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WINCHESTER — A collectibles shop in the Kernstown area has been calling on famous friends to help boost business, and the strategy has been a resounding success.
Squared Circle Collectibles, 3343 Valley Pike near Winchester, has already welcomed some of the country’s most well-known professional wrestlers — Jake “The Snake” Roberts, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ted DiBiase, Allie (aka The Bunny), Mick Foley and many others — as well as several pop-culture icons including Jason Faunt from the TV show “Power Rangers Time Force,” Alex Vincent from the “Child’s Play” movie series and Tony Daniels, an actor best known for voicing Tony the Tiger since 2004.
“We have talent agencies that we work with,” Squared Circle Collectibles co-owner Tom Ross Jr. said last week.
“I’ve reached out to some [celebrities] on my own,” added the store’s other owner, Josh Fox. “A lot of them, we’ve gotten friendly with.”
The store’s roster of celebrity guests will expand next weekend when Squared Circle Collectibles hosts Kat Cressida, whose iconic voice-acting roles have included Dee Dee from the Cartoon Network show “Dexter’s Laboratory,” the Bride in The Haunted Mansion rides at Disneyland and Disney World, and a slate of appearances in popular video games including “The Wolf Among Us,” “Marvel Heroes,” “The Elder Scrolls” and “World of Warcraft.”
Fox and Ross, who opened Squared Circle Collectibles on Jan. 8, 2022, with a special appearance by former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star Enzo Amore, said the celebrity visits have been a great way to get customers into the store.
“We’ve had crowds all the way around the back of the gas station over there,” Fox said, pointing to the Sunoco station next door. “We do fairly well with the events.”
Fox and Ross opened Squared Circle Collectibles with the initial intent of exclusively selling wrestling memorabilia, but realized their business would benefit if they expanded its offerings.
“Most females aren’t into wrestling so we needed to have a little bit of everything,” Fox said. “We started doing Transformers, Pokémon, Marvel and DC. The Funko Pops are one of our best sellers right now. … We have all kinds of stuff in here.”
(Crash course for those not familiar with the above pop culture references: Transformers is a line of cartoons, movies and toys that features vehicles that convert into robots; Pokémon is a media franchise from Japan that includes trading cards, video games, TV shows and movies; Marvel and DC are the two leading U.S. publishers of comic books, many of which have been turned into wildly successful movies including “The Avengers” and “Batman Begins”; and Funko Pops are collectible figurines featuring a range of people and characters from the worlds of movies, TV, music, sports and more.)
“We envisioned the store as a place for people who love wrestling and other genres,” Ross said. “People can come in and feel comfortable hanging out.”
“There are not a whole lot of stores around here that are doing what we’re doing,” Fox added.
For most celebrity appearances at Squared Circle Collectibles, Fox and Ross sell advance or at-the-door packages that give customers an opportunity to meet the guest and, perhaps, take home a souvenir, autograph or photo.
“The pre-orders kind of give us a head count on how many people are coming,” Ross said.
For next weekend’s event, Cressida will sign autographs and sell her own collectibles to interested attendees. There is no admission fee for her store appearances from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 17 and 18.
Squared Circle Collectibles is offering a limited number of VIP packages for a private event with Cressida on the evening of June 17. Each package costs $40 and includes an autographed photo, a Q&A session with the voice actor, a panel discussion on The Haunted Mansion rides, pizza and beverages. The VIP packages are now available for purchase at the store’s website, squaredcircle21.com.
In the coming weeks, Fox and Ross said they expect more visits from celebrity guests at Squared Circle Collectibles.
“We’re hoping to have more legends from the WWE,” Fox said, “and we’re hoping to do more horror stuff, horror actors.”
“And there are probably going to be some more Power Rangers because Jason Faunt said he was going to tell people about us,” Ross added. “We’ll have a nice mixture, different genres for different people.”
