BAZZSTORE Shimokitazawa South-West Exit
“Three floors of buy-and-sell resale; the vintage and the Japanese designer rails are on 3F.”
A Tokyo buy-and-sell chain, and this is its first three-storey branch, a minute from the south-west exit. Over 5,000 pieces. Women's on 1F and 2F, men's on 1F and 3F, and 3F is where it gets interesting: designer, imports and a used section with 1950s to 70s pieces next to 80s and 90s.
Mostly it is recent Japanese resale, so it is about price, not provenance. Go for Comme des Garçons, Yohji and Issey at buy-in prices, and check seams and labels like you would anywhere. Open 12 to 10 every day, tax-free, and it buys from walk-ins if you want to swap out a bag of your own.
Brand collections
- 2000s
The designer floor's backbone: look for the boiled wool and the odd cut that make the line worth paying for even second-hand.
Black wool and gabardine tailoring at resale prices; check the hems, which tell you how hard a piece has been worn.
Listed on the designer floor; heat-set pleated pieces hold their shape through years of wear, so condition is rarely the issue, price is.
Listed among the shop's designer brands; the Japan licence pieces, orb hardware and knits are the ones to pick out.
- 2010s
The outdoor rail on 3F alongside Arc'teryx and Patagonia; the taped shells are the pieces built to last, the fleeces are filler.
