Book Off, second-hand books ブックオフ
Books at a low price
The yellow Book Off sign thrones in the streets of many cities in Japan, becoming as iconic as restaurant chains such as Mos Burger or the king of discount Don Quijote!
The all-round cultural store
Book Off is a chain of stores selling second-hand cultural products, like the network of French bookshops Gibert Joseph.
Founded in Japan in 1991, it sells manga, books, CDs, other DVDs, video games, and game consoles. It is one of the rare economic successes of the archipelago during the "lost decade," which followed the bursting of the Japanese speculative bubble in the early 90s.
Read also: Cheap shopping in Japan.
A Book-Off store in Japan
Wikipedia
A quality offer
The Book Off store offer is distinguished by the quality of the products, which are clean, perfectly preserved, and display little difference from new products. In addition, the prices defy all competition.
Many mangas are sold at around 300 yen ($2.50/2€), while some titles are even offered at about 100 yen (less than $1/1€). Manga is also sold in packs of 20~25, further reducing costs. Classic books are sold between 30 and 50% less than their new price.
Shelving in a Book-Off store
Wikipedia
A substantial settlement
In 2018, Book Off had 807 stores at the archipelago level. It is not uncommon to find several chain establishments within the same city. Even beyond the example of Tokyo, where there are more than sixty stores, there are about ten Book Offs in Osaka, and a city the size of Kanazawa also has several.
Note that there is also 13 Book Off stores abroad, including two in Paris. One of them is located a few minutes' walk from the Japan Experience Tokyo office!
Read also: Book Off of Sanjô Keihan Station.
Former Book-Off establishment, located in the Opéra district in Paris
Wikipedia
Readers' meeting
Book Off owes its special cachet in Japanese culture to its vast rows of mangas in front of which stand customers who, stretching out their hands, look for then open their favorite work and thus remain for a long time to devour entire volumes. It can be young college or high school students and salarymen who come to stroll through the large bays of the store and reopen a manga to dig into it a little dilettante pleasure.
Read also: Kanda
