Meet Weston Wong | Owner of the Mystery Shop

We had the good fortune of connecting with Weston Wong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Weston, every day, we know how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I came up with the idea for the business since it was always a part of my life. I’ve been collecting toys and trading since I was a kid. My dad would collect model trains and take us to toy shows. Later, I worked at a local comic shop for a few years, and I really enjoyed it and being with like-minded customers. After a few years, I left that job and tried to work a regular 9 – 5 job, but I found that I really liked being in retail with customers instead. I started with comics, trading cards, toys, and collectibles, the things I knew about. But as I met other community people who wanted to be involved with the shop over time, it grew into us carrying more card games, video games, board games, and even doing live music. The idea was always to be a retail space with also being a community spot for people, like a Starbucks or an internet cafe, where like-minded folks can come and work on their art or play games to escape everyday life. The idea that started small and just ballooned into something really cool.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I will say it didn’t start off easy, but the biggest rewards aren’t easy. We started with very little, from selling my own collectibles and going to thrift shops, getting walk-in collections, to getting full wholesale distribution and learning what works and doesn’t work for sales and trying to build a community for comics and collectibles and letting the city know we exist in a post COVID world was super hard. Then in 2024 we decided to move right when we started getting a nice following we up rooted to another town in hopes they would follow, but like many other things only a small percentage did. Thus having us have to start all over again, but came the knowledge from before to grow it faster. The biggest thing is always be open to new things, and say yes if the ideas seem like good fit or even if your unsure its worth taking the risks. Just know your boundaries and if its something your not comfortable with just don”t do it. For me I have a very open mind to things, that’s why not only do we sell comics, collectibles, and trading cards. But we also do live music, open mic nights, gaming tournaments, and art exhibitions. I really open the doors to almost everything, that’s what really helped my business grow and show the community that we do so much and not limited to just being a comic shop or a place for music. When you walk-in it’s truly a mystery whats happening inside the shop, lol

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The beach for sure!! Going up to other towns like Ventura, or Santa Barbara, checking out the Missions there. Here locally down the street, we have Heritage Square, which is 1 square mile of old Victorian homes converted into offices or small shops, and at night, live music. But Heritage Coffee is a great place for coffee and sandwiches. Pacifico Sushi-Mex is down the street from us and they have great Mexican food and sushi. There’s Corner Pocket that have over a dozen billiard tables and some nights there’s live music. We are close to a cool small art gallery, ‘Open Door Studios’ also hosting an art exhibition of a local artist. We are super close to the transit center if you wanna take a bus or train down south to LA, even San Diego, or up north to Seattle.

For me we host a lot of interesting things daily from different kinda of live music, to card game tournaments, video game tournaments, and community events. But outside of that it’s going to the movies..

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are certainly many people who have mentored me and helped me along the way who deserve a shout-out. But rather than write up about one person, I think currently the one thing I really want to shout out is our awesome, amazing community!! Without them, we would have no Mystery Shop. We cater to so many communities, and at the end of the day, we are here for all of them, and we listen and make changes and adjustments where we can, but also allow them a place to organize and to create, and just be themselves freely. We work very hard for anyone to feel safe and able to create and be themselves,s and know they have a place where they can be accepted. That’s truly what I am here for, and to see their joy and to inspire them, it’s really what I like to do and see. At the end of the day, that matters more than making sales. I really like to provide the service to this amazing community.

Website: https://mysteryshop805.com

Instagram: themysteryshop805

Twitter: https://x.com/themystryshop

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-mystery-shop-oxnard-2

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@themysteryshopventura

Other: https://twitch.tv/themysteryshop

Image Credits
They were all taken by me.