Surugaya - Umeda Chayamachi — Local services in Osaka

Shop is nice for random rare finds at good prices but some of staff are quite trash. I was putting my items into a basket and the security detectors caused the alarm attached to the item to go off non-stop - extremely irritating.

I went over to the cashier counter to get assistance, the female cashier with bleached hair and glasses turned off the alarm and in a blaming tone told me not to go near the exit. I was at cashier #1 when speaking with her, 2m away from the exit, item alarm went off AGAIN. I was quite annoyed, glasses turned it off again and stalked off.

I wanted to keep shopping but didn’t want to risk the alarm going off again, since glasses was gone, I went over to the slouchy black-haired female cashier. I asked in as simple English as I could manage and politely asked if I could leave the items behind the counter and come back after I had finished looking around.

There were no other customers, Slouchy was staring at the computer and her response was “huh, nande?” with zero eye contact and in an extremely rude tone. I whipped out my phone and used Google translate and repeated my question - she said No I can’t leave the items. I was shocked, as the customer I’m proposing a solution to their flawed security system; I explained that I wanted to keep shopping and would be back for the item, she said no again! Finally, I had to justify that I didn’t want to carry the items around beeping and after insisting she put the items aside for me and gave me a number tag to retrieve item later.

I suspect that either she wasn’t thinking/listening or didn’t give a care about customers to understand the situation.

When I came back later to pay for my stuff, thankfully I didn’t need to do with either glasses or slouchy. The male cashier was friendly and spoke some English (thank God).

I’ve not encountered such horrible service in Japan, the shop should consider retraining these two or swapping them to non-customer facing work....

I absolutely love this place! They have a fantastic selection of high-quality used goods. In particular, their selection of retro consoles is even better than Superpotato. During my visit, I saw boxed SNES, PS1-5, Dreamcast, and everything in between. The collection of boxed handheld games is also impressive.

There's a whole section dedicated to used retro games and accessories, including controllers, wheels, light guns, and GameCube add-ons. It's a very comprehensive collection.

In addition to gaming, they have a wide variety of hobby goods, including cars, trains, Gundams, planes, and anime characters. I highly recommend visiting this place.

The only downside is that the radio-controlled selection is mostly geared towards kids' toys and not very extensive.

One thing to note is that the stickers they use have low adhesives and come off easily in one piece. So, if you're concerned about the box, the stickers won't damage it.

Overall, this place is a must-visit for anyone interested in retro consoles and gaming, as well as...

Try to avoid this Surugaya shop if you can! All I asked from staff to look into the locked software cabinets. As explained some of them are well hidden behind other titles. All I asked was to point and the staff to show me the title. I did not even want to touch them since the staff who served me, made it clear "not touchy!" I made the mistake of picking one and the girl staff quickly slapped/pushed my hand away! Quickly lost my interest. I found out later, most software is overpriced and only bought one disc that was committed to. Found 3 other games in another cabinet, but who cares. Never give them business again. The 2 stars are that they do have in models and figures quite a selection. I know why they are still unsold. High prices for most...