ARTBOX — Local services in London

I have been totally inlove with artbox I think for around 13 years now. Artbox has always been more than just a store to me, its a gateway into a world and aesthetic that soothes the heart and brings imagination to life, celebrating the incredible creativity that Japan and beyond has to offer.

When I was a child, my heart was taken by the Korean stationary brand, Morning Glory, with its sweet little blue-bear character and friends. In September 2009 when it closed down in Kingston, I felt a part of my fantasy world collapse and didn't think I could experience anything remotely close until I discovered Artbox some years later.

My obsession with Japanese stationary was already underway with an ever growing collection of Iwako erasers and finding Artbox helped me continue my adventure of wanting to have the office of a magical fairy queen.

I shop here mainly for Kamio, San-x and Q-Lia and will never stop buying from Artbox who have long been on my journey of collecting special stickers, stationary and discovering the concept of Kawaii.

(Heck, Artbox, I know there may be some political and cultural awkwardness in asking this but if you happen to find Morning Glory and other Korean products and bring them to your store too that would leave me in further awe. )

My mom is a huge Sanrio fan and this is also my go-to store to continue her childhood dream of being surrounded by the cuteness of Hello Kitty and the Little Twin Stars.

Also, honourable mention to Tofu Cute which I now see sells some of their products in the Artbox shop. How come you guys don't merge websites (ArtBox & TofuCute so you still keep both identities and I can order from both in 1 go, haha)? I got into Tofu Cute initially because I used to collect decoden and they had some amazing products for that years back.

My one critique to both stores is I wish you had even more stationary and stickers.

But truly, thank you so much for existing I thank and everyone involved in keeping the store alive and all the hard work that has gone into keeping...

such a cute shop!! they only sell authentic sanrio merch mostly imported from japan so there’s no need to worry about fake merchandise. the staff are very friendly and would greet you as you walked in which i thought was lovely! the shop is quite small sized so i’d recommend going at times where they aren’t as busy, gladly the time i went it wasn’t crowded and difficult to get around the shop, and everything was displayed on the shelves neatly and had a good layout where it wasn’t hard to get around. they also displayed each characters merch in sections, so it also wasn’t hard to find merch of the certain character you wanted! they had a lot of pusheen, my melody, kuromi, cinnamoroll, bts, hello kitty, tofu cute and san-x merch (rilakkuma and sumikkogurashi) which varied from all sorts like stationery, plushies, bags etc!! they also had a shelf for the more ‘obscure’ or less popular characters like wish me mell, marroncream and hangyodon which was lovely to see! my only issue which caused this review to have 4 stars instead of 5 was the pricing; some things were cheap, and some things were not. id say artbox is a lot cheaper than other sanrio/kawaii stores especially in the uk, but either way, a lot of the things was quite overpriced (for example one of the pens was £8) but there are still a ton of stuff you can buy for a good price! however, due to the expenses of having things imported from japan i can understand why some items are priced quite high. other than that, this is a gorgeous shop and i would 100% recommend going if you love...

Lovely store tucked away in Covent Garden. I have visited for years and also shopped when the store popped up at Comic-Con too. Always welcoming lovely staff. I like to shop here for Re-Ment figures.

I've seen numerous reviews mention the queue which has grown bigger as the store has become more popular. I understand that the queue is not short but I am a patient person who is happy to wait to enter what is a very small store containing a lot of small items that I imagine could be easily stolen if the store was crowded. I also actually really like that they limit the number of customers who enter as it makes it a more pleasant shopping experience.

I would also like to praise the staff member on the door last time I visited. She encountered a very rude person who yelled at her about how the queue was "borderline immoral" and demanded to be let in without queueing. The staff member took this all on her shoulder and was able to continue to be just as lovely as before she encountered the person.

Artbox is full of lovely things that can spread joy so why can't we all be a bit more considerate of others. I doubt the person I encountered would also yell at the Lego Store or a luxury brand for making them...