Onitsuka Tiger Ginza Red Concept Store — Local services in Tokyo

I showed up at 10am on Sunday (one hour before the shop opens at 11am) I was the first to arrive. The queue starting snaking at around 10.40am - as you can see the alley way was packed before the shop even opens.

This is the Onitsuka Tiger Pop-up Store (red store front with cafe at entrance) not to be mistaken with the main Flagship Store on Ginza which is nearby. Only the pop-up store allow for customization.

As the first batch, you are ushered straight to the basement where you choose from columns of shoes in various designs, color ways, and fabric. It is not true that only Mexico 66 can be customize btw. It really depends on what’s available on the day itself - I saw some boots design available too (only the premium Nippon made range are not allowed to be customized.

I actually tried prepping for my trip by visiting a onitsuka tiger boutique in my home country to try size and color ways, but honestly it’s pointless because the colors available are random, and for some reason, the size I tried back home was totally different from the size I ended up getting. So my advise is just show up early and queue to go in early to try. The sizes gets sold out quickly.

The design I bought at size 39 (eu) was the last pair they had.

After you choose the shoes that you wanted, queue to check out - the sales staff will give you a custom form to choose the thread color, fonts and character that you want on your shoes.

Choose for it to be EITHER on left or right foot (not both) Choose color (there was around 6 colors to choose from) Choose italics/capital or small letters or emoji (3 emojis of tiger/star/heart) available. If you only want letters, you can choose up to 4 letters.

Paid and check out (my shoes cost around ¥17,100 - bring your passport for tax free price) - they will keep the shoes and have you come back to collect at the end of the day around 5-6 up until the store closes at 8pm. You are only allowed to collect on the day of purchase - cannot collect the next day btw.

The sales staff told me the customization close for the day at around 2pm - you can buy the shoes after 2pm but no more customization available.

Hope this gives you more insights as to what to expect...

The experience was tiring, but it was worth it in the end. We really wanted sneakers from this brand and visited the store around 7pm only to find the customisation queue already closed. The staff suggested we buy the shoes first and come back the next day for customisation. As the store wasn’t too crowded, we decided to wait behind 4-5 people to try on and purchase the shoes at the basement level.

The first two staff members weren’t very helpful—they handed us a pair of shoes to try on and just walked away. And when we asked about some designs, they claimed some designs were sold out in size, without even checking once.

Thankfully, the third staff member, a tall guy with shoulder-length hair and glasses, was helpful! We didn’t catch his name, but we’re really grateful to him. We bought our sneakers, and brought it back the next day for customisation. We got to skip the long queue to enter the basement level (this was around noon time). Then we selected which side of the shoe we wanted the design to be at (max 4 letters; emojis count as 2 letters), and dropped off the shoes.

By the end of the day, we returned to pick up our freshly customised sneakers.

I think they could have done a better job at managing the queue by providing a booklet or some sort of informative sheet for the ones in the queue to view the shoe designs that are eligible for customisation!

As a first time buyer for this brand, we did not know our shoe sizes because each shoe brand has different cutting etc... but thankfully the third staff member helped us so much. Honestly it was confusing to spot which shoes can do customisation and which...

Here is some general information for the customization. You can only customize the Mexico 66’s and only can do 4 letters. Which include English letters, numbers, and some symbols like a heart, star, or tiger logo. Just be aware, you want to go in around 11, as there is line that goes outside and wraps all around the store up top. It was a 2 hr wait when I arrived at 12pm and we were one of the last ones for the customization. The customization does close for the next day early in the day. At around 1pm they stopped taking more people for the customization. Be aware that you’ll have to come back later and pick up your shoes close to closing (7:30-8pm) if you are one of the last ones for customization. Just know that you won’t get the chance to try on the shoes till you go downstairs if you’re here for the customization. I was told this not so nicely. Just be aware, it is very well worth the wait when you come as it’s free customization. I bought two shoes for about 30,300 yen, which is about $190 in USD with tax free prices. Nice staff upstairs, till you go downstairs for the customization. It’s understandable due to the hectic rush of needing everyone’s sizes and fitting, but still not the best treatment and enough staff down there. Just a tip, have the shoe you want ready and the customization, or you’ll take longer to receive it. You can’t customize your colors on your shoes, but you can choose from the ones on display downstairs (Mexico 66). Overall, I’d come again for the experience and memory of the shoes imprinted on our shoes. Also it’s cool to see them working on people’s shoes and...