What do you do when one of the greatest online toy stores has its immense headquarters only 40 minutes from your house? You ask for a tour, of course! And that’s exactly what happened when I asked the amazing people at Entertainment Earth if I could pay their offices a visit and take a spin through and learn more about everything that’s going on there!

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I started my tour at Entertainment Earth by checking out the nearly 64,000 square foot warehouse first. For perspective, Entertainment Earth does not have multiple distribution centers. All of the action takes place in house at the Simi Valley, California headquarters. The offices boast the customer services reps, marketing, I.T, meeting rooms, filming rooms, photo rooms, company owners/CEO offices, warehouse, and some kick-ass break rooms.

I learned a brief history of the company– Entertainment Earth has always been an eCommerce brand and launched in 1996, and since 1996, the Entertainment Earth proprietary, Mint Condition Guarantee™ “has ensured that you as a valued client receive the best possible product in the best possible condition”. The following has also been taken from the Entertainment Earth website, used with permission:

• We guarantee that the packaging for in-stock action figures, bobbleheads, Pop!s, and statues will be shipped in the best condition and that it’s the best possible packaging available anywhere unless otherwise noted in a product’s name or description.
• Most stores attempt to sell or ship factory-sealed cases of action figures and other items without regard to bent cards, crushed packaging bubbles, or other packaging damage that collectors care about. Entertainment Earth, however, inspects each and every item before we ship it to you. If any defect is found, we won’t ship it, and if the shipping carrier damages a product, we’ll replace it.
• We guarantee that the product you receive has no price stickers, security stamps, or hole punches (unless we’re selling an item that came from another retailer). Many stores – online and offline – put price tags, security stickers, or UPC stickers directly on the packaging, thus reducing the potential collectible value. Entertainment Earth believes the packaging is as important as the item inside and never affixes stickers or labels directly to the products we ship.
• We guarantee that we do not remove rare items or variations from the products we ship to you. We ship you the exact product the manufacturer sends to us, and we never do anything to your collectible to reduce its aftermarket value.
• Finally, we guarantee to sell you original product. All the items we sell are officially licensed (if necessary) and come in original packaging.

It’s a utopia – toys, toys, and more toys everywhere (though beautifully organized, of course!) I was walked through the amazing (and seriously high tech) process Entertainment Earth has in place is the constant movement of product through the immense ecosystem that is the warehouse. Items are received (and shipped, of course) daily, and as certain release dates approach, certain toys are brought down from “the trees” then moved closer and closer to the front of the warehouse for instant packing and shipping. Some items that are super popular are all presold before they are even delivered, and collectibles like those never make it up to the higher levels of the warehouse– they are placed up front, ready to go once release day hits.

Entertainment Earth offers something incredibly special for its biggest fans. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll compare it to the Nickelodeon Super Toy Run of yesteryear. Do you (older people) remember when Nickelodeon would team up with Toys R Us and give you a certain amount of time in the store? Well, Entertainment Earth does something similar! The program is in the evolving state currently, but one very lucky toy collector is given a certain amount of time and money (yes, it caps off) and is allowed to rummage through the warehouse and take the toys of their dreams! For some people, this might be hundreds of Funko Pop!s and tchotchkes. For others, it might be one or two big ticket items.

Employee culture is huge over at Entertainment Earth, and it reflects by how decorated and amazing everyone’s desks are. There isn’t a single desk untouched by pop culture, but the balance between fantasy toys, anime toys, comic book toys, high end, affordable toys, etc. is really cool to see.

And seriously, holy break room, Batman…

But my favorite part of the tour, without a doubt was getting to see more of Entertainment Earth’s various convention and shop exclusives, all displayed in one beautiful room (which is also the one they use for filming!)

Big thank you again to Entertainment Earth, Bethany and Brandon in particular, for letting me and my camera come and hang out! Your offices are awesome, your staff is so cheerful and kind, and your facilities are vast and incredible!

 

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