Shopping in Shinjuku is quite a special experience and different from any other district of Tokyo in many ways.
Why is it different? Let’s break it down for you.
Everything is located in one place!
The most convenient fact of shopping in Shinjuku is that although Shinjuku district is very large, the shopping area is concentrated around Shinjuku Station only, which makes is very easy to visit all the department stores and shopping complexes within a fairly small area.
It’s not expensive!
Shinjuku is located between Shibuya from one side and Ginza is in the other where shopping is quite expensive and unless you have a lot of money to spend, you should look into more economic options. Shinjuku on the other hand is a place where you can find everything in reasonable prices and you will not need to worry to much about the cost.
The variety is astounding!
In Shinjuku, you can simply buy anything you can imagine. The variety of departments stores, shops, and shopping centers is breathtaking giving the feeling that you simply can get anything you want, if you will just look for it or know where to get it.
Get lost in Shinjuku and still find your way!
Shinjuku shopping canters around the station are all linked to each other in a maze of underground passageways and overground streets and alleys. If you are going to shop in Shinjuku, you should expect to go over and underground constantly and no matter how confusing it looks like, this maze of shops is all concentrated around the station so there is no way to really get lost! Simply go around from place to place and do not worry about getting lost. Once you want to go back to the station, simply look for the signs and you will find the station in comfortable walking distance.
Its completely safe!
Although Shinjuku has a bit of a wild image to it due to its nightlife and entertainment red light district, Kabukicho – but in fact, Shinjuku is very safe place and in day time, you wouldn’t even know you are walking in the red light district. Kabukicho simply looks like a restaurants and daytime entertainment area and is completely safe so feel free to walk around anywhere without worry about anything.
1. Don Quijote
Don Quixote, or as its called by Japanese “Donki” – is one of the Japan most iconic stores which you simply must visit if you pass through Japan, and Shinjuku offers Don Quijote flag store and one of the largest Donki shops in Tokyo right outside Shinjuku Station at the entrance of Kabukicho. The shop is open 24 hours a day and is always busy, but the best time to go there is probably the very early morning hours before the day rush. When you enter the shop, do not expect any special floor maps or theme floors as Donki feels more like a cluttered, disorganized and at time disorienting shop. There are hundred of thousands of products on the longs and tall shelves and although it looks pretty chaotic, it is organized in some sort of fashion such as home product, personal beauty, toys, multimedia, food and snacks, electronic gadgets, traveling gear, and many many others. Allow yourself the luxury of spending a couple of hours there to explore the full store. And the best part? — Don Quijote is one of the cheapest shops in Tokyo, and you can find there prices you could simply find nowhere else, even in Shinjuku!
Information
- Name: Don Quijote
- Address: 1-12-6 Okubo Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0072
- Tel: 03-5292-7411
- Opening hour: 24 Hours
- Website: http://www.donki.com
2. Keio Department Store
The Keio Department Store is located near the West exit of Shinjuku Station, right next to the Odakyu Department Store. This massive 8 stories department store was built in 1978 and is owned by the Keio Railway Company. Keio Department Store is best known for its variety of shops and its very reasonable prices. Although the department store offers variety of items for both men and woman, the Keio Department Store is known to host shops mainly for women. The two basement floors are the food sale area and holds fruits, vegetables, fish, meat and bakery shops as well as confectionery, Japanese deli and bento shops. The first floor is where the ladies fashion and cosmetics shops are located, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors are full of women fashion, luggage, travel, and health products. The 5th floor is the men’s fashion, sports cloth and underwear stores floor. The 6th floor is dedicated to furniture, Japanese traditional good, and jewelry. The 7th floor is the family and kids shops including toys shop and a big books and stationary shop. The 8th floor is where the restaurants are located as as beauty and massage salons. The rooftop floor is where you can find gardening equipment, pet shop and a large space for rest and relaxation.
Information
- Name: Keio Department Store
- Address: 1-1-4 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-8321
- Tel: 03-3342-2111
- Opening hour: 10am – 10pm
- Website: http://info.keionet.com/shinjuku/index.html
3. Odakyu Department Store
The Odakyu Department Store is a 14 stories high shopping complex located right off Shinjuku Station West exit. The department store is owned by the Odakyu Railway Company and was built back in 1962. It is still maintain the classic Japanese department store style complete with female elevator operators in full customs who greet shoppers into the elevator and operate it manually all day long! The Odakyu Department Store is mainly catering for women but it has one full floor with man cloths, shoes and accessories. The first floor holds all the international brand stores as well the the tourist customer service counter who can assist you in English, Chinese, Korean or Thai. The 2nd to 6th floors are carrying ladies wear, fashion accessories, cosmetics, beauty care, wigs, night wear, and formal suits and business wear for women. The 7th floor is the men’s floor, the 8th floor offers sports shop and furniture, and the 9th floor is the baby sloth, toys and the rooftop patio where families and kids can relax and take a break. The top floors offers restaurants and event halls. Odakyu department store is also offers its own free wireless Internet connection and the department store is a tax free area for tourist, so make sure to bring your passport with you for validation and enjoy the 8% discount!
