Yeah, I was bummed when shops like Magic Box and Forest Gangu went under. While the lionshare of my stuff is bought online, the feeling of being to go into a physical store and buying a toy is awesome. Hopefully the vintage places in Akihabara, Nakano, Koenji, etc. are able to stick it out...
I wonder how long Golden Age will hold on. They had such a cool shop in Ueno and then moved into a cramped place in Akihabara, out at the edge of the strip. Nearby gigantic stores like Mandarake and Liberty (which actually get new stock in on a regular basis LOL), it's got to be tough.
I think Golden Age's stock is different enough from Liberty's for them to co-exist. Whether they'll be able to keep business brisk enough to afford rent and other business expenses is another issue. Luckily, he does quite a bit of business on YJA. I haven't been to the new Mandarake in Akiba....is there a good amount of vintage stuff like in Nakano?
Do you mean Akihabara? If so, yeah, there's a nice range of vintage. I think Mandarake is using the new store as its flagship. But all added up, the Nakano Mandarakes are also still really well stocked. Liberty is definitely all over the place - including an amazing variety of unsellable Star Wars stuff. It's fascinating and sad to watch carded figures drop to 100 yen and still not sell! I didn't know GA was big on YJA. That's cool. I think the Net is what did in old school stores like Gangu. There are still some mega stores left, like the big ass store in Saitama - shame the prices suck.
Sorry...all the kids shorten Akihabara to Akiba, and I DO try to be trendy.... I absolutely agree that YJA killed the older stores off. Better deals and better prices were online. You're right...Kaikodo does a ton of business on YJA, but also has a store in Saitama. A friend I went to Tokyo with in March went while I was at a baseball game. He got some GREAT deals...
Really? I found Kaikodo's prices on vintage Takara really high. Maybe they're better for sofubi? Good thing is we found an excellent dessert shop near the Saitama station, so it was all good.
Hah....as long as it wasn't a COMPLETE loss! My friend some decently priced Takatoku and Popy things.
