I've been coming to K-Place for years, and the experience is usually pretty good. However, I recently had an experience with the staff that has put me off from coming to the store to shop in-person.
Prices are average if not a bit cheaper than other K-pop stores around SoCal, so I've bought dozens of albums from here. Their selection for the groups I buy for is quite decent; they often have rare finds like Japanese albums and merchandise from Korean concerts, which other K-pop stores in the area do not.
That said, like other reviewers have stated, the staff are seemingly not well-trained in customer service, as they are often distracted by conversations amongst themselves, acting surprised when customers come up to ask a question. This hasn't been much of an issue in the past, as I am usually willing to overlook it due to my general satisfaction with the price and variety of products, but as said prior, my view has recently been soured by an experience that frustrated me.
When I bought an album, I asked if it came with a pre-order benefit photocard, to which a staff member responded that it was a different version of the album that came with the POB. (This staff member wasn't rude at all.) However, after checking the K-place website, I saw that the version I bought was actually the one that was supposed to come with a POB. So I went back into the store to ask another staff member about this discrepancy and if there was any way I could get the POB, and she (appearing frustrated that I had come up to ask a question) said that they were out of POBs for that album as they were first-come-first-serve, not offering any other explanation or assistance - not even a 'sorry we ran out' or anything. Thankfully, there was another staff member who helped out, offering a solution that I could return the album and order it online to get the POB. Kudos to him for his thoughtful assistance.
Overall, while I have been going to K-place for years and my interactions with staff are normally okay, this specific incident has really shown me how lacking in customer service that some of the store's employees can be. One staff appeared to be misinformed/told me the wrong information, another was unpleasant and unhelpful, and yet another actually went the extra mile to answer my question even when he wasn't the one I originally asked.
I will still order online as K-place offers the cheapest prices in the area, but I am really discouraged from coming to the store in-person from now on. This was basically the straw that broke the camel's back, to me, as a great majority of the staff I have seen and interacted with have consistently shown a disinterest in actually helping customers beyond simple transactions for almost the whole time I've been coming to K-place. read more