I know this location only opened like 1-2 months ago. This is only a comparison to the one in the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia. The selection is a lot bigger. The books in the front are more with pop culture and famous books that maybe considered for the "coffee table" books. Also in the front , are the stationary items, cute Knick-knacks and some blind boxes. The Japanese light novels & manga section was larger vs the Arcadia location. Plus there was surplus amount of certain mangas that are currently popular to ensure enough is in stock. In general, I find these books very decently priced. I have , in the past, asked them for a particular book if they have in stock, they'll check to see if they have it or not or will direct me to where it is in the store. read more

My favorite Kinokuniya due to the amount of books packed in such a tiny store, it's always clean and never feels messy despite having so much selection to look through and choose from. They always have a ton of pens imported from Japan and they even have the little sticker tag on the pen itself in Japanese. Huge fan of the Uniball Zento Pens as I draw from time to time. I know it's great to support local stores, but I do wish they were a bit more competitive with pricing, if a book is only 10% more expensive here and I'm in the area, sure I'll buy it at Kinokuniya, but when the same exact book brand new is 40% cheaper on Amazon, I can't justify the purchase. It would be cool if membership allowed for price matching. Overall, this is probably the best Japanese book/manga shop you can find aside from the Book Off in Gardena. read more

Was at the Santa Anita Mall and came across this very cool Japanese Bookstore. If you're into Japanese books, manga, etc, this is a very good store to shop. Besides books, they also have toys, stationary, cards, etc. The store can be very crowded, but still able to navigate around. Staffs are friendly and helpful. I believe the prices are fair considering their products are mainly from Japan. Love this store. Brings back memories when I was younger. Check them out if you are coming to the Santa Anita Mall. read more

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I love everything in this store! The book selection is great, but all the other items they carry are what bring me in. If you want unique gifts, this is a great place to find just that. The staff seemed to be helping people at every turn but I didn't need any assistance so I had no interactions with them to comment on. As it relates to the prices on the gift items, they're pretty high. I recall grabbing a few keychains and the price range for a single keychain ranged between $15-$22 for the Ghibli stuff. Yikes! read more

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Our daughter loves Kinokuniya. This Japanese store carries a great selection of books, stationary and specialized gifts. The toy section is always fun and nostalgic for me with characters that our children grew up with. I also love the small gift items section that change each time we visit -- today the cat plates got me! The husband enjoys looking through all the Gundam models. Our daughter can never resist buying a cute stationary item. The store is packed but well-organized and clean. Prices are reasonable. The staff members are friendly and always willing to help you find whatever you're looking for. read more

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This store is really a great reminder of how physical bookstores are amazing. It's pay well organized, packed with all things Japanese. Books (manga magazines) are all wrapped which I love--you get new unused/ unread stuff and just in excellent condition. Tons of model figurines, and pens, stationary etc., just so much to see. Definitely feels like you left the states. I wish I had more space and of course money to buy everything I wanted there. Clean, and amazing place. read more

Kinokuniya - Gundam - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

Well, culture shock here I come. I know a lot about Korean books and K-Pop as I have a grandson, but I know nothing and I really mean nothing about Manga books or comic books or really anything that is in this wonderful Japanese store (please tell me it is Japanese). I walked in and this wonderful girl/woman employee must have sensed that I was just confused and lost. She was so sweet. She came up to me, the old lady without a clue, and asked how she could help. I explained that my grandson who is speech impaired told me he wanted Magna Blue Lock. I had no idea what he meant, but I thought this is Japanese--please. She smiled at me like I was her mother, and told me she knew what I meant and took me straight to a book called Blue Lock and said this is Magna. There were a lot of books but I grabbed that one like it was the last one on earth and asked what else might he like. This wonderful human took me through the store and it is loaded with the cutest things. All seemed fairly priced to me and this store is so cute, you just want to stay there. I ended up getting him a puzzle, pens and some plush thing that she thought he would like. He loved them all and I was the hero for a minute or two. I loved this salesperson. She never made me feel stupid, she made me feel safe. This store is in The Shops at Santa Anita. This place is such fun and you will love it. I love to learn something and I did and now I know where to go and this next time I will take my grandson with me. read more

