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| - Unique items, if you like Japanese food or are looking for something besides mac-n-cheese/wonder bread, then a stop here is a must. Its easy to miss on Park st, in a house next to (I believe) a Mexican restaurant and by whatever that carnival thing is. also before you go- remember cash only, so hit up an atm (there might be a couple on/near campus); but dont let that put you off, everything is very reasonably priced. I'd add this opinion comes from a guy who wont buy clothes (or much else) retail due to guilt over markup- when youve been to china and realize what things actallly cost, you too may find yourself confused and upset over a minimum 30-800x price hike... But now back to the review:
The inside is a tad cramped by US standards, but the use of pace is so remarkable I always wonder how they manage to possibly have such a wide variety (minus tons of produce, as mentioned elsewhere) of items, from my favourite brand of iced green tea, to the Exact anpanman rice-milk biscuits I had in mind-but expecting to find- for a teething 2yr old, to a nifty onigiri press for lazy, busy me that eliminates mishapen crumbling rice blobs. Even fresh sakura-mochi, ready-made sweets to go with tea, etc. I could go on forever- its like a Lawsons or Japanese 7-11; I spent some time in Japan and quickly found the 24hr place- it had Everything I could want and then more- eventually my budget was drasticly impacted by a addiction to Japanese junk-food: esp canned IceCoffee(I had several fav brands, 6-12cans/day, inc. a BossSuper7 at the kiosk down the train platform, running, 34sec to toss exact change on counter, point/grab, run & just make it as train dooors closed), & Japanese flan/pudding- available to my delight @ this store. My host family actually became concerned over my food splurging, but it was worth every yen.
Now this isnt a 7-11, in fact I'd say the variety is much wider and (excepting 'my' brand of icecoffee), they stock things that I ve never seen anywhere else in the states, certainly madison, and I always end up finding some obscure product I'd not realisticly expect to find each time I go there. So yeah- they probably have what youre looking for, how? magic I suppose, I dont question with puddig placed in front of me.
The owners seem to be a Japanese couple-very nice; and the customer service here beats anywhere I can recall. If you're overwhelmed by the array of goods & looking for calpis (...guilty)- the lady at the desk knew right where everything I wanted was, reccomended alternatives that I actually liked better, and answered every one of my questions, explaned details and differences in various products, reccomended how to prepare what needed preparing, with patience and genuine helpfullness that showed no sign of annoyance or frustation that one might reasonably expect asking so many questions at any other store. Again, If you dont know what youre looking for or you have a huge list, dont forget to ask the kind lady working there, youll probably learn something & definately save time scanning the shelves.
In addition, I must point out just how good the service is; I had a question (technical issuse that my rusty ability to understand the Kanji on the package resuluted in), called the store days later, left voicemail, & figured "oh well Ill ask next time I go, no one bothers calling back ...". within a couple days I recieved a call, sure enough It was the lady from Oriental Shop, ready to answer my likely-absurd question and also even appologized for the delay in responding as they had been out-of-town! Now, I was impressed I actually got my call returned; and I never felt there was a delay to begin with so They must take carefull attention to detail. In a time when incresinly I find even places I'm a regular at treating me like a very unwelcome nuisance for no reason, such great customer service really sets this place apart.
Oh, that and the food and other items that I, at least, can't find anywhere else not near Kansai provice. Sorry for the double negative, forget that, and go and support your local small bussiness!
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