Ski Wear
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Ski Wear
By Mina on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 6:40 pm:Where can I buy skiwear cheaply for the whole family?
By Bethan Hutton on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:25 pm: If you're in Tokyo, the best area for ski clothes and equipment is around Jimbocho (Chiyoda-ku), along Yasukuni-dori heading towards Ochanomizu station. If you are coming from Jimbocho station, keep on going along Yasukuni-dori until you get past the second-hand bookshops, then you'll hit the sports shops. There are loads of sports and skiwear shops, and you can usually find racks of skiwear in last year's designs, at quite reasonable prices - Japanese skiers seem to be very fashion conscious and always want this year's designs. Otherwise, general discount shops like Olympic, which has several branches around Tokyo, do cheap-ish skiwear (eg adult two-piece suit Y10,000 or less). Outside Tokyo, big American-style supermarkets like Besia have very good value skiwear, at least in towns close to ski areas. I bought a good-quality boy's two-piece outfit at at a Besia branch in Gunma for less than Y5,000. Of course, the best value, at least for children's skiwear, is to look around flea markets - I've bought perfect condition skisuits for Y100 to Y1,000 at flea markets, but you have to strike lucky. Recycle shops are also worth a try, though prices are higher. You can also rent skiwear at most resorts, but if you are planning to ski more than a few days a year, it's worth buying your own as the rental costs mount up very fast.
By Lynette Lee on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:59 pm: Thanks for that info! To add, I recently shopped at Sports Gallery along Meguro Dori (opposite Daiei Dept Store) for the whole family and we bought women's ski clothes for Y5000, children's for Y2000, and all other assorted ski things for about Y1000, all new. I've also heard that "B-Sports" is great for second hand sports gear, there are a few outlets, the one I know of is far out west of Tokyo along Route 246.
By Bethan Hutton on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 8:43 pm: Deflation still seems to be going strong here - I was in my local branch of Olympic today, and spotted adult ski suits starting at Y3,980 and kids' ones at Y1,980. Not necessarily top quality, of course, but reasonable looking. It was a couple of years ago I last looked at ski wear there and it was definitely all over Y5,000 then, most closer to Y10,000.
By Gaijinmom on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 9:24 pm: Where are the Olympic stores located? Any branches in the Shibuya area?
By Sraboni Dutta on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 10:13 am:Hi, I know one Olympic store near my house - Setagaya-Ku, Funabashi 5 chome. I am just curious - why are you looking for Olympic stores? What's so special about this one? I just moved to this area and saw the store, don't know much about it. Regards, Sraboni
By Cornelia on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - 9:45 am:Here are some Olympic stores: Olympic Hakusan 03-3813-9121 Hours: 10:00-20:00 (Bunkyo-ku - Hakusan dori - Kasuga/Korakuen) Olympic Waseda 03-3204-6791 Hours: 10:00-21:00 Olympic Minowa 03-3891-8411 Hours: 10:00-21:00 This is info that I collected for myself in 2001 so some of it might be inaccurate. Olympic has recently faced stiff competition from Don Quixote, though not in all merchandise areas, and not all locations. I had not even noticed that they were selling ski wear!
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