Information
- Name: Odakyu Department Store
- Address: 1-1-3 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-8001
- Tel: 03-3342-1111
- Opening hour: 10am – 10pm
- Website: http://www.odakyu-dept.co.jp/shinjuku/index.html
4. Isetan Department Store
The Isetan flagship store in Shinjuku is considered to be one of the oldest, most influential and most profitable department stores in Japan. Built in the late 19th century in Shinjuku, the shop turn into a chain department stores with branches all over Kanto area. The department store is actually a avery large complex combining the main 8 story high building, the 9 floors Men’s wing building, and the 3 floors Park City building. The lower basement floor is the place where you can find natural cosmetics, aroma therapy and herb tea shops. The upper basement floor is food floor where Japanese and Western fresh food shops are located as well as the gift counter. The first 4 floors are all catering for women and hold ladies fashion, shoes, and special size women stores. There are stores for very small women, tall women and large size women. The 5th floor is the ISETAN Home store where the kitchen, dining, bedroom, bath, land living room shops are. The 6th floor is where the family oriented shops are located including children wear, baby care and toy shops. The 7th floor is the restaurant area, Isetan wedding salon, and Isetan promotion halls. The rooftop floor called the “Eiger den Stage” which is a promotional event space.
Information
- Name: Isetan Department Store
- Address: 3-14-1 Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022
- Tel: 03-3352-1111
- Opening hour: 10:30am – 8pm
- Website: http://isetan.mistore.jp/store/shinjuku/index.html
5. Shinjuku Marui
Shinjuku Marui is located right next to the Isetan Department Store and is considered to be a very stylish yet not too expensive women oriented department store. The store offers both international and Japanese brands shops in its 8 floors of the building. Each floor is set in a certain theme and the shop cater to customers who are into that particular fashion style. The 1st floor is called “Tokyo Pop” and the shops sells Tokyo style young generation fashion and accessories shop. The 2nd floor is called “Shoes & Zakka” and is full of shoes and accessories brand shops. The 3rd floor is called “Princess” and is filled with all sort of shops catering to cosplay princess style girls fashion and accessories. The 5th floor called “Gothic & Classic” and offers cosplay and gothic style fashion, accessories and bags shops. The 6th floor is the “Punk & Rock” area where customers can find Rock style and Punk influenced shops. The 7th floor called “Lolita” is very similar to the Princess floor but with a stronger cosplay theme and oriented toward Harajuku style clothing.The 8th floor is the “Visual Fashion & Music” area where you can find both music and fashion stores which do not match any of the rest of the floors themes.
Information
- Name: Marui
- Address: 3-30-13 Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022
- Tel: 03-3354-0101
- Opening hour:11am – 9pm
- Website: http://www.shinjuku-mylord.com
6. Shinjuku MYLORD
Shinjuku MYLORD pronounced in Japanese ”me-lord” – is the best place in Shinjuku to get Shibuya style clothing! The 7 floors building id full of shops oriented to young stylish generation which might be usually buying their cloths in Shibuya district 109 or other young crowds shopping centers. Shinjuku MYLORD offers almost the same brands with a bit of better pricing, so in case you look for those type of clothing – you can save yourself the run to Shibuya and enjoy much lower pricing. Shinjuku MYLORD floors plan is very similar to Shibuya shopping centers in which there is no theme floors but instead it is a mix of all sort of shops one next to the other. The stores first 6 floors offers mostly girls fashion, gift and souvenir shops, flower shops, shoes, bags, hats, eyewear, watches, personal care and beauty product shops. The 7th to 9th floors are the restaurants areas and offers lunch, dinner and many coffeeshops and hang out spots to relax and have a chat.
