angela l.

Mitsuwa Marketplace

The supermarket offers different variety of Asian (mostly Japanese) food, snacks, drinks. In addition, this market also offers small shops like bookstore (where you can find Japanese magazines, comics, CDs, etc), video store, sanrio-like store (where you can find the cutest stationery), and they even have a food court. I love the food court, which offers shops with lots of choices of japanese food.

this is a fun place to visit!

Kinokuniya Bookstore

I can find pretty much all of the English-translated comic books at this store. In addition, they also offer Japanese and Chinese comics, magazines, and books. I love this store and can spend hours here.

This is located inside of the Japantown mall. This bookstore is definetly worth a visit if you are in the area.

First Korean Market

I would come here every weekend while growing up in SF. The store is small. They offer fresh and good kimbab sushi. If you just want something quick, this is the place to go. Grab some kimbab, or the plenty of korean snacks they offer. But this is probably not the place to go if you are planning to cook a nice korean dinner, which may require a lot of ingredients that they may not offer.

Azar Florist

I had a corsage made at this florist once. The lady who helped us was very attentive and friendly. She answered all of the questions we had and she offered suggestions when asked. My corsage was ready on the day and time promised, and it was beautiful.

They also offer plenty of selections of fresh flowers. I love lavender roses but I always have a hard time finding them. I've found them at this florist. They don't have it all the time, but this is where I go to pick them up.

Tall Mouse Crafts & Framing

I think Tall Mouse is a bit more upscale than Michael's or Joanne's. It offers plenty of selection. My sister loves to knit and she loves this store. She usually just makes one stop here and finds everything she needs to finish whatever knitting project she's working on.

The service is pretty good. There's always someone who is willing to help you here.

I come here for their stickers. They have plenty of selections.

Jewels By Joe

We had a very specific design in mind when we were shopping for an engagement ring setting (we already had a diamond). We went to about 20 different jewerly stores, but left dissapointed. One of the stores actually had something that was similar to the one we had in mind, but the price was 3 times more than what we were willing to pay.

We were recommended by a friend who recently got engaged and had a good experience here. So we decided to check this out, not expecting too much. As soon as I was done describing the style, the lady who was helping us pulled out one ring that was exactly like what I had in mind. She even suggested what designs I could add to make the ring nicer. I knew right away that's the ring I wanted. N the best part of all this, the cost was 50% less than our budget, even with the additional design.

I have to admit I was worried it wasn't going to turn out nice. But I worried for nothing... The ring turned out so beautiful, even more beautiful than the one I had in mind (with the designs she suggested), especially after we had the diamond put in. I've gotten so many compliments from friends, even strangers.

I'm highly recommending this place. The service was excellent. They do a great job, and most importantly, their price is very reasonable.

Painting USA

I think their office is in Artesia, but you can reach them at this address too.

When I bought my first place, I wanted to paint the interior to make it more inviting and homey. I had never painted nor had experiences with home decorating before, so I decided to go with proffessionals. I was recommended to this company, but I did talk to other companies. I felt most comfortable with them. The owner was very nice and he listened well, answered all my questions, and even gave me suggestions about colors. (did you know there were so many different brands of paints? I didn't!)

To make a long story short, I hired them. They painted the whole place with all the colors I wanted in 2 days. They did a wonderful job. I was very happy with the outcome. I will definetly hire them again.

Alteration Specialist

This place is so small and hidden that unless you are really paying attention, you will miss it.

It's owned by a Korean family. They charge $ 5 for each pair of pants, which is a great deal. I've been to other places that charge $25/jeans.

Owners are very nice, but their English is very limited.
On weekends, they have their daughters (i think) there and they are able to communicate with non-Korean speaking customers fine. But despite their limited English, they do a good job.

Kitson

I usually like boutiques, but this place is so overrated. There's a line just to get in. The security guard outside acts like a club bouncer. He decides when you go in.

Everything in there is sooo expensive. They sell a Junk Food tee for $30 plus, and I found the same one on sale at Hot Topic for $ 8. In my opinion, you are paying for the experience.

Power Toyota

The sales person who helped us was very nice. It was his first week on the job so there were some questions he didn't know how to answer. But we understood, and he was nice. We had done a lot of research on the car we wanted, so we were pretty much ready to buy. So we sat down with him and the finance guy to negotiate. Everything went well... but the finance guy kept on pushing us towards a lease. We didn't want to lease the car and we explained this to him but he didn't listen. 1st mistake! We couldn't agree on this, and we couldn't agree on a price.

Then he walked away and brought back an Asian guy (2nd mistake). They proabbly thought to handle Asian customers, they need an Asian sales person. Well, that's what cost them a sale. This guy was rude and obnoxious. He kept on refering us as his "Asian bro and sister." He was so unproffessional and condecending. In fact, he made us feel like we weren't good enough to buy the car and that he was helping us because we were "family." Like his behaviour wasn't bad enough, even threw in some racist comments. At the end, we decided it was not worth our time and energy. We walked out.

We both have been in sales before, so we understand how hard sales position is. But we also know how not to make customers feel unwelcome and unimportant. And for a company that advertises their low price and their customer service, they should really train their employees.