing job and funny enough the night we decided to create Blackjack we were both drinking at a bar, and i just felt very encouraged (could be because of the liquor) and I started spewing ideas and concepts and he was convinced this could be something more than just anime merch being sold and then we created Blackjack.

Contact Info:

• Website: bjanime.com
• Instagram: blackjack_anime
• Facebook: Blackjack Anime Store
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76188814/admin/
• Twitter: @AnimeBlackjack
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI2085G8NOIhBcaPYbn7yYQ

Image Credits
Lou Carrion Photography