If you fancy unique but reasonably-priced electronics, appliances and other home management and craft gadgets, then Akibaoo is one of the best places for you.
Akibaoo is a one-stop shop that caters to a wide variety of consumers, with products that range from food delicacies to electronics, gadgets and accessories, toys, and even home appliances. Name it and you can find it in their small shop, with a rabbit warren of shelves filled with items of every kind.
With more than five branches, Akibaoo shops have a commonality: their brand red-yellow combination and their one-floor shops, with small interiors filled with so many various kinds of items.
Outside their shops are several baskets and shelves of items on sale. As you enter one of their stores, there is a small counter at the left where all payments are done, then a narrow passage that leads you further towards the interior of the shop. There are two long shelves parallel to with each other filled with several items with no particular categories such as iPad and iPhone accessories, lubricants and massagers, DVD players, cameras and batteries, etc.
Towards the far right side of the shop are anime pins and badges, stickers and key chains on display. There are also several hobby toys like robots and miniature cars and trains.
Akibaoo has several branches scattered all over Akihabara, just a few minutes' walk from each other. Akibaoo Shop 0 is between Nomidokoro, a Japanese bar and restaurant, and a small cell phone and electronics shop; Akibaoo Shop 2 is on a corner just about a two-minute walk from JR Akihabara Station, next to Kotobukiya. Other Akibaoo branches are numbered 3, 5, 6 and 7, to name a few, skipping unlucky number 4.
Akibaoo’s reasonable prices are one of their main catches in attracting customers. Several items are tagged at different prices: mini DVD players range from ¥3000 to around ¥10000, iPad covers from ¥580 to ¥1180 depending on the brand, gadgets and accessories like headphones are from ¥500 to ¥3000 depending on the color, design and maker.
You will also find glue guns, mini all-in-one worker’s multipurpose knives, and shavers, measuring spoon, calculators, peelers, kitchen thermometers and timers. Many tourists get curious about their shops because of the assorted items they sell, with no particular theme or category.
As there are several Akibaoo branches all over Akihabara, you can just walk around the streets north-west of JR Akihabara Station, and you'll find the shops in just a minute or two.
