2nd Street Kyoto Hakubaicho — Local services in Kyoto

Favourite store in Japan! I often went there with my friends after university classes as you can find everything from shoes over clothes to frying pans, towels and ukuleles. The prices are great and it can't be compared to second hand somewhere else as everything is organized by categories and colours. It's easy to spend hours there looking for nice stuff, trying on clothes and being surprised by what you can find.

The only negative point is that they have only two changing rooms so I often spent a lot of time waiting (even though I used it to just look for stuff near the changing rooms). Still a bit annoying because this way everybody just fills they're baskets to a max and spends a lot of time in the changing room. But I guess that's the standard as I've seen very few changing rooms in other 2nd streets too. I cannot recommend selling you're stuff there if you want to the get money as they don't give you much. Selling is only good if you want to get rid of you're stuff.

But the experience for buyers - sugar! Will definitely come back...

Rating for appliances/furniture/other homestuff only as I did not shop for clothes when I was there. A lot of the microwaves were very dirty and the cheapest ones were 7k yen. Around same price for brand new ones in amazon (since these were older models). Rice cookers were 3k yen. Cost performance is generally not great for me. You also can't avail of delivery if you cannot speak Japanese. They explained that this was because they outsource delivery and the delivery persons would have to call you and talk to you. Parking space is available and there is a huge variety of products available as well including sports and music equipment...

A superior store, one that I frequently visit, was the stage for an unexpected incident today that caught me off guard. Here's what happened:

My wife and I had taken a fancy to a particular sofa. As we contemplated whether to transport it to the checkout counter ourselves, an elderly gentleman appeared to show interest in the same piece. In a gesture of courtesy, we chose to wait in the vicinity until the man moved on to inspect another sofa. It was only then that we detached the price tag, preparing to finalize our purchase. However, the gentleman swiftly headed to the checkout, summoning the store attendant in the process. Consequently, we found ourselves bypassed in the queue, and eventually, we left without the sofa.

While I comprehend the store staff's commitment to the "first come, first serve" policy at the checkout, I appreciate his patience in handling the situation and offer my apologies for any words spoken in the heat of the moment.

What I find most bewildering is encountering such an individual in Kyoto, a city I have called home for a long while. I had not come across this kind of situation before, and personally, this experience with the elderly gentleman has somewhat altered my perception of...