Senpai's Corner Anime & Gift Shop — Attraction in Herndon

We love this store and we have been visiting the store regularly and attending the local Sonny Angel trade and meet up!

The staffs are friendly and very helpful. I love how Nina organized the event and using ticket system for the Sonny Angel drops. Senpai, CJ, Sofia (the daughter), and Marisa are all wonderful and people-oriented. I am thankful that my husband discovered this store. It brings back so much great memories of my trinket love before I became a mother. The store has a great selection of products, animes & pokemon fans would love going to the upstair store. My kids love going to store with us and it has been a wonderful experience for our family.

I don't mind that the prices of the products, especially when there is a high demand for some popular items like Labubu and Sonny Angels. I am a gold member of the official Sonny angel website and I can't even buy what I want on the website during pre-order or public release since they sold out so fast. I love the option of going to local store to line up and pick up what we want.

I see that some people commented about the prices being higher than MRSP and Sonny Angels being damaged. I hope that they understand how store owner needs to pay for shipping, overseas charge can be a lot more than we know, rent, workers, utilities etc. The store is not here to run a charity or non-profile business. We are fortunate to find some rare items here and continue to enjoy our trinket journey. Thank you...

There are definitely pros and cons to this store. Lack of competition is definitely an issue and hope to see more stores like it. I went once for a Labubu drop, which was well organized (major pro). They dropped Have a Seats and Macarons as well a a couple of special Labubu pendants. Pricing was advertised before hand as $50, which is a more than 50% increase from MSRP, Pop Mart or PopNow ($21.99 not including shipping for a single box, or free shipping for multiple). I get $35 - $40, but $50 is a little much. I bought one for my daughter as she was excited to be part of a drop, but will not again unless I really cannot get something in particular. Smitski pricing is fine, but pricing is about to go up for those as well. I can't speak of any of the other prices for things as we get Pokemon cards and other similar items elsewhere. I really enjoy the local events that this store holds and a sense of community they want to create. I like to go and support local vendors. I do agree with some of the other reviews that when shopping outside of a drop or event, the customer service was bored, cold, and boarder line rude.

EDIT - Upped a star and though I didn’t buy BIE from them, I’m giving some props on the BIE drops and pricing over the new set. I’ve seen egregious pricing and although $55 is expensive, it allows the community an attainable entry price point plus the way they handle...

I come here often for my extensive smiski collection, and today I came for a new Sonny Angels drop and was extremely disappointed. Every single Sonny Angel I have ever purchased from Senpai's has been broken. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I informed the owner of this, and she was EXTREMELY RUDE. I purchased one today (that was broken) and brought it back in. The OWNER informed me it was a "fake," but I just purchased it from their store? Are they selling fake Sonnys? She tried to say she did not sell it to me, but I have my receipt as proof. She offered an exchange and SLAMMED a new Sonny box on the counter - NO WONDER WHY THEY ARE ALL BROKEN. At this point, I was fed up and decided just to keep my broken one. She then proceeded to say my broken one was the secret Sonny. But previously said it was fake and she didn't sell me it? Terrible customer service. I spend so much money at this store and have never been treated like this. The owner is rude and seems to not care about her products...