厚木見物第二: 中古 Atsugi City Tour Part 2: Second Hand

Hello and welcome to the second part of the Atugi City tour!
Last time I introduced you to two wonderful local Fair Trade stores. Fair Trade in itself is a wonderful thing, but it is a little expensive at time and there are things you can't get fair traded.

A solution both for the purse and living in balance with people and nature is to buy Second Hand. Especially in Japan Second Hand is great. That is because Japanese people are always a bit scared and doubtful to used things, therefore you will get Second Hand articles a) in top quality and b) to very cheap prices.
Also most Second Hand stores easily buy stuff from you, if it is in a reasonable condition. So a second hand store is also a good place to leave some stuff, when you are leaving the country.

For the second hand stores itself this buying and selling itself is not very profitable, the real profit lies in some of the bought stuff. Japanese are maybe the number one collectors in the world and pay incredible prices for rare things. And a second hand store, where people can leave their old stuff, is just the perfect opportunity of getting hold of some of those rare items. You will never find this items sold in the stores itself, they will be sold directly to renowned collectors. But what to do with all the not so rare stuff? This is sold in the second hand stores itself, since it is still more profitable than throwing it away and attracts customers both to buy, as also to sell their old goods.

For the normal guy like you and me, this is only good news. We can sell stuff and get as good as new stuff to very cheap prices :)


The Smile Company





In Atsugi I have found a pretty cool and huge second hand store with five floors, called the smile company. It sells all kinds of stuff from designer stuff, to dishes, toys, figures, all kind of cloths including a large jeans section, computer games, a large instruments section including guitars (electric/acoustic), drum sets, amplifiers and more. Furthermore we have bikes, camping equipment, ski equipment, stuff for infants, babies and little children, lots of skirmish stuff and some electronics like laptops or electric dictionaries. Also for permanent Atsugi citizens it offers two floors with furniture and home electronics like TV sets.



electric guitars, so you don't need to bring one to Japan



and acoustic ones



they also have drum sets and amplifiers for sale



they have a large Jeans section



but also ordinary cloths



and some more Asian



if you are looking for a bike



ski and fitness equipment





toys for small children



and big children, which means figures and



and old computer games



all kinds of Japanese porcelain



TV sets



and furniture





also lots of unsorted random stuff, just like on a flea market

Because of the large variety it is fun only to walk among the rows and look what stuff they do have. And because of the cheap prices, you will always find something small to take along. I once bought a N64 with 3 games including Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask for only 1.500 Yen.

I made a Google Map to show you the way to the Second Hand store here.

Also remember if you want to bring some cool stuff from Japan for friends or family this store is a good address to get them.

mika