K PLACE - Buena Park — Attraction in Buena Park

Copying my review from elsewhere, as Google seems to be the primary platform for reviews: I've been coming to K-Place for years, and the experience is usually pretty good. However, I recently had an experience with the staff that has put me off from coming to the store to shop in-person.

Prices are average if not a bit cheaper than other K-pop stores around SoCal, so I've bought dozens of albums from here. Their selection for the groups I buy for is quite decent; they often have rare finds like Japanese albums and merchandise from Korean concerts, which other K-pop stores in the area do not.

That said, like other reviewers have stated, the staff are seemingly not well-trained in customer service, as they are often distracted by conversations amongst themselves, acting surprised when customers come up to ask a question or even just check out at the register. This hasn't been much of an issue in the past, as I am usually willing to overlook it due to my general satisfaction with the price and variety of products, but as said prior, my view has recently been soured by an experience that frustrated me.

Today, when I bought an album, I asked if it came with a pre-order benefit photocard, to which a staff member responded that it was a different version of the album that came with the POB. (This staff member wasn't rude at all.) However, after checking the K-place website, I saw that the version I bought was actually the one that was supposed to come with a POB. So I went back into the store to ask another staff member about this discrepancy and if there was any way I could get the POB, and she (appearing frustrated that I had come up to ask a question) said that they were out of POBs for that album as they were first-come-first-serve, not offering any other explanation or assistance - not even a 'sorry we ran out' or anything. Thankfully, there was another staff member who helped out, offering a solution that I could return the album and order it online to get the POB. Kudos to him for his thoughtful assistance.

Overall, while I have been going to K-place for years and my interactions with staff are normally okay, this specific incident has really shown me how lacking in customer service that some of the store's employees can be. One staff appeared to be misinformed/told me the wrong information, another was unpleasant and unhelpful, and yet another actually went the extra mile to answer my question even when he wasn't the one I originally asked.

I will still order online as K-place offers the cheapest prices in the area, but I am really discouraged from coming to the store in-person from now on. This was basically the straw that broke the camel's back, to me, as a great majority of the staff I have seen and interacted with have consistently shown a disinterest in actually helping customers beyond simple transactions for almost the whole time I've been...

do NOT order from here. terrible priorities and communication.

usually kplace is one our go to kpop shops for my friends and i, but after recent experiences it seems as though we will go to any other store before this one.

i preordered taeyong’s shalala albums for store pickup the day of release and was very excited to receive my order. a couple days later, kplace received their shipment so began the process of waiting for my email saying my albums were ready for pickup. about 5 business days later i still had no notice saying my albums were ready, my confirmation email said that orders usually take 2-3 business days to fulfill so i was a little confused. i called the store just to ask for an update, the employee who answered explained that they were pretty backed up since a lot of groups were having comebacks/ releases at the time but my order would be ready in a few more days. i completely understood. though i felt that all the confusion and concern could’ve been very easily avoided if they just sent customers a text, email, or simply just posted a notice on their instagram story like a lot of other kpop stores do.

it has now been almost TWO weeks since i ordered my albums and still do not have them and NO update. it is even more infuriating seeing as i went to their store a couple days ago and they have shalala right there in stock. on top of that, their employees have gone live on instagram a handful of times where they do q&as, unbox albums, and just overall goof around. i will be cancelling my order. i do not recommend that you ever order albums from here as they clearly lack customer communication and just...

I feel like I've never really had a particularly great nor terrible experience here. The staff are kind of... eh? They're not too great with customer service. They're always conversing amongst each other and some of them have attitudes.

They do have a lot of kpop items, but other than albums it's more unofficial merch/stationery/toys. Some items are really pricey for some reason too, when the same things can be found at other kpop shops in socal for cheaper. I will shop here if I really want something and I can't find it in other stores, but this will never be my first choice.

I've attended three photocard trading events (bts, twice, and svt) and those events are helpful, but they never put up any official rules about selling at those events. My friend brought a binder for her to sell her extra pcs to one of the events and a staff member went through her binder, came back with two other workers, and told her that she can't sell because the prices are different for different members and that's against their rules. WHAT? There were no rules on selling in any announcement posts on instagram, so she didn't know. Plus, member pricing is normal so she thought it would be okay. It's not like they were more than $3 apart. They were all pretty cheap too. She ended up just trading but it was just such a crazy concept. They say you're allowed to sell at the trading events but...