Any tips for someone opening a retailer?

I’m very close to opening an Ireland-based site to buy figures, with my goal being to have a physical shop before too long. There isn’t anything like that in my city, but anime is very popular here, and I feel confident that a place like this can do very well if done right.

The problem is that I have zero business experience, and am very much flying blind. I got a small shipment of stock (just prize figures and pop-up-parades for now) from a European wholesaler, but the costs are pretty debilitating, and I’m forced to set the prices very high just to make the tiniest profit. From what I can see, most wholesalers have prices that are barely lower than retail, so I’m genuinely baffled as to how anyone is supposed to make money on that. Importing directly from Japan would be ideal, but I haven’t been able to find an avenue to establish anything like that in my current state.

If anyone here has run a business like this (either past or present), I’d be extremely appreciative of any advice. Since I don’t know anyone in the industry, I feel like there’s a good chance I’m missing something obvious, or have made a mistake somewhere. I know the general advice for questions like these is “don’t”, but this is something I’m seriously passionate about, and I want to give it absolutely everything I have before giving up.