Kinokuniya Bookstore - Los Angeles

Not a lot of anime merch but a whole ton of manga, books, art supplies, and cute trinkets. Loved the sassy warning signs too! Definitely will be back.

I am a huge fan of Kinokuniya bookstores. They have a chill vibe and great inventory. Love looking through the stacks of books and anime. The little knickknacks are fun to look through and somehow, I find myself bringing something small home every time. The staff at this location is very friendly and tried their best to help us find what we were looking for, even looking through inventory of other locations for us. Now for my standard comments. The location is clean and well kept.

It’s a cute store and would have been a great experience wandering around in there if it weren’t for the racism. I picked up the 2nd volume of The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy At All by Sumiko Arai and wandered around debating if I should get a planner and/or pen. I noticed I was being watched/followed but thought nothing of it since some stores have people make rounds around the store and existing as a black person this is a common experience sadly. I decided to just get the volume and headed towards the cashier and made the purchase. My friend and I went to grab udon and that’s when I noticed the stamp on my bag. With them following me and the monkey/ape stamp I began to feel that it was targeted towards me for just daring to exist as a black person in their presence. Before jumping to conclusions I made my friend go in alone and make a purchase that she was debating on earlier. And guess what her stamp wasn’t an ape….and yes she’s white…so now I’m here reporting this disgusting place. If you’re black or support an environment and people where they can simply exist without harassment please don’t give your money to this business. Won’t be coming back, but I guess that’ll make them happy since they clearly don’t want people who aren’t Asian or white there.

Cute little store. They had a good selection of manga and trinkets. The gentleman that checked us out was friendly.

Went for the tgswiiwagaa collab and it was kinda of crowded but to be expected for a book shop with this many manga and some niche fandoms that don’t really have merch anywhere else. I got a few keychains and a sticker, was a bit pricey but quality of the items were good. I was hoping to get one of the blind bag picks but they’d already sold out of them, would maybe go back but the drive was far. I hope they make a location in the san diego area instead of another in the la area

They’re at a temporary location at the Bloc right now but there’s still a lot of things to view and buy! Love this store.

Friendly and helpful staff. Even if they're busy with a task, they're always willing to help or refer to someone who can. The first few times I went I thought I was being followed until I realized they were worried if I needed any help or they were just completing some of their basic tasks such as inventory, moving items, restocking, etc. I saw a review on here claiming they were racist due to someone receiving a "monkey/ape" stamp and perceiving being followed around for being black. I am fully Mexican and my friend (half White/half Mexican) who has also shopped there have received this stamp numerous times. We noticed it is just standard procedure to indicate that the item has been paid for. It is not used to deliberately target someone. I noticed the stamps are pretty random since I've been shopping here since 2020. If the logic was "only certain people receive this stamp because they belong to a certain ethnicity" then it doesn't make sense because how come my friend and I received the same stamp but we are either fully Mexican or half White and half Mexican? I'm a little confused about the review saying "they clearly don't want people who aren't Asian or white there" because if that was the case, they wouldn't accept me (fully Mexican) shopping there in the first place. They have been nothing but kind in my experience and have helped me find manga in Japanese when I explained to them I was learning the language and was looking for a specific series that I liked but the English translation hadn't come out yet so I wanted to read ahead while sharpening my language skills. They never looked down on me or questioned if I could really understand Japanese. It never felt like I was excluded, rather the opposite. They helped me as much as they could and answered any of my questions with kindness and patience. It's just sad for the employees to be labeled like that by one experience when that's just not it. I hope the employees are able to read this and cheer up because you guys are some of the kindest busy bees I have ever met. お仕事を頑張ってください！