Shin Okubo is a popular area for Kpop in Tokyo and I will talk about all of the shops and what they sell. I will not be talking about cafes and restaurants in this guide so please refer to my cafe and restaurant guide. 

Map

This is the general layout of Shin Okubo, I have numbered each store and will refer to those numbers throughout this guide. The red line outlines the ideal path that you should walk, it also shows you where to turn for Ikemen Doori (part two!).

pictured: Myeongdong

Stores in Shin-Okubo typically have a wide selection of official and unofficial products, often mixed with each other. If things are official they will usually have the word “公式 (koushiki)” on the sign. If it’s not official, well, it’s usually pretty obvious. Just because something isn’t official doesn’t mean you should overlook it either, a lot of bootleg stuff is actually better than the official. 

1. Idol Park

Nickname: n/a
Goods: Unofficial + Albums + Official Japanese event goods + Fansite photobooks
My rating: 5/10
Pre-orders: Yes
Stock speed: Fast

The one thing Idol Park has going for it is that it always stocks albums super fast. If you’re looking for your groups latest release, best to check Idol Park first, or even better yet, see if they have a pre-order for it!

2. Star Shop 韓流百貨店

Nickname: “The Dark Horse of Kpop Stores”
Goods: Unofficial + Clothing
My rating: 6/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: Slow

This place is actually really cool. It’s doesn’t have anything official, but it does have some assorted skincare products I guess? It has loooots of cool bootleg merch though. If you’re ever looking for something like a notebook or keychain and want it cheap, come here. I call this place the “Dark Horse” because whenever I’m looking for something and can’t find it anywhere else, this place has it.

3. Karaoke

Nickname: n/a
Goods: n/a
My rating: 7/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

This Karaoke place is actually not too bad. It’s not a kpop store, but if you wanna sing EXO songs this is the place to do it. Please note it is a bit more expensive here than other places. Also if you are given the option, ask for “DAM” Karaoke because DAM has a better kpop song selection.

4. 7 Days

Nickname: n/a
Goods: Unofficial/non-kpop
My rating: 8/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

7 Days is a pretty cool place. It’s not a K-pop store, but it’s a rotating/pop up location for stores. Basically a store will rent the space out for 7 days, so every week you get a new store there. The stores that rent out that space are typically the same few stores that rotate, but they’re always thrift stores of some sort. My favourite store is the clothing thrift store that sells everything for 300 yen, or you can get 3 things for 1000 yen. It’s great!

5. K-Star Plus

Nickname: “The Golden Store”
Goods: Unofficial + albums, clothing + Fansite photobooks
My rating: 8/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: Medium-fast

This store is called the golden store because they literally paneled the whole store with gold panels on the outside. This place has a lot of cool folders and bootleg stuff along with albums. They have 3 floors too! The second floor has clothing and the third has signed albums and photos. 

6. Feel Korea

Nickname: n/a
Goods: Unofficial + Official
My rating: 10/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: Fast

Feel Korea is one of my favourite stores. They have tons of really nice fan goods and they make a lot of them themselves! They also offer official goods, but their official goods can be quite expensive. Since they make a lot of their fan goods themselves, the prices are super cheap and you won’t find those goods anywhere else. As an EXO-L, I really like their space whale and Sing for You merchandise!

7. 韓流ランド

Nickname: “The closing store”
Goods: Unofficial + some official + bootleg dvds
My rating: 5/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: Slow

This store is closing soon so I don’t know if it’ll still be there when you go. This store has some of the best prices in Shin-Okubo and a lot of old unofficial merchandise. Since they’re closing, everything is 50% off. This store tends to be pretty loud so I don’t like staying in there long. They do, however, have “nonstop mixes”. It’s basically just…. well the CD has 1 track and it’s pretty cool and 100 yen.

8. 7/11

Nickname: n/a
Goods: n/a
My rating: 6/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

A normal 7/11, but it’s got sitting areas, which is awesome if you want to sit somewhere, but don’t want to go to a restaurant. There’s an ATM in there, which takes international cards and of course they have food. The sitting area isn’t very big, but they have about 6-7 seats, and you can usually find at least 2 open seats depending on the time.

