Reddit Group Inspires Tokyo Bar

Reddit has inspired not only a community of investors but a bar for them to share ideas.

WallStreetBets, a Reddit community devoted to the stock market, is the catalyst behind Stock Pickers, a bar in Tokyo for investors old and new, which aims to foster the same sense of community seen during the short squeeze of GameStop and AMC shares. 

The establishment has walls of books about investing throughout the bar, and its menu includes beverages like the “Margin Call” and the “Lehman Shock.”

Launched in March after raising more than $50,000 in crowdfunding, the bar reaches close to full capacity every day, according to public relations manager Riki Yamauchi.

“People’s mentality is changing — you really have to think about how to structure your wealth,” Yamauchi told Bloomberg. 

Before the pandemic, Japan experienced decades of near-zero returns on bank accounts due to lack of participation by retail investors, per Bloomberg. Now, retail investors make up 21% of Japan’s stock market, a 5% uptick from before the start of the pandemic, thanks to improved earnings and shareholder returns.

In the U.S., retail investors have doubled to nearly 20% of stock market volumes.