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Iwase Books Canada - CLOSED
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores [Edit]
3700 No 3 RdRichmond, BC V6X 3X2
Neighbourhood: Golden Village
(604) 231-0717
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
3 reviews for Iwase Books Canada
3 reviews in English
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Review from Vincci L.
9/6/2010 2 photos
Guess I could say that I'm a bookstore tourist, in that I love going to bookstores and just browsing through all the different books/ magazines they offer.
There's something about this one that mesmerizes me though. Maybe it's the whole Japanese culture thing, or maybe it's the way this bookstore is super clean and organized.
Of course, the myriad of magazines on every possible topic is also available here. You'd be amazed at what you find. A nail art magazine? A whole magazine on I-Pad accessories? It's pretty awesome. The Hello Kitty items here just make it so much better. Found a Hello Kitty Japanese-English dictionary that could prove to be useful in the future. How is the dictionary a Hello Kitty one? It's a pink cover with Hello Kitty on it. Can I justify $34 dollars for it? Probably not.
Prices here for the magazines are high since they air the magazines here in order to provide their customers with the latest and greatest. Their fashion magazines are pretty great. Three times the thickness of a regular North American magazine, and with minimal ads!!
Comic books, cookbooks (a whole book on macarons! cheesecake! cute bento boxes!), arts & crafts, and even a tiny stationery station that showcases all these cool colored pens, direct from Japan.
Can you tell that I really love this bookstore? Well, I spent a whole 35 minutes in it. That says it all. -
Review from Sachi M.
3/15/2011 7 Check-ins Here
This store used to be exciting when I lived in the suburbs. Our excursions to Richmond would include this stop (and Osaka market). Today was their last day in business. It wasn't high on my "to review" list, since it's not for the average Yelper... I mean, they answered their phone "moshi moshi".
The closing out sale wasn't much. I got some pens and postcards. All the books that I would have bought (knitting/crocheting, cooking, Japanese popular fiction, Japanese non-fiction) were still regular price. Also full price were the language learning books and manga.
I liked them for the wide aisles, and that they had a conversion chart: If the book says how many yen, then it is how many dollars. There was a video rental (which turned into DVD rental) of Japanese TV shows.
They always had a huge selection of magazines, most of which came by Ocean freight. But if you wanted to pay a bigger shipping fee, you could get it Air freight. Both options were pricey for me, and I never got any...
It was always fun to look, though. I wonder if the new kid BookOff ( http://www.yelp.ca/biz... )ate up a lot of their business...Listed in: FTR (or Second or Third)
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Review from Larry L.
2/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
I keep coming back for more. Japanese literature, magazines, car mags and of course, my grandmother gets her monthly subscription flown in from Japan.
This is ideally the closest thing to getting a Japanese book store from Japan.
The funny thing? Most of the customers that come here, don't speak Japanese. They look at the pictures and buy what they like.
However, they do good service to those expats who miss their fashion mags and cook books and manga. It's all here.
Except they don't always wrap the books for you.
Staff is friendly and it's a nice quiet place to peruse the aisles.
Stuff can be very very pricey, but you'll be guaranteed that if it's Japanese you want, then it's Japanese you'll get.
Books that is.
