Just after I mentioned how I wish there is a Goodwill in Malaysia, I discovered Jalan Jalan Japan, a second hand store with used consumer products imported from Japan. Got my curiosity piqued I decided I had to check the place out. From their Facebook Page, it is mentioned that they have two branches in Selangor, the nearest to where I am staying is Skypark@One City, accessible via USJ21 LRT and a short Grab ride away. The other one is in Shamelin 1 in Cheras, which seems to be only accessible by car.
My first impression of Skypark @ One City was how almost deserted the place were on the weekend. Unlike the other malls around KL and Selangor, there were no local brands branches nor department store in sights. Also, One City is made up of 3 separate buildings which was confusing! While the building appears to be huge and well maintained, I find it wasteful that they weren't fully utilized. Perhaps they're much bustling on weekdays?
Jalan Jalan Japan occupies a huge section on the second floor and each floor of One City has a loft, so I guess you can say they made up two half-floors. I have no idea of a better way to describe it so I'll leave it to the photo at the top of this post to do the explaining.
You can find a whole lots of used apparels, shoes, scarfs to furnitures, luggages and even toys! While I think the choices are endless and it may be a haven for serious thrifts shoppers, a lot of the apparels quality are not something I will seek or wear. But then again, these are used itemslah. Maybe if I had more patient to run through the things I would have found something nice!
My favorite section got to be the used kimono and yukatas section. Found some decent looking yukatas ranging for RM50-80 but I would have bought them only if I can find proper belt to go with them, which I couldn't find... Seriously, where are the obis?? I did found an exquisite kimono obi that I super love and decided I have to buy it. It was such a steal at only Rm20!!!! Can you imagine how crazy happy I was! Gonna use it for a personal project, so can't wait!Â
Pretty, pretty obi~~
Besides that, I do find quite a number of cute hifu, a vest with kimono prints typically worn by 3-year old girls in ShichiGoSan festival to celebrate children's coming of age and they are super cute!!!! Too bad there are no matchy kimonos to go with them else I probably buy for aesthetic value harharhar. But frankly, that will most probably happen..Â
Overall, I think Jalan Jalan Japan is an interesting place to check out. I would go to again, though not the soonest, just to check out if there are pretty yukatas hahahha. However, I do wish they could collect better quality apparels and come up with more programs by collecting used clothing or items from the locals to encourage more people to thrifts and reuse. It's not like we lack of this services, we do have sites like Mudah, Carousell and a dozens other apps which I do post my old or unworn pre-loved on these sites but the respond was so-so. At Jalan Jalan Japan, I noticed there were many families and individuals who does thrift shopping, some purchasing used toys, apparels for their growing children and even hunting for winter wears! So it is not like there isn't a market for used goods, perhaps just the lack of physical stores or bazaars selling used clothes. I wonder when will we have more of these stores?
