From: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu (Starbuck)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: Chicago Shopping
Date: 21 Dec 92 04:03:15 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division
To: ez008635@othello.ucdavis.edu

In article <19916@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> ez008635@othello.ucdavis.edu writes:



John Kilpatrick requested a Shopper's Guide to Chicago. These and
other shopper's guides are located at ocf.berkeley.edu in
pub/AnimeB/stuff/shopping.  Enjoy!

From: conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty)
Subject: Anime Shopper's Guide to Chicago

Apologies in advance to Rusell and Rebecca for not asking for their permission
in advance before posting this...

P.S.  Feel free to add to this list, as long as you tell me about it (someone
has to gather all the info into one place).  Your name will be added after
your entry, of course.

YAOHAN:
110 E. Algonquin Road
Arlington Heights
open 7 days, 9am - 8pm

This is an all-Japanese mall and food court.  The most important stores
to anime fans are Asahiya Books, JBC Video, and Pony Toy Go-Round.
Descriptions follow:

ASAHIYA BOOKS:
	A large excellent Japanese language bookstore with a
reasonably large, very well priced selection of manga (not as cheap as
Nikaku, but within driving range, and one can browse ;) ) as well as
Japanese magazines, and normal Japanese books.  Asahiya is packed on
weekends when all the new shipments arrive.
				Rusell Rezaian

JBC VIDEO:
	Next to Asahiya is JBC Video, one of the three Chicago
area Japanese video places.  JBC has a selection of Anime, but mixes the
shows on tapes (they keep a weeks worth of stuff on a a tape, and do not
compile one show per tape) so that if you are only interested in one show
the rest of the tape is pointless.  I was a member there, but they raised
their prices, and I was getting annoyed at having to spend 2.50 to rent a
tape that had one episode of Patlabor that I had to search through two
episodes of live action silliness, and one episode of something else to
find.  Unless you like EVERYTHING there are other places to rent video.
				Rusell Rezaian

PONY TOY GO-ROUND:
	This is in front of JBC Video.  A general Japanese toy store.
They have a big stock of scale models, mostly mecha (lots of Gundam
stuff).  It doesn't have the arcane selections of a (say) NewType Models,
but it will do.
				Enrique Conty

TOKYO VIDEO:
	One of the other Video rental places in the area is Tokyo Video in
the near north section of the city 2616 north Halsted.  They charge $10 for
a membership, and their rates of rental are cheap.  They, like all of the
other places, allow 5 day rentals.  Tokyo Video compiles their tapes so
there are several episodes from one show on one tape.  They also have some
OVAs.  They are located above the Itto Sushi restaurant, parking in the
rear for sushi customers...
				Rusell Rezaian

JAPAN BOOKS AND VIDEO:
	The third video place is Japan Books and Video on Peterson up
north.  Take Lake Shore Drive to Hollywood, and that to Peterson.  They are
connected with a Korean book and video place too.  Their selection of books
and manga isn't as good as Asahiya, but they have an excellent video
selection, cheap 5 day rentals, and they get some things earlier than Tokyo
Video.
				Rusell Rezaian

The store's address is 3450 W. Peterson, just west of Kimball
on the north side of the street.  For a more general location, it's just south
of Lincolnwood.  They did have one laserdisk, Bubblegum Crash 1, but the asking
price was $100.50.  They also had the music from Mobile Suit Gundam (final 
something or another in the title) for just over $32.  I bought some manga that
was price 480 yen on the cover, I ended up paying just under $7 for it.  If
I read the sign correctly, for the rather expansive tape collection, the going
rental rates are $2 for one day, $10 for five.  
				John Yoon

SEA RANCH VIDEO:
	Sea Ranch Video is in Wilmet, north of the city, right of the Edens
Highway (94).  If you get on the Edens, exit at Lake Road, and there is a
little shopping center across from the big Edens shopping center.  In this
is Sea Ranch grocery (which has a nice selection of video -- taped right off
the TV, including commercials) and Sea Ranch fish (a fish/sushi store -- all
the Japanese in the area swear that it has the best sushi in town --)  For
those of you who are in the Northwestern area, or even in the city, it is far
quicker to take 94 north, than to travel west to Asahiya.  Also, Sea Ranch is
in the process of expanding (finally) and I've noticed the video section is
growing.
				Rebecca Radnor

GRAHAM CRACKERS:
	It's at the corner of Chicago and Washington in the center of downtown
Naperville (due west from Aurora).  Actually, the store is in Chicago Avenue,
but it is in the corner block.  Not much anime here, to be honest (only manga,
magazines, and dubbed/subtitled anime), but it's the only place with decent
anime supplies that I know of in the western suburbs.
				E. Conty

LARRY'S COMICS:
The place is on Devon, just west of Broadway.  No anime per se, but tons of
issues of [overpriced] anime magazines and manga.  Walking into the place,
the first impression that I got was that the place was bound to burn down
with all of the magazines and comics piled up all over the place.  Driving
by, it's easy to overlook the store with the metal screens over the door
and window.
				John Yoon
-- 
			    E n r i q u e  C o n t y
			      jester@ihlpl.att.com