Information
- Name: MYLORD
- Address: 1-1-3 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023
- Tel: 03-3349-5611
- Opening hour: 7:30am – 11pm
- Website: http://www.shinjuku-mylord.com
7. Yodobashi Camera Shinjuku West
If you are looking to get some of Japan best electronics or photography equipment, there is simply no better place to do it then in Yodobashi Camera shop. The shop is part of 21 chain stores which always offers one of the largest variety of electronics and photography you can find in Japan, rival only by shops like BICCAMERA or Yamada Denki. The Shinjuku West branch offers 8 floors and one basement organized in special sections. The basement floor is where you will find all the computers and computer accessories sections as well as multimedia data storage devices, printers and monitors. The 1st floor is an extension of the basement and also offers computer equipment, special Apple section, notebooks, computer memory section and photography equipment. The 2nd floor is where you can find electronic dictionaries, office equipment, phones as well as health and beauty electronics section. The 3rd and 4th floors host the big multimedia and TV showrooms, the 5th floor is where you can find household electronics from as small as juice makers and all the way to massive refrigerators and washing machine. The 6th floor is the area where you can get all sort of home appliances such as air conditioners and humidifiers. The 7th floor is where smaller home appliances are located, such as vacuum machines, ironing equipment, sewing machines, shower toilets and shower equipment. The 8th floor is dedicated to home and business lighting.
Information
- Name: Yodobashi Camera
- Address: 1-11-1, Nishishinjuku , Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0023
- Tel: 03-3346-1010
- Opening hour: 9:30am – 10pm
- Website: http://www.yodobashi.com
8. BICQLO BIC CAMERA Shinjuku
BICQLO BIC CAMERA Shinjuku is located outside Shinjuku Station East exit. As the name suggesting, this is a new concept shop which combines the massive BICCAMERA electronics and photography equipment store together with UNIQLO, one of Japan most successful casual clothing brands. The idea was to combine those two giant and create one huge superstore in the heart of Shinjuku. This shop is quite a different hybrid we did not see in Tokyo before. It is quite interesting to see eight floors which offers mannequins wear casual wear clothes with a camera in their hand or wearing headphones or rows and rows of folded t-shirts and right between them you can find printer equipment or see mannequins dressed in UNIQLO fashion and watching TV, which is in fact for sale! Sound strange? Maybe, but if you are in the Shinjuku Station area and want to see in one megastore both fashion and electronics or photography equipment, the BICQLO BIC CAMERA Shinjuku is the only place on the planet to see such a product variety mix!
Information
- Name: BICQLO BIC CAMERA
- Address: 3-29-1 Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022
- Tel: 03-3226-1111
- Opening hour: 10am – 10pm
- Website: http://www.biccamera.co.jp/shoplist/shop-116.html
9. Shinjuku Flags Building
Shinjuku Flags Building is located near the South-East exit of Shinjuku Station. It is a 10 story high building which was built in 1998 and host shops which are focused on sports, music and fashion goods. The basement floor is hosting the GAP and GapKids stores where you can find casual wear for both adults and kids. The first floor is the place where you can find very cool home and beautify products by shops like Soaptopia and Sazaby as well as American Rag and Barefoot Dreams clothing shops. The third floor is hosting the Afternoon Tea gifts shop, CAMPER shoes and bags and Flying Tiger Copenhagen interior design shop. The 4th floor is hosting the fashion brands SHIPS, United Arrows and Another Edition stores. The 5th and 6th floors are hosting the OSHMAN’S sports equipment and fashion store, and the 4 floors above it, from the 7th floor to the 10th floor is Tower Record music and book store. If you are looking for a cool and very trendy place to get international brands which sells what Japanese like too wear, then Shinjuku Flags building is the right place to go.
Information
- Name: Flags
- Address: 3-37-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022
- Tel: 03-3350-1701
- Opening hour: 11am – 10pm
- Website: http://www.flagsweb.jp
10. Lumine Shinjuku
LUMINE Shinjuku is located near the South exit of Shinjuku Station and is the flagship department store of the LUMINE group. Lumine group offers a chain of department stores hosting variety of lifestyle and fashion department stores, mainly catering young women. The LUMINE buildings are located in a many locations around the Tokyo region and is owned by the JR East Railway Company. The LUMINE department store offers a variety of fashion brand shops, goods floor, a large bookstore, cafes and restaurants. While the LUMINE 1 main building offers mainly classy boutiques, the connected LUMINE 2 is a much larger department store. If you are looking to shop for fashion brands, try the LUMINE 1 but if you are in search of many types of department store variety stores, just walk through and enter the LUMINE 2 building for a wide selection of stores and products.
Information
- Name: Lumine
- Address: 1-1-5 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023
- Tel: 03-3348-5211
- Opening hour: 11am – 10pm
- Website: http://www.lumine.ne.jp/shinjuku
Have a good trip and travel!
