BOOKOFF Monterey Park — Local services in Monterey Park

I’ll be reviewing this BOOK-OFF as anime figure collector, this review will be based on the figurine aspect of the store. Brand-new BOOK-OFF so I had to check it out since I’ve been to all the BOOK-OFFs in the SoCal area. This one of the bigger BOOK-OFFs, also very busy. A lot of people were there. Though might’ve been because it was a Saturday. Anyway the more expensive anime figures are in glass cabinets in the left corner of near the entrance. As well there being one aisle with all nendoroids, prize figures, out of box figures, and action figures. On top of aisle shelves there are bigger/scale figures on top. The selection was good, tons of older figures from around 2010s and newer figures. Of course with the store only being a month old the selection will be more varied overtime. My biggest con does have to do with the recency of the stores opening. The prices. With the store only being a month old, almost all the figures have not had price reductions. So the deals on used goods may not be as good as say maybe 3 months from now. This is especially an issue with figures I believe are overpriced. Biggest example in the image I have below is a figure of Kiss-Shot from the Monogatari series. For some reason this figure is priced at $500 which I found very shocking because not only is this figure around $100 on ebay, but I have seen this same figure for $130 at the BOOK-OFF in Garden Grove and $140 at the BOOK-OFF in the Del Amo Mall. I do not know why this figure was priced at $500, just looking at the figure it doesn’t look like it be that much, I mean the big FREEing Bunny Girls are cheaper than this. Hopefully no one buys this figure anytime soon. So I recommend waiting for price reduction on some figures you may be interested in since the store is only a month old, but overall its clean store with friendly staff. I would recommend this BOOK-OFF to collectors or just normal people that sell stuff to them. Ok I will give one more con, out of the all BOOK-OFFs I have been to, I would say this BOOK-OFF probably has the 2nd worse parking lot, the area is very claustrophobic. Definitely will be a problem on busier days. Good BOOK-OFF location definitely will be back in about 2 months to see the new figures and hopefully...

I used to frequent the Costa Mesa location from 2019 till around mid 2022. This one opened up recently and I wanted to go check it out. The first thing was how big, well-organized and spacious everything is. The employees are all kind, polite, courteous and professional at all times, even if some of the patrons are a bit socially stunted. I wanted to get rid of some stuff and although they offered me just 4 bucks for a Death Note All-In-One edition that is practically new, the hassle of taking pictures, posting it on eBay, having it shipped and then barely making 10 bucks isn't worth the hassle so I just gave it to them for what they offered. I did deduct a star because, although they are well-stocked in terms of manga in English, they don't sell manga in Japanese language anymore; only the San Diego and Gardena locations still do (or so they told me). I remember going to the Costa Mesa one and buying a few manga in Japanese for language learning purposes and it was great. They were practically new and for a reasonable price. That's the only reason why I deducted a star, but if that's not a deal breaker for you, you can pretend I left a 5-star...

I hardly ever leave reviews, however, I feel like I should this time. The store itself and most employees are great. The one downside to my visit was an interaction with a blonde employee who, unfortunately, was less than welcoming. While I understand everyone can have an off day, her attitude came across as dismissive and unprofessional, which left a negative impression. I hope this was an isolated incident, as the rest of the staff were pleasant and helpful. One particular issue was how she would repeatedly pass behind us without ever saying 'excuse me' or acknowledging our presence in any way. At one point, while we were browsing, she stood directly behind us to restock a shelf without a word, which made the experience feel uncomfortable and awkward. A simple 'excuse me' or 'thank you' would have made all...