Kinokuniya - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

This store has so much stuff I love going here everytime I want merch. I love buying from here

Amazing service. Amazing store. If you are into any Japanese culture items, this is the right place for you. Esp during the current time when tariff is unknown and you can buy anything online without knowing how much extra tariff you need to pay for UPS or FedEx. They got amazing stock of manga (English and Japanese), LN, models and other stationary or blind boxes. And if you are looking for anything in specific item, they have have a Kinokuniya version which will come with a little picture board. I got my English copy of the ORV LN from them and got a wonderful picture board which I treasure a lot. But most impressed me is their service, I was looking for a Japanese manga that just got released about 10 days before in Japan. Not a well known name in the US and I wondered if they would carry it. I just bring a picture with me on my phone and ask if they carry the Japanese manga. And they recognized the title immediately and went all about to help me find that manga. (It got misplaced somewhere and they only carry one copy of it). I am so pleased with all their help (it was a busy Saturday night with tons of customer, yet they found a person to help me to look for it all around the shop!) It's always those tiny memorable moments that made us fall in love with a shop like that. I have not yet tried to use their online ordering. Heard a lot of good things about it too!! read more

Kinokuniya - 10 days after released in Japan. Found it here - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

Came back again because our last visit was very much enjoyable and we found a great deal of items that interested us. Unfortunately this means I had to spend money because my girls found stuff. Again. Can't blame them though. I would have gladly spent more time going through the bookshelves. Great selection of manga. Great stationery and pen section too. Always kinda busy. Line for the cashier doesn't take too long. read more

Kinokuniya - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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To be honest, I like what this location offers than in the SF and San Jose stores due to more manga, stationery, and gift options. The prices are still expensive since it's mostly imported from Japan. I love how warm and organized the store feels when I walk in compare to the Bay Area, which the lights are white and old fashioned there. Plus it's conveniently located inside Santa Anita Mall, where I don't have to fight for parking. read more

Went here first weekend of August. Brought my 2 teen boys to the Santa Anita Mall because I needed to pick up something in this particular mall. They went around by themselves and found them at this store. Really cute Japanese bookstore - my son picked up a book that was hard to find. They spent a lot of time looking at items here. Price is what you would expect for a specialty store. My son bought 2 manga books for about $15 each. Highly recommend that you visit if you're into manga or any Japanese books, plushies or trinkets. read more

Kinokuniya - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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There is so much I want at this store, it's hard to determine where I should start! The store is dedicated to Japanese stationary and reading material in both Japanese and English. The environment makes me young again, with all the teens and older are the predominate age group at this store. Service to purchase my toys for the grandsons was quick and easy. I feel the costs of these items are appropriate for both age and quality. I hope the boys like what I bought them and look forward to shopping with them when they get older... read more

Kinokuniya - Frontage - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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The Japanese bookstore and gift shop is located inside the shopping mall. The walkway is so narrow here and hard to navigate with two way traffics, and it's overly packed and crowded over the weekend. read more

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Cute bookstore that will make all fans of Anime and Asian stationery very happy. Service was friendly at the register and there are plenty of signs promoting their membership deals. I went on a Saturday and it was PACKED inside! The rows are narrow and there's a lot of merchandise to see. This place was one that I had bookmarked on my #StationeryStoreCrawl so I'm glad I got to make it in but I wasn't impressed with their Washi Tape assortment nor lettersets. Respectfully Reviewed. read more

Kinokuniya - I can't get away from my addiction! - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

This Kinokuniya Bookstore is located in the Shops at Santa Anita. This branch is part of the well-known Japanese bookstore chain. The store is very clean and filled with cute and unique items, offering a range of Japanese books, magazines from Asia, journals, tote bags, stationery, and more. The staff is friendly. However, prices can be on the higher side--for example, Christmas cards are priced at $9.95. This location is much smaller compared to the Kinokuniya I've visited in San Francisco's Japantown, but it still maintains its charm and quality. Overall, it's a great spot for those interested in Japanese culture, even if it's a bit pricey. read more

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Growing up, I loved going to bookstores like Kinokuniya since they are not just a bookstore but something like a safe haven for me to browse the whole store aisle by aisle looking to find what cute little things would I buy and bring home today. This time is no different. After spending quite an extensive time here, I ended up buying a few stationaries. I also needed help to find a refill for my previous purchase and the staff was so helpful in finding what I needed. He even showed and taught me how to change the refill properly. There is something for everyone here and if my kids were with me, I'm sure I'd end up purchasing more items. Such a fun & cool store filled with so many collectibles & cute merchandise. read more

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The Sonny angels here are marked up $5 more than the website. They used the be the same as the online price. So sad they decided to up the price. Just go buy them online for cheaper. read more

I really love the store, they have a lot of langa to choose from in English and Japanese, and it's very cross fandom! they have alien stage stuff, Pjsk stuff, Genshin stuff, ETC. I really recommend this store! read more

Majority of fountain pens and inks are behind the counter, felt like I would need to know what I wanted because I couldn't browse. Double check the price tags. I bought some paper pad that looked to be the last in stock and had a price tag on it that may have said 17.95 (I don't remember what it was, just that I didn't select anything over 20) and at checkout I noticed the woman pointing something out about the price tag to the other worker, but not saying anything to me. After I got home I noticed one of the price tags now said 25.95. Would have been nice to know that I'm paying more than I thought I was. So make sure no one double labeled whatever you're buying, because it seems like they'll assume you did it and just charge you more. read more

Bookstore/card store/gift shop all rolled into one. Lots of unique and humorous written birthday cards ranging from decent to overly priced for the pop-up 3D cards. They have birthday or general gift bags here too but a little overpriced for the offerings. read more

This Kinokuniya Bookstore is located on the second floor at The Shops at Santa Anita, right next door to Levi's and very close by Lady M Cakes and Din Tai Fung. I have been in other Kinokuniya Bookstore locations before and thought it would be fun to just browse on a Monday with my husband and our little girl dog (she was in our special dog backpack). For those that are not familiar with Kinokuniya Bookstore, this bookstore sells a wide variety of manga and other books, cute stationary, cute random office items, stuffed animals, trinkets, etc. This place is a fun store to find a white elephant gift or a just because gift for others. The employees were so friendly and also were in all smiles when hey saw our little girls. I enjoyed browsing all the cute random things and was not initially planning on buying anything but ended up deciding to purchase 2 gifts for a friend's 2 kids for a small Christmas gift. I purchased 2 self assessable wooden puzzles. One is a vintage car and the other one is a rose. Our friend's son is really into building model planes and thought this would be a good gift for him. And figured he could help his sister put together the rose, since she is a bit younger. Shopping at this store is definitely a fun place with all kinds of random interesting things that you wouldn't think of as a gift. I will definitely be back in the near future. read more

Kinokuniya - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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Lots of gift items including the latest trending ones from Japan. Good collection of Japanese Manga. I purchased a beginning Japanese language book. read more

This store is great, so much much to look out in magazines, books, stationary quirky gifts. can spend hours just browsing. Enjoy coming here and being a member has its perks! read more

Excellent customer service. Couldn't find the book as it was sold out, they had called downtown location and it wasn't there as well. They helped order the book I was looking for via their online website. Customers can also order on their own via the website as a member/non member. Note*shipping isn't included so you must choose a service and also if it's not in stock in the US it will cost a bit more I believe to have it shipped from Japan. read more

Review is purely from the perspective of someone who goes there to buy books. It a small selection that's pretty specialized: it'll have literary classics, new Japanese fiction, and trendy American fiction. It's on the pricier side of other bookstores since this place isn't just a bookstore and people come here for all sorts of things. The space is a little crowded so it can get a little awkward, but I only pop in here if I'm in the mall and waiting for something. Definitely not a first choice for picking up books. I have a slight pet peeve with this place for having a cook book section and putting Indian food outside of the Asian cook books, but whatever lol. Otherwise it's a pretty niche kind of store so fun to check out, but not a place for a serious book hunter read more

When I saw that the stationary store had closed, I was worried because during the Covid-19 period, their Alhambra location closed up for good. Fortunately, they're now partners with another favorite bookstore from Little Tokyo, Kinokuniya. When we stumbled across this new, significantly larger store in the Arcadia mall, it was something to celebrate. Looking around, it seems the pens and other items need to be restocked. However, there's so much else going on that it's worth popping in for. Huge anime figures, Robotech-ish displays, the Manga collection par none, and the other zany things like masks, plushies, and nicknacks. Once the store is fully stocked, it'll be part of my rotation at the mall, which also includes Nordstrom, Uniqlo, Wing Hop Fung, and Din Tai Fun. read more

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What a cute little Japanese stationary shop here at Kinokuniya Bookstore, Santa Anita Mall, Arcadia, CA. I spent some time browsing here while waiting to meet up with my Nordstrom, Arcadia, CA friends to hang out. Any ways, I spent some time browsing around and got some cute Japanese cards. They were so delicately made too. Pricing can be a tad higher considering they are located in Arcadia, CA. I'll likely return here again for my other stationary needs in the future. But, I wished their bags actually print, 'Kinokuniya,' Arcadia, that would have been awesome? read more

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Woohoo! A Kinokuniya that is MUCH closer and much more convenient to go to! Since there's mall parking, it really saves you the trouble of Little Tokyo paid parking and the traffic in getting to LA. What's even better is that it looks like the special events will also occur at this location since the SUSHIO meet and greet and signing is happening here and at the LT location! The Maido in the mall has closed, but has combined with Kinokuniya and takes up a good entire side of the shop. So you will for sure have all of your stationery needs satisfied! As with any Kinokuniya, there's a plethora of manga and anime printed goods (graphic novels, art books, magazines, etc), anime merchandise such as Gunpla and other trinkets, Ghibi merchandise, and of course endless amounts of cute, but questionably useful items (like do I REALLY need a kitchen timer in the shape of a Maneki Neko? etc). So far they're still setting up the store, so there were boxes everywhere and it is a bit of a mess, but nothing too bad or difficult to navigate. It looks like they'll have all the Kaiju (since I saw Godzilla) stuff in the back along with the Ghibli goods since there is a little photo op with Totoro. Hopefully they'll be stocked up with more interesting and diverse anime goods, since right now it's mostly what casuals are into or the big shonen series out. Definitely worth stopping by in the mall as one of its many "anime" stops! read more

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Books Kinokuniya is a Japanese chain of bookstores similar to Waldenbooks or Borders from back in the days. Although there is a marked leaning towards all things Anime and Manga, even if you're not into the Otaku culture, there is still plenty here for you to check out. They have everything, from books, children's books, totes bags, stationery supplies, gunpla models, etc. This branch is conveniently located on the 2nd floor (if you go through the Nordstrom entrance of The Shops at Santa Anita, it is unmissable), every single employee is courteous, nice and polite. There was even an incident in which a book that I wanted wasn't there, so they placed an online order for me and emailed me once the book that I wanted arrived. I just went there a couple of weeks later, picked it up and paid. It may seem like a minor gesture but it does show that they go above and beyond for their customers (especially since the item I wanted was less than 10 dollars, haha). Totally recommended location. Also closer than the one in DTLA if you're in the SGV. read more

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Lots to explore and to get lost in from accessories, to manga, and stuffed animals. They have cute decorations and items in stock!! read more

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Love Kinokuniya!! We don't have very many out here so it's rare for us to come across one. But at a mall?! That's extremely rare for us!! Love that they added this inside a mall because it really has some cute things to look at and just browse. You'll most likely end up purchasing something even if you didn't plan on it. They have a ton of stationery and figures. Manga, books, calendars, and lots more inside this store. It's almost like a mini Barnes n Noble! Definitely recommend checking this place out. It's a good size compared to the ones inside Mitsuwa Marketplace. IG: @ammysalamii read more

Kinokuniya - Giant Totoro plush inside store - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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Nice store and love that it's close by but the employees make me real uncomfortable here. The girls working when I went were gossipy and snickering after a nice older lady came up with a child's lost shoe and asked them if they could hold it up front in case the parents came by looking for it. They were rude to her and snickered and gossiped about her in front of me while I was making my purchase after she left. It was really bizarre and unprofessional behavior especially considering the older woman wasn't being rude or anything... When I asked the same employee for pen supplies my girlfriend was looking for, she had a very rude tone and just asked us if we were ready to check out otherwise she wouldn't show us. Overall, it left a really bad taste in my mouth and I don't feel comfortable shopping here because of their attitudes. It just feels like they're ready to talk badly about anyone and everyone in front of you. Prices here are also higher than online. I avoid buying from here if I can. Not a great value. read more

So after getting my online order cancelled I called the store asks if they had the item in stock and was told yes come in. After arriving they tell me it's all sold out and don't provide any alternative or help. Literally drove 30 mins to this location just to be told there isn't anymore terrible staff terrible store wouldn't recommend doing business here. read more

I love Kinokuniya and was happy to find this location in the Santa Anita mall, just when I needed a cute gift bag. This was a small branch compared to the Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo, but it was well stocked, especially with stationery and adorable knick-knacks. I'm guessing it's less comprehensive as a bookstore, but there were plenty of manga if that's your thing (I was once a huge manga reader and would've loved browsing here). The staff was nice. I couldn't find the gift bags right away, but it took no time to flag someone down and get pointed to the front of the store, where there was a decent assortment. I found the perfect one, a small bag with animals on it, that was the only one of its kind and was missing a price tag. The cashier had us wait while she looked it up in some unwieldy catalogue of inventory, but she was sweet and apologetic about it. Someone else kept the line moving so we didn't hold everyone up. Kinokuniya seems to do swift business, which I love to see. I came with my friend, and she picked up an unbearably cute Sanrio notebook with Hello Kitty and Badtzu-Maru and co. dressed up in various costumes. If you're in the market for kawaii goodies, definitely check out this Kinokuniya. It's a fun, happy little place. read more

The value of the manga magazines... you're telling me that a thick one is only worth 15 dollars? It's really nice too, and they put all of the books in order so it's easy to find. The person who checked me out was very nice, too. Overall a nice place to go during your time at Santa Anita Mall. read more

Like all bookstores in Asia, Kinokuniya is so much more than just a bookstore. They have toys, gifts, art books, and a wide range of Japanese stationary. They used to have one in Costa Mesa, but since it's been gone Little Tokyo is just a tad too far to visit. The Arcadia Mall location is decent sized, clean, and well organized. read more

Kinokuniya - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

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I received an email from Maido that is merging with this bookstore. Nice spacious bookstore has big collections of magma. It also has stationary area and pens and notebooks with plushies too. The aisles are clean and well stocked. read more

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This location is POPPIN. I'm gets really crowded. If you don't like crowds I recommend coming on a weekday when you can browse more at your leisure. I couldn't stand it so I had to leave. Lots of books, gifts, stationery. Lots of cute stuffed animals and blind boxes. My favorite part of the store was the fountain pen counter and aisle. THE HAVE A FOUNTAIN PEN AISLE. They have a lot more fountain pens, ink and accessories than other kinokuniyas in SoCal. I want to come back on a weekday and take my time. read more

Kinokuniya - Storefront - Bookstores Near Me - Arcadia, California

Ahh! So excited a Kinokuniya has opened up at the Shops at Santa Anita. It's filled to the brim with books, manga, plushies, toys, and stationery items. It appears that Maido is now incorporated into this Kinokuniya. If you wander in, make sure to have a magical visit with Totoro in the back of the store. read more

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