Write a commentThere is a place that all gearheads and tech nerds must visit at least once in their lives. A store so epic, so incredible, that it almost defies description. To put it broadly, imagine if an entire Best Buy (or your local electronics store) was dedicated to what is now just one section within that store. Then you stack eight floors on top of it, each with its own focus. So an entire Best Buy’s worth of space just for TV/AV. Above that, an entire Best Buy’s worth of space just for cell phones, and so on. Add in a floor for clothes, a floor with a food court, and suddenly you start to get the idea. It’s like an entire mall’s worth of floorspace dedicated to tech and other gear.
It’s called Yodabashi Camera, a chain of 24 stores throughout Japan. Yodabashi originally focused on cameras when it opened in 1960, but quickly expanded into the growing personal-electronics and computer markets. The main strategy was placing stores where there was significant foot traffic, which in Japan means near train stations, as well as having a large number of products on display for potential customers to compare.
I worked for the now-defunct US chain Circuit City in my younger days, and have visited more than my fair share of other electronics stores over the years. In my experience, there is simply nothing like Yodabashi (well, arguably some of its competitors, but more on them later). Most stores sell only a small percentage of the actual available products in any given category. This might be due to floor-space limitations, but more likely it’s because of deals they’ve made with various suppliers. At Circuit in my day, we sold Harman/Kardon but not Denon (or was it Yamaha?). Why? Likely, some distribution deal infinitely above my paygrade. Well, if there are brands not sold by Yodabashi, I’d be surprised. More amazingly, they’re all just out there on display. There’s just so much space.
Given my gig here at SoundStage! Solo, I focused on the headphone section, which occupies roughly one-third of a floor shared with speakers, receivers, and mostly TVs. I saw everything from cheap earbuds to over-ear planars. I could pick them up, try them on, even listen to them. Mixed in among the earbuds are disinfectant wipes so you don’t catch ear cooties. Perhaps most shocking is how many wireless earbuds are just . . . loose in their case. No security alarms, no heavy wire tethers, just earbuds to try. Sure, logically this makes sense, considering you can’t charge earbuds without the case, and the cases are locked down, but try leaving loose earbuds in most parts of the world. They’ll be gone by the end of the day.
If you want to audition some higher-end models, perhaps on specific headphone amps, there are dedicated listening booths. The most expensive headphones are behind locked doors (they’re not completely crazy), but they’re still all here to test out. Dozens of models. How many stores have you seen with that kind of selection? Sure, there are high-end stores that have a few expensive headphones, but will they also let you try cheap earbuds, mid-range over-ears, and everything in between, from every brand imaginable? There’s nothing like this anywhere, and this is just their headphone section. You can also do the same for TVs, phones, refrigerators, and computers. And don’t get me started on the toys and models. There’s an entire floor for those too.
If I were so inclined, I could have done a year’s worth of testing for Solo just by spending time grabbing headphones in the aisles. That is, except for one significant and unexpected issue: the song.
Playing on a loop all over the store, loudest by the escalators but in other areas too, is the Yodabashi Camera theme song. It’s set to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and no, I’m not joking. In the Akiba location (aka Akihabara), it’s sung by children. So imagine little, high-pitched Japanese kids singing a song you can’t understand on a ~60-second loop the entire time you’re in a store. Ever ridden It’s a Small World at Disneyland? Same vibe. I imagine the workers get used to it and block it out, but I can also imagine it just seeping into your soul and evoking an intense, incurable insanity. I can’t decide if it’s brilliant marketing, nefarious marketing, or both.
Every techie and headphone fan visiting Japan should make the trek to a Yodabashi Camera. Not every location is as massive as the megastores in Akiba and Umeda, so it’s worth seeking those out. Other competitors, like Bic Camera and Yamada Denki, have huge locations that offer similarly overwhelming experiences and massive selections. Something about Yodabashi’s song just sticks in the head, though, and it makes for such a unique experience.
With the seemingly infinite selection, and presumably low prices given the size of the store, you might wonder what happens to smaller stores in the area when one of these megastores opens. A good question, one I’ll dive into next month.
. . . Geoffrey Morrison
