This place has lots of art supplies and there's tiny af color pencils and sketchbooks. So nice!read more

Mai Do (Maido) is one of the sub-brands under the Kinokuniya Group and this stationery store is…read morelocated inside Mitsuwa Marketplace in Costa Mesa. If you isolate the stationery section of a Kinokuniya Bookstore, then you get Mai Do. There is a two-story Mai Do in Japantown San Francisco and another location in San Jose. [Parking]: Mitsuwa Marketplace has a designated parking lot, but it is one of the more difficult parking lots to navigate in Orange County because Mitsuwa Marketplace also has a food court that draws a huge crowd. [What to Expect]: A-tier selection for Japanese writing instruments, greeting cards, and journals. While the selection is not as customized or curated as some specialty stationery shops, there are still plenty of cute items to choose from. B-tier selection for plushies and the plushies are really overpriced here. [Conclusion]: Come here for Japanese stationery and only window shopping for plushies. P.S. - Kinokuniya Membership Card benefits do not apply at Mai Do (Maido) locations.

Omg I love this store so much. Anytime I work in Costa Mesa, I stop by to get some crystals sage…read moreor Palo Santo. The price point is just so great and affordable. Everything inside is designed very great, with fantastic merchandise inside. I would highly recommend this store if you enjoy a local must see store. Also the staff was very kind and helped me find the crystals I needed :)

I first heard of this store at a 12 step club conference in Wisconsin 7 years ago. I have been…read moreordering coins for our Alano club from them ever since. My only wish is that they had a store in the Midwest. Kind and helpful people take my phone orders and send them quickly. If I ever get to Costa Mesa I will go to hug these beautiful people and I give good hugs.

Stopped by M.Lovewell yesterday for their first day opening since their store refresh! There are so…read moremany new items and artists that have been added to the store which was nice to see! I love coming by here to look at their selection of fountain pens, inks, journaling supplies, and especially stamps! I hope they continue to add more varieties of washi tapes and stamps to their store as it's my new current obsession! Their prices are always reasonable and their workers are always super friendly. I love chatting with them whenever I visit :) Also love that they host fun learning workshop classes and events! Definitely check out their website for upcoming scheduled events if you're interested. There's a parking garage behind the corner of the street where the wall art is, which is typically free for 90 minutes I believe.

CUTE INDEPENDENT SHOP (4 stats)…read more There isn't much happening in downtown Santa Ana but there are a few hidden gems. Did I overhear that this place has been oven for ~10 years?! I stumbled upon this shop while walking around the small downtown and as I walked more east I questioned should I turn around? Right when I was able to this store popped in view and I had to go in! What a cute shop if you are into stationary and pens and etc. I love supporting small independent businesses so I was determined to leave with something. There were a collective of independent products from different companies/artists that sell their items here. I didn't expect to leave spending $70.05 on 5 tiny items. WAX SEAL ($20) - by Made of Honour. There weee a handful of styles available. Very nice packaging. SEALING WAX BEADS 100pc ($9) - by Fiona Ariva. Variety of stunning colors. WAX SEAL HANDLE ($9) - by Fiona Ariva. I believe this is the standard size that fits other brands. BOAT PEN CASE ($13) - by Luddite. I been looking for a small compact pen case for my very few ones that i own and this was what I was looking for. ANTERIQUE BALLPOINT PEN ($13) - I love this mini pen and how it writes. The store DOES sell anterique refills BUT not the mini anterique refills that is needed for this pen. You can order the refills online on Amazon. So here's what gets me about shopping here. - California State Tax (0.5%) - Orange County Tax (0.25%) - Santa Ana City Tax (15%) - Orange County District Tax SP (0:5%) - Orange County Tax SL (1%) ^^ Added an additional $5.95 to the initial subtotal. That's alot in my opinion! Cool store, with a checkout. Until the next review....

I stumbled upon this shop today after dining at Plums Cafe and I was beyond impressed. The interior…read moredesign is impeccable and there are so many interesting finds. I feel like this is the perfect place to come if you need a gift for someone and not sure what to get them. The selection was wild, from greeting cards, olive oil, candles, aprons, kitchen items, jewelry and so so much more! It was out of this world. Also, all the staff were so kind and helpful! Can't wait to explore the shop again soon.

Annamaria & Glenna…read more What kind souls Had lunch at plums and walked by and immediately came in. What nice women - what great stuff. Bought a candle and some room spray -- would spend more if i had the time! Come support this place! They are all about helping small businesses and are making a difference !

