Leicester might be globally famous for being the burial place of the last English king to die in battle – and, to a lesser extent, the scene of football's most unlikely underdog story – but the city has also become something of a hotbed of cool indie stores of late.
We've already reported on Super Game Shack and Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop as part of our Retail Therapy series, and now we've got another Leicester-based retailer to add to the ranks – and it's one with a strong Japanese flavour.
Henshin, located on Leicester's Silver Street and just over the road from Super Game Shack, is an offshoot of the aforementioned Vintage & Old Toy Shop. The store's genesis was tied to the fact that Japanese items were slowly but surely taking over that particular store (located a stone's throw away on New Bond Street).
"We opened up Henshin because we were simply taking up too much space in Leicester Vintage’s cabinets," laughs Matt, one of the staff at the store. "After introducing the gang to a valuable resource of vintage Japanese goods, Leicester Vintage saw a tremendous increase in growth in that market – so Henshin came along."
Initially, the objective was to simply open up a pop-up shop, but that changed when a unique retail unit became available. "An opportunity appeared out of nowhere," explains Matt, referring to the sad departure of Irish Clothing's Leicester Military Basement.
"Irish has been around since 1910, but the decision was made to completely close their iconic location in Leicester," says Matt. "We jumped at the chance, and after weeks of diligently planning stock orders and transforming the basement, we finally opened the doors on the 18th October, 2025."
Matt and his colleague Jim are in charge of the day-to-day operation of Henshin, but they're keen to point out that getting the store ready was very much a group effort. "Artist Mark Daniels provided the artwork for our logo (and the ace robot)," explains Matt.
"Our builders did an outstanding job in transforming the store. Our opening was hugely successful, with free chocolate provided to the first 20 customers, courtesy of Silver Street’s artisan chocolatier, Cocoa Amore."
Henshin stocks a wide range of Japan-focused items, including Gundam model kits, plushies, figures, video games, magazines, books and more. "One of our biggest surprises was Japanese Laserdiscs, because we’ve had to restock them multiple times," explains Matt.
"We’ve got a focus on VHS and boutique Blu-rays, too," he adds. "We're trying to grow that physical media market, which has been dominated by HMV. It might be hard to believe, but physical media sales are up – which is partly thanks to the endless streaming services out there."
Given the remit of this website, the inclusion of Japanese video games is especially interesting; Henshin currently offers a selection of imported Famicom, Super Famicom, N64, Dreamcast, PS1, GBA and Saturn titles – and more could be on the way, if the demand proves to be there.
"We’re currently experimenting with Japanese video games, thanks to a buyer in Japan," says Matt. "We have two buyers over there, which is helpful in securing some rarer items. We’re waiting for that to grow, because, for some reason, we still have a pristine copy of Mother 2 that nobody has purchased!"
The response since opening has been hugely encouraging, with Matt saying the staff have been "blown away" by the positive reaction – but there's much more to come.
"Some keen-eyed customers may notice we’ve only opened the first half of the store, but there are plans to fill that space soon," explains Matt. "Whilst we can’t reveal what it is yet, we hope to surprise everyone once the shutter finally stays open."
The staff at Henshin are hopeful that the store can become a focal point for fans of all things Japanese, and they're already looking into ways of making its impact more pronounced.
"We’re looking at growing our relationship with film distributors and labels, with some events potentially planned for the near future," explains Matt. "So far, the response has been amazing, and we’re grateful for the customers who have supported us since opening."