9. 盛好堂

Nickname: “The book store”
Goods: Official books and magazines
My rating: 10/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: normal

This is a nice bookstore and it has not just kpop magazines, but also books in English and Korean. They have all the normal magazines Japanese book stores carry like Zipper or Ray, but they also carry Korean magazines too. They will advertise their Kpop magazine selection in the front. They also have a really rusty/old Rubix cube, which is so fun to play with! 

10. Family Mart

Nickname: n/a
Goods: n/a
My rating: 5/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

This is a pretty standard family mart. It’s normal sized and I wouldn’t say it was any different than any other family mart. There’s no sitting area and staff is mostly foreigners/local students, but they try. It’s nice if you want to do an online payment or something.

11. Holika Holika / Gangnam Style

Nickname: n/a
Goods: unofficial + cosmetics
My rating: 3/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: slow

Holika Holika has a cute panda mascot that sometimes hangs outside the store. Upstairs is Gangnam Style, which sells cool bootleg stuff. They don’t have anything particularly noteworthy though.

12. オルチャン

Nickname: “The Ridiculous Store”
Goods: Unofficial
My rating: 8/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: medium

This store has literally anything you could want. It’s called The Ridiculous Store because everything is mega cheap. They sell bromides and idol name tags as well as posters for 100 yen, which are awesome. If you want to pick up some cheap kpop merch for friends or even for yourself, this place is great. My favourite thing about this store is the Gachapons with Kpop items in them~ Also the posters, they’re great too!

13. PLAZA

Nickname: “The Ramp Store”
Goods: Unofficial + clothing + accessories
My rating: 7/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: slow

This place is probably the first place you should look if you’re hunting for some nice bootleg merch. They don’t have the lowest prices in Shin-Okubo and their stuff is decent at best. If you’re looking to get a souvenir for a friend this is the place to go. Despite not being the cheapest place in Shin-Okubo, they have some bootleg merch you can’t find anywhere else. They used to be an average store, but since a lot of the other bootleg stores that carried the same stuff went out of business, The Ramp Store is now the only place that carries certain items. Also Jenny’s Co., which went out of business in 2014, still supplies this store with kpop jewelry.

14. Buddhist Temple

Nickname: “The Pretty Temple”
Goods: n/a
My rating: 8/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

This Temple is pretty random, but it’s nice. Come here to pray to the Buddhas or just to enjoy a small temple, which is randomly placed. I included it on this list despite not being shopping because it’s a cool photo-op spot.

15. Skin Garden

Nickname: “The 3 floors Store”
Goods: beauty products + accessories + food/Korean groceries (w/free samples)
My rating: 8/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: normal

This place doesn’t really have much in the way of kpop goods, but they are a good place for skincare. They also hold the only Nature Republic store in Tokyo so it’s worth it to check it out. The prices are decent and sometimes they give away kpop posters with purchases. They carry some really neat accessories that you won’t find anywhere else!

16. ソウル市場

Nickname: “The Grocery Store”
Goods: Korean food and groceries + Free Samples!!!
My rating: 10/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

This place is one of the few places in Japan that sells banana milk. If you have ever been to Korea you will know this stuff is pretty great. They also sell other Korean snacks and also Soju. They have a nice selection of free samples!

17. 明洞コスメ

Nickname: “Myeongdong”
Goods: Cosmetics + Official+ Unofficial + Bootleg DVDs + Albums 
My rating: 10/10
Pre-orders: No
Stock Speed: Fast

Myeongdong is one of my favourite stores in Shin-Okubo. They have a fairly decent selection of official and unofficial goods and a variety of groups too (boy groups mainly). They are definitely one of the most organized stores in Shin-Okubo and price-wise they’re decent. 

18. スリーエフ

Nickname: “The other konbini”
Goods: n/a
My rating: 3/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

This is a kinda off-brand konbini and doesn’t really offer much besides low prices and two floors. It’s a nice place to go and wait for people to meet up since it’s not as crowded as other konbini. The song they place inside is really annoying though, but you can grab a quick snack or something. 

19. 100円 CAN-DO

Nickname: “The Hyaku-en Store”
Goods: cheap stuff
My rating: 10/10
Pre-orders: n/a
Stock Speed: n/a

Not a kpop store, but just as useful. This place has a really great selection of stuff and I must say it is one of the best 100 yen stores I have ever been to. They have nearly anything you’d want and their kitchenware is super nice. They have two floors, but in the summer the second floor is unusually really hot. They sell seasonal items like flowers and stuff for holidays.