This is a pretty neat store with lots of paper crafting materials and gifts. There seems to be…read moresomething cute and unique in every corner of this store. I came here just a few days before Christmas, so it was pretty crowded and there was a long line. I didn't end up getting anything because of the long line and a lot of the items seemed to be overpriced. Neat store; I'll probably come again during a different season when it's not so crowded.

I like to come here for interesting little gifts or things. They have stickers, pens, and gifts. I…read moregot myself a notebook and it's great. The people were kind and helpful. The place was spacious and would definitely recommend this place.

Absolutely terrible customer service--completely unprofessional!!!…read more My husband and I were both "victims" in this situation, as we did not feel welcomed at all in the store. For comfort, my husband decided to stand outside while I proceeded to look around the store. When I walked into the store, the manager and an associate were just standing there, completely engrossed in a personal conversation. There was absolutely no greeting, no eye contact, and zero effort made to welcome customers into the space. It felt as though the staff couldn't care less that people were walking through the door, treating their own personal chatter as the priority. To make matters worse, when I proactively tried to be polite and asked them, "How are you?", I was met with an incredibly pretentious, cold, and ignorant attitude. Instead of a standard, courteous professional response, they made me feel like an interruption to their personal conversation. This wasn't just isolated to me, either. I watched as they treated other customers who walked into the store the exact same way-ignoring them, refusing to welcome them, and continuing their personal conversation right in front of everyone. For a manager to actively participate in this behavior alongside a casual associate sets an incredibly poor standard for the entire store. The atmosphere here is deeply unwelcoming and elitist. I will not be spending my money at a business that treats basic courtesy with such arrogance. Management needs to seriously retrain this team on fundamental customer service. To top it all off, when I finally walked out, they completely ignored me again-no "thank you," no acknowledgment, nothing. Just completely dismissive from start to finish. Do NOT SHOP HERE!!!

This was such a fun find in Laguna Beach... and it just so happens we were looking for some fun…read morelittle ornaments and a birthday card. The shop has so many wonderful unique American made items a lot of natural materials . Books colored pencils, ornaments cards, all kinds of fun things and not just for the holidays... it's worth a peek

What a cute little place for gift shopping. This place has a great selection of just odd stuff. it…read moreis cute and clean and the service is very nice. Most of the items are from Japan and they have stuff I had not seen before. They had a little Toto lighter which I loved as I have a Toto at home (it is a toilet, made in Japan and has a washlet.) They also have stickers and tee shirts and hats, they have lots of hats. I bought one for my son in law. The prices are fair for the area. We really did love the service. It is not a place I would go to often, but it is adorable and worth a visit. We had a great time there, just looking at all the stuff. It was not at all busy when we were there and check out was super easy. So, if you are nearby stop there. It is not a must see, but it is cute.

Love the store but service 0/5…read more My friend and I had stopped by this shop after taking pictures at Booth by Bryant to take a look around. This shop is very nicely organized and aesthetic, however, the lady at the cash register who might be the owner did not greet us or anything, and seemed very bothered by us just walking in. There are some colorful crates in the back part of the store that my friend wanted to take pictures with, so I asked the cashier first if it would be okay to do so, since I had noticed that she already looked upset, and she said "yes and thank you for asking first since some people don't even ask" and I had also purchased a $40 hat prior to asking. I take a few pictures of my friend and as we're looking at them some customers walk in and are taking a look around and we scooted to the corner so they can shop. As soon as they left the cashier comes up to us with so much attitude saying "you guys need to get out when customers come in, if you guys are doing this they can't shop." when we literally were no where in the way of the customers. The last thing my friend and I wanted was to make her upset, which is why we asked permission first and purchased an item so we could stay longer in the store. But, the lack of customer service and passive aggressive tone was what makes us not want to shop here anymore. A simple "if customers come in I would appreciate if you guys step aside for them to shop" (which we did either way) in the beginning when I first asked for permission would've been nice instead of telling us to "get out" after I had already purchased something.

I went here to get more stationery. I got the Dong-A scented gel pens, some erasers, and a limited…read moreedition Kuru toga pencil. I'm glad that this place has the Dong-A Miffy scented gel pens because the 10 colors from Jetpens has been discontinued. This place even has several erasers from stationery companies. I saw those erasers from a Korean youtube video from years ago. I also saw that this place sells some calenders and notebooks that remind me of the Kokuyo soft ring notebooks. It's honestly so cool to see something like that.

We usually stop by here before we hit up our the restaurants in Garden Grove. We can for school…read moresupplies and the kids walked away with a lot of unique pencils/pens, pencil cases, to notebooks. The Korean man is nice and friendly. This is one of the places we visit when we come down south.