“If men liked shopping, they’d call it research.”
― Cynthia Nelms
In the previous article, I posted photographs of Shimokitazawa during the night stroll in the city. Photos posted here were taken in a store in the city, called Village Vanguard Shimokitazawa, on the same day.
Village Vanguard is a book chain running a business across Japan, especially in urban areas. What makes the chain stands out of the crowd is that not only does it sell books, but also sells anything that might be perceived as “cool” by youngsters.
The keywords of the franchise are “subculture”, “acoustic”, “unplugged”, “analog”, “nature”, “American pop culture”, and “nostalgia”. When I was looking around the store, nostalgic jazzy music was piped in every corner, creating that Village Vanguard-ish atmosphere. And it naturally matches the hipster culture of Shimokita.
Along with other branches, the one in Shimokita has so many stuffs inside, from comics to figures and everything in between. I can hardly imagine how long it would take to really comb through the store and see every little detail.
