Excellent selection and definitely worth a visit ! Great selection of items and perfect service .read more

Been here twice to pick up the elusive packs for Pokémon 30th Anniversary Collection. Yes they are…read moremore expensