So yeah, just how much do you like your Japanese toys, and how much do you really want to pay for…read moreit? And is it really Japanese that you are looking for? It'll depend on your upbringing. I grew up amongst the Sogo 崇光, Mitsukoshi (三越), Yaohan (八佰伴), AEON and Seibu (西武) and had access to some really quality Japanese toys of the Showa (昭和) period. Did I grew up in Japan? No, I grew up in Hong Kong, and all I really wanted back then was a decent diecast KMB bus, the one that ran outside my childhood home on Jordan Road. I might've looked at all the Tomicas and Gundams, but none of those things really captured my imagination. That's why my parents bought me Legos instead. Fast forward to today. See, when your $dayjob have you run IT operations for a mid-sized company, you need a hobby that would help you majorly de-stress. For me, that implies building model kits, Lego sets, or travel. Oh, even better if it helps you remember your Hong Kong roots. I might run my plarail train sets, but those are MTR Plarail sets exclusive to HK. It also helps to have a wife who are understanding of your stress shedding hobby (she also love Re-ments). On the way to Toronto we made a stop in Mitsuwa (the US successor to Yaohan) in New Jersey and picked up a few Re-ments and F-Toys trade models before heading north. Me and the missus were driving around Markham looking at the mostly mediocre Chinese malls out there (seriously, how many travel agencies, herbal shops, restaurants, cellphone stores and "Korean" clothing stores do you really need?) during the snowstorm 2 weeks ago, and we came across Langham square, which is this kinda-premium shopping mall complete with free indoor parking (my wife loved that) and a T&T Supermarket, which was in total contrast to the other malls like Splendid China Tower (totally misnamed), which didn't even bother to shovel their parking lot. Maybe the name references the large snow bank walling up their parking lot on Steeles Street East. So why are local Chinese owned malls so keen to crib names from their more famous Hong Kong equivalents? Langham square was named after Langham place, which is this kinda-stylish vertical shopping mall that was located in the heart of Kowloon (fun fact: it was built by Hong Kong's infamous Urban Renewal Authority in an attempt to kill off the nearby Portland street red light district and gentrify the area - totally didn't work). This one was slightly different in that the area features some rather nice premium condos nearby (so if you came from the transit-shopping-podium-condo tower indoor complexes of Hong Kong's upper middle class, man, is this home-like to you). The mall features some of the same we saw all over Markham, while other stuff just seem like it can only exist here at this mall. A tax attorney. An IT consultant. The Markham equivalent of BlueRibbon (pre-prepped meals aiming towards a Cantonese palate). A maid agency. A social club. This seems a little more tailored towards the Crazy Asian Rich. And then my wife pointed out an anime store - those are a dime a dozen, probably selling some fake Pokemon merch painted in garish colors straight from Shenzhen. "Babe, this one is carrying TinyHK merchandise". WAIT, WHAT? So there are only 1 other place that I am aware that would sell you TinyHK diecast cars and models. It belongs to a shop that sells Airsoft guns located on the 2nd floor of Pacific Mall's "Culture walk" (or as I call it, Stereotype Central). I already bought an F-Toys model from them, and I was a bit put off by the owner's non-existent customer service skills. "Hi, may I help you?" Whoa. Is that the TinyHK mushroom hawker center model? And the price isn't too overly ridiculous (Canadian dollars, taxes included). See, I order TinyHK merch directly from HK, but the shipping is fairly atrocious. This store will sell me Tomicas and TinyHK diecast vehicles for a few bucks. "Hey, here's our card. If you order more than 100 USD we'll ship it stateside for free". Score and paydirt. So yeah, the quick and the easy - its a small storefront that is part-time staffed, they carry Tomicas, Re-ments and are an authorized TinyHK retailer. They also sell some other figurines, plushies and toys straight from Japan (so you won't see the same BS as all the other anime stores in Markham). Decent selection, pricing isn't too bad, and if you are a Honkie nerd (like me) you'll pretty much know what you're looking at and how much you want to buy. Definitely a stopover if you collect TinyHK or want that piece of collective memory from Hong Kong in your home. Seriously, they should just call this place "Yaohan". Us old school Honkies will totally get that.

Lots of miniature cars, food, and other miscellaneous toys, purses, bags…read more Friendly staff! Wifi: Mall. Loyalty: No.

loved the store and was able to get a good deal. the attendant was also very helpful and…read moreaccommodating.

I don't know much about the blind box craze, but hopped in here since my friend wanted to check…read morethem out. They have a lot of blind boxes, and even better with some that are opened so you can buy the ones you want. The selection of items in this store were huge and can be overwhelming. My friend found the smiski she wanted, holding a toilet paper, and it was marked with hat the box entailed - which is great for getting exactly what you want! A cool concept/ store that is all the hype right now.

So Samko & Miko come to Ottawa once a year for their annual warehouse sale which lasts a few days…read more This is how I first learned about the company. I signed up for their newsletter and that's how I discovered that they have a retail location in Richmond Hill that was going to be open to the public the same time that I was going to be in the GTA, and the hotel that I was staying at was less than 10 minutes away. I believe that they have 2 retail locations (this one in Richmond Hill and one in Toronto proper). These locations open up to the public for a few months at a time, unlike their travelling sales where they are only in town for a few days. Anyway, it's a warehouse, so it looks and feels like a warehouse. Prices are ok. Some items are fairly cheap, like stickers ($0.50) and books ($2.50-$10). Others are slightly lower than retail, but not bargain basement prices. They had costumes which were the same price as Party City after Halloween. It's pretty big, and is fun to poke around if you have kids in your life. You'll almost certainly find something for them. It's in an industrial park so there's lots of free parking in their parking lot.

This place has been around for many many years. It is a kid or kids at hearts dream place. There…read morewere endless of toys and there were books too. I saved 50% and more for the items. I have never been to a toy warehouse before. I bought 3 big red bags fill of toys. It felt like it's Christmas. The staff were friendly and seem to love there job. A staff offered to help me bring my toys to the cashier. There was no shopping carts there for customers so bring a wagon if you have. Thank you staff for doing what you do. I definitely will be coming again.

The employee gave the impression that she didn't want to bother giving us excellent customer…read moreservice skills. Although she was upfront with us from the get go that it would be hard to win anything with just 5 tokens, she delivered this message in a rude manner because she told us to leave if we thought that we could even win something with that amount of 5 tokens. To be honest, we didn't expect to win anything. We only wanted to have a fun experience of trying out some claw machines. Also, we didn't realize that the minimum purchase had to be 5 tokens and when we asked to buy 4 tokens, this employee gave us a look as if we had difficulty reading the instructions. To be honest, when you're inside a store with many claw machines, your eyes won't be focusing on reading text. Your eyes will be starring at the many cute stuffed toys. Our last attempt was for a claw machine where we were not familiar with its usage and when we asked the employee how to play that claw machine, her response was that that particular claw machine was super hard and that many customers spent more than 100 tokens and still couldn't get the stuffed animal. While we appreciated this honesty, we were interested in knowing how the machine worked and we had to repeat 3 times in total for the employee to give us a "Why-should-I-even-bother-to-show-you?" look and reluctantly grabbed a token to show us how to play that game.

I've crawled out of the reviewing blockade to make a review for this place because they deserve it…read more Hard to locate, they are situated in the Langham Square plaza but not accessible inside where T and T is. You have to go through the building to outside on the street facing towards Kennedy (where Alice Cafe is), take a left when you exit the door and it's almost the last store, or alternatively you can find it down through the parking lot. I found the Kennedy entrance much easier to find the place, we took the parking lot way going back and got lost trying to get back to our car. They have lots of claw machines ready to go, filled with many CUTE toys; unlike other places that have trash low quality items. Almost every toy was bleeping cute. I want the Kermit with the supreme shirt next. Or the Pikachu dressed as a charmander. I went with rilakumma this time. On one side it is $1 per play, and the other side was cut the rope and $2 per play. Biggest bang for your buck is the $1 per play but the prizes on the other side are definitely cool too. Customer service was hilariously great. The girl set up the toys every time to help you win. Literally. The game is harder than you think and about $5 in with no toys she made it increasingly easier cause WE SUCK. We were super happy when we finally got the toy I wanted (rilakumma) and I super enjoyed the experience. It's a great place for children or dates (but you'll probably only spend about 10-15 min here max unless you want all the toys or spend your money). It's still a good cap-off if you're already in the plaza. All in all, spent $9 ($4 went to the $2 per play game which is much harder). The toy I got and the experience is definitely worth it. Check it out!

It is a great place. Ticks so many nerd boxes for me I didn't know where to look next. John was…read moreinvaluable. Gave me great advice from everything from magic cards to model painting. I'll definitely be back.

They hosted Iman Vellani's comic book signing. Their staff was extremely friendly and helpful…read more The store had a great selection of unique collectibles. Meeting Iman (Ms Marvel) was amazing

Updated review! Love their new artist alley area in the back and how there are always a good…read morerotation of different artists. Each time I go there is something new to check out aside from the usual blind boxes!

A lot of goodies to get at this store! They carry a lot of popular items like Sonny Angels, Lulu…read morethe piggy, Smiski, and even labubu. Although labubu sells out, the store is very active on IG and has a discord for updates. While you're in the plaza, you can check out Mr. Surprise Tea station for a drink and surprise lab for custom stuff and Photo Booth.

Nice owner/manager. Got my favourite Japanese skin care products. Quiet ambience. Prices are not…read moreinexpensive for imported Japanese soaps, skin care, etc.

From the owner: Japanese Toys, Japanese Cartoon Bento Boxes, all our products import from Japan!…read moreTakara Tomy, Tomica, Plarail....and more.

Smart Maple is located inside Woodside Square Mall…read more Cute Stuffed Animal Toys Cute little things for your house Cute little things as gifts I don't know if senior shoppers are into cute things? But it is nice for them to get for their grandchildren as gifts. I am sure the kids or the young at heart would love them!! Or Maybe some Yelpers?? Hey I saw someone Iphone using a Hello Kitty! motif skin! Cute!

This store has a mix of gadgets, stationaries, toys and accessories. They are really cute and…read moreadorable. There are too many things to pick out and choose from which will make me spend a long time looking and deciding on what I should get when I visited. Also, everything seemed to be stocked full of things that pretty much everyone would like.

A good place to browse. They have tons of selection and a knowledgeable and helpful staff. It's a…read morefun place to look around as the toys and books are displayed in a very interesting way. You're bound to find something new here. Check it out.

Tons of comics and toys in such a confined space.. If the toys dropped on you from above, you're…read moredead.. Especially the statues! Hazardous but.. LOVE THIS PLACE! Lol