In December, my mom and I took a mini trip to Pittsburgh to shop for new furniture for my new apartment. Every time I go there, I am sure to stop at Kawaii Gifts! I wanted to make a blog post to tell you all about this awesome store (they have an online shop too). For my video, please watch here.
They are located near the Squirrel Hill part of Pittsburgh (such a cute name so that's why I remember it!).
It's a cute street of little shops and cafes (Bo and I got some delicious gelato there once). Parking can be kind of hard if you aren't used to it. I always park a couple streets up and walk down. It may be hard to find at first, but look for a little Kawaii Gifts sign and you'll see a little window display of the latest kawaii goods!
When I first discovered it, I was so excited to see all the licensed products from Japan including San-X and Sanrio. It is so fun to shop in an actual store instead of online!
As you can see, there are shelves and shelves of stationery, bags, and plush. They have a huge wall of Rilakkuma, as well as sections for characters like Sumikko Gurashi, Kireizukin Seikatsu, Sentimental Circus, Hello Kitty, and even more hard to find characters like Banao! (Really funny Banana character that my dad is a fan of--My dad loves bananas lol)
Of course for me, I am most interested in the Rilakkuma selection. The amazing part is that they stock lots of new Rilakkuma series (they are an official partnered shop) AND have TONS of older series stockpiled. I've bought Rilakkuma 5th Anniversary notebooks and folders there.
You can see they have a variety of goodies: erasers, pencil caps, pens, notepads, and tiny plush. I easily can spend an hour here deciding what I want to buy for my collection!
Kawaii Gifts may not be the absolute cheapest way to get Rilakkuma stationery--you generally get the cheapest deal on new releases from KawaiiShopJapan.com (see my video review) OR you can sometimes get lucky on eBay. However, the prices are reasonable considering the extensive collection of older series.
Prices at Kawaii Gifts are roughly double the price it is sold in Japan. For example, my Shima Shima notebook I bought in Japan for 350 yen is $7.99 at Kawaii Gifts. On eBay you can probably buy it in the $7-$15 range. So, if you are very specific with what you want, shop around a bit. Older series may actually be a bit cheaper I have noticed because the Japanese price for older series was cheaper back then too. (For example, I bought sticker sheets for the Tamago series that were cheaper than Shima Shima sheets.) For stationery--I consider their prices reasonable!
Their Rilakkuma plush are also about double the price sold in Japan. I've seen them range from $25 to $40. For some of the older plush, like the one pictured, it is a great deal. But, for new plush I prefer to pre-order from MiraPlush when she has the pre-order discount.
You can be assured that all the plush at Kawaii Gifts are licensed and real San-X products!
If you cannot visit in person, they have a website where you can buy online, with free shipping at $100 and a point program. They occasionally run sales, especially during the holidays.
I've also bought their grab bags at conventions before, so keep an eye out for them at cons. (They post events they are attending on their website) The two ladies who work there are very sweet. I was so happy they let me take these photos of their shop to post on my blog! ♡
For this trip, I decided to stock up on the Tamago series! I'm collecting stationery to write recipes and use in my kitchen! I also like to decorate my dining area and kitchen with Tamago themed folders too!
I got a Tamago series folder, notebook, and stickers. I bought an extra sticker set, so that I can use one in my recipe book, and have one to keep in my collection. I also got a cafe sticker set too.
My mom also discovered her new favorite kawaii character--the squirrel from Kireizukin Seikatsu. She bought me a plush of it and she got herself lots of cute stationery! We want to make a video sometime so she can share her mini collection and why she loves the character!
Here is the video I posted about my haul!
Me with my Kawaii Gifts loot! They were using Hello Kitty shopping bags at the time!
Check out their website!!
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