Around 9 years ago I discovered 2nd hand stores in Japan. The one I visited the most was great! They had clothes, wallets, shoes and more. The prices were reasonable, and I could find big sizes. I used to visit there for my seasonal clothes and occasional shoes. This may be just me, but I used to really enjoy the dusky smells, the cheap metal hangers and overall atmosphere of these shops.
After a while I earned money from working full time and started buying better clothes. So, fast forward many years and I find myself working as a photographer and writer and heading back to the 2nd hand stores LOL.
Nowadays in true Japanese style, these shops have discovered a way of scamming you to the max. I will never understand why Japanese cannot just be content with what they have. Simply these stores have decided to make the store stunning. Bright lights, everything folded up perfectly, shrink wrapped items, everything polished, the clothes dry cleaned, hung on expensive hangers, shoes polished, and even new laces put in. Now you may think that’s great, and it is but and it is a BIG BUT, the price is increased to more then what it originally cost when it was new!!!!
Getting to my favourite part…. THE EXCUSE
Ready?
Me: So why is everything so expensive? It is second hand
Store person: The items are original and one of a kind
Now while I laughed so hard at this excuse, the store person stood there stone faced as if I was the crazy one.
Simply put, they believe they can pay people next to nothing for an item and say “oh its second hand” but then after a spit and polish and placed in Their pikka pikka (shiny shiny)shop, it magically becomes an original, one of a kind item and more expensive than it originally was.
There are many of these shops now and you would be forgiven for not even realizing they are 2nd hand shops, so to name a few for you:
- 2nd street
- Bingo
- Kinji
- Ragtag
- And many more
Now I will mention that Hard off, a part of Book off do sell 2nd hand clothes and they are just thrown together on the rail and it still has a certain 2nd hand “charm” but again, the price is way higher than it should be.
ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG