A quick online search revealed that there was a Gashapon Bandai Official Shop not far from me in the old Westfield Mall that was rebranded as The Shoppes at Carlsbad.
It seemed like a strange place to locate a gashapon center since North County never really seemed like a center of fandom to me, but I decided to make a trip over to take a look.
What I found when I got there amazed me. When I saw the sign for the NinjaXchange Collectible Expo in the old Sears location in the southwest corner of the mall, the first thing that came to mind was the famous Frank & Son Collectible Show in the City of Industry.
Upon entering the doors, my belief was confirmed by all of the booths selling toys, games, cards, and other goods.
The hall was not as crowded as Frank & Son, but there were a fair number of people shopping.
There was an active section for card gaming.
A mini race track for drift racing.
Some crane game machines.
Chatting with some of the vendors, I found out the NinjaXchange started about 8 months ago. The hall is open Friday through Sunday, but the individual booths may have different operating hours.
Apparently the booth prices are lower than Frank & Son, which is certainly a consideration for doing business. I didn't look closely at the price of items, but I didn't see anything outrageous.
Displays throughout the store list the booths and their locations.
The mall itself didn't seem to have a lot of people in it for a weekend.
Right next to the NinjaXchange was Comic -N- Stuff.
Then on the corner was the Bandai gashapon shop that I was originally looking for.
I really wish that more fandom related stores would start infiltrating this mall and turn it into something like Nakano Broadway.
