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Comic Book Mecca Forbidden Planet Expanding Near Union Square

Forbidden Planet will be located near the Strand Book Store after its planned July 2012 move.
Forbidden Planet will be located near the Strand Book Store after its planned July 2012 move.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

GREENWICH VILLAGE — The Union Square comics and toy store Forbidden Planet will soon have more space to stuff with superheroes, action figures and manga stars.

The store, which has been located on the southeast corner of Broadway and East 13th Street since 1996, will move into a nearby space that's 70-percent larger near the end of July.

Store manager Jeff Ayers said the upgrade from 2,000 square feet at 840 Broadway to 3,400 square feet four doors down at 832 Broadway will give the popular shop more room for everything his comic book-loving customers need.

"All of our lines will expand," he said. "We'll have more science fiction, more graphic novels, more toys, games, comics. We'll have more of everything that people want."

The comics shop Forbidden Planet will leave 840 Broadway and move down the block in July 2012.
The comics shop Forbidden Planet will leave 840 Broadway and move down the block in July 2012.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

Forbidden Planet, which first opened in New York in 1981, will close its current location on Sunday, July 22, and open in the new location just two days later.

Ayers and company will focus on the move this month but are hoping to host a "more grandiose" reopening event later this summer, he said.

The store that frequently hosts readings and meet-and-greets with cartoonists hopes to draw even more stars after the relocation, Ayers said.

Forbidden Planet plans to remain part of the Village for years to come, he noted.

"We're been on the block for more than 30 years now," he said, "and as time goes on it could be another 30."