Been in Vancouver for a while? Can't find your anime & anime goods fix? Let me help you by showing you the anime stores around Vancouver and its surrounding areas. This is a continuation of part I. I've only found fewer than before, so I also moved one of the entries to this post to reduce the loading time of the first one. After this post I think I've covered all the stores that sell a majority of anime-related products in-store around Vancouver.Once again, not all the stores sell anime, but anime goods and other merchandise. I will specify what they sell under each store. Also not all the stores are actually IN Vancouver, but cities surrounding Vancouver. If there are local people who've seen both posts and I'm missing a store, do let me know and I'll add them in.
Before I start: These are my general impression of the stores and I haven't been paid by any of them to advertise their store on this blog. I do tend to visit some of them a lot and may have some bias, but I try to be as neutral as possible and be informative as possible about the product that each store sell. You may have to judge to your standards accordingly. I only wish to inform anyone looking for anime products around Vancouver and I hope you find what you're looking for.
Located at 636 Hornby Street, VancouverView Larger Map
I was in shock when I entered Book-Off... I wasn't sure what to expect. Sure I know it's a branch of a store from Japan, but that doesn't guarantee anime-related products. I was totally wrong! I had 14 minutes on the meter where I found my spot. Lucky! But when I entered, I felt like I was in heaven on earth! Magazines, books, CDs, manga, DVDs, VHS and video games!! Import and English! I was in awe! I don't think I could keep my mouth closed.
I quickly ran back out the store to add my time and saw the only problem with this location if you drive... Look at the shot of the parking meter below:
OUCH! I suppose if you're just buying, you can use the public transportation, but I'm thinking of selling some of my old manga and I have lots. I'd have no choice but to park. Anyway, Book-Off is an amazing find for me even though they've been there for a while. I could've bought a lot, but I held back. Lots of import games... Do NOT miss this place! The only Book-Off in Canada.Located at 450 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
View Larger Map
Sorry, no picture of the store here. I didn't think it was quite significant compared to Book-Off. They do have quite a presence at the convention though. In store, there are a lot of Japanese magazines, books and manga, but I didn't see any anime magazines when I was there. Perhaps they order them only for conventions? There are some magazine for clearance, so it's not too bad. The other reason why I almost didn't include them is that they mostly deal with other language books as well and don't focus on the Japanese/anime-related ones. Though they are lacking, perhaps you may be able to find a diamond in the rough if you look thoroughly.
Located at 100-3731 North Fraser Way, BurnabyView Larger Map
From the outside it doesn't look like much, but once you're inside this warehouse, you'll be in awe as well. Shelves and shelves of manga and anime DVDs (amongst normal DVDs). They have the biggest anime DVDs/Blu-Ray collection for sale. The prices are quite low compared to retail and they tend to have discount during every statutory holidays. You'll find DVDs from Aa! Megami-sama to Zenki! The only drawback is you have to be a member and have to buy a lot from them to get the best prices.
Located in Admiralty Center at 8700 McKim Way, RichmondView Larger Map
Sorry for the bad angle of the picture. I tried to be as incognito as possible. This place has a lot of Gundams. Some are pretty good priced, but a lot of them are quite high. They don't charge tax, if I read it correctly though. There are a lot of shokugan (trading figures) and completed sales for sale as well. Of course there are the modeling kit tools as well. One of the employees here can actually fix figures as well. I got one of my figures fixed here when Lacus' ponytail ripped off.
Located at 852 Granville Street, VancouverView Larger Map
Another mixed store of manga & American comic books. However the manga collection is almost as big as the comics! About 1/3 of the store is manga/anime related. The person who's in charge of the manga insisted on the needed shelves. She also knows a lot of series and knows how many volumes are in a manga. There are also a few anime figures, but the prices are bit high, but you can order figures from this store as well. I found a hard-to-find Hatsune Miku Figma from here. They don't regularly order figures though, so you'll have to take what you can get. The focus of the store may still be American comics, but very up to date with the manga section.
Penguin Village
Located in Parker Place at 4311 Hazelbridge Way, RichmondView Larger Map
A small store in the corner of a ground level mall. They mostly sell capsule toys and its sets, but you'll be surprised once you reach the cashier counter. They have a lot of other stuff here that you can't find anywhere else, plus they can also special order for you. I was there when they first opened and talked quite a bit with the owners/employees. They actually go to Tokyo Game Shows and other events so they have some of the exclusive items in store. They also take video game pre-orders or just any plain order that's already released. Pretty good price if you know your prices.
Located at 519 Southwest Marine Drive, VancouverView Larger Map
Lastly is this second hand book store, but unlike Book-Off, there are a lot more older books here. They sell all sorts of old Japanese VHS, DVDs, books, games, etc. It was really hard for me to take an impression of this store. For one thing there are a lot of authentic Japanese products here, but some of them are decades old... If you like your old school stuff then this is your place to be.
That concludes this post and maybe this series, unless I find other anime-related stores that I haven't seen yet.
Before I go, you may notice the "shopping" pictures of Mahoro at the top and Nodame above... I planned out the last 5 posts to spell out the first (or last) name of one of my favourite voice actresses, Ayako Kawasumi. She is the reason for a lot of my anime/anime-related purchases ^^;
Check what's highlighted in red ^^Anyhow... that's it for me! I've been up for almost 36 hours now from Boxing Day shopping. Started up early so I thought it's easier to not just sleep... but I'll leave that story for another post... tomorrow.
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