Japan Imports — Local services in Florence

First off I’d like to say that I’ve been hesitant to review this small business as we need more of them in this area. The reason for this bad review is due to their outrageous prices on Japanese Pokemon booster packs and the lack of respect for our time.

Me and my family have been here on at least 3 occasions and each time we are denied the card trade in service. While I understand not buying cards when busy, we have come by when there is no one else in the store and have still been told to come back another day. Why wouldn’t you guys advertise on buying cards in certain days? We live 30 minutes away and cannot just come back at any arbitrary time. We have been told this is due to the inability to help other customers even though there’s maybe 2 other people in the store. I specifically chose to come to this location as the reviews have been great but from our own experience this hasn’t been the case.

To be fair the prices of singles are market or below which is refreshing in this bull market. However, this is not the case with booster packs. Specifically the Japanese booster packs. Charging 5 dollars is straight up absurd. A dollar per card is highway robbery. I understand you are a “Japanese inspired store”, but why would you charge ridiculous prices on cards anyone can get. It’s not like ordering Japanese cards is hard anymore. You can literally order Japanese booster boxes online for 35-40 dollars for 30 packs. Why would I spend 3.5-4x market price for a pack? I understand there’s bills to be paid, but charging this much over market isn’t good...

I'm sad they no longer seem to carry books based on the last time I dropped in (they used to carry paperback novels and I've gotten into several Japanese authors from buying books here whenever I got to go in), but it's still fun to visit when I can! (Edit on this point, I saw their reply and since went back and was able to buy novels again so I think I own everything from Hiroko Oyamada and Sayaka Murata at this point. :) They have always had a good manga selection and the model kits are rad to look at, just not as much my thing as the actual books were personally speaking. Was glad to see them again though!)

Spouse is a more frequent regular here for multiple card games (and they've gotten along GREAT with them which means a lot to me also), I like accompanying them when I can for the snacks/looking around at manga and some cards myself. I also will buy more novels if they get more in but given the current state of things/not being sure how well they were selling with other customers, I can't blame them if they stopped...

Japan Imports has become another home for my hobbies - I've taken my daughter here, my girlfriend, several friends and even family, all who were thoroughly impressed at how "at home" we felt.

Offering Pokémon cards, Magic the Gathering, Manga, Gundam, and much more, this store caters to a perfect intersection of my personal interests, offering a variety of hobbies/passions for anyone to pursue. Japan Imports hosts several events which serve as a catalyst for meeting like-minded people. I've met a large amount of people here with similar interests that I now consider close friends.

They host Pokémon tournaments every 2 weeks as an official Pokémon Play store, and have extremely fair pricing on all of their products. Their employees have gone out of their way for me more times than I can count - you will never feel unwelcome walking through Japan Imports' doors.

This is my favorite card/hobby store, and as a customer for life, I can't wait to see how much they continue to grow! I hope to see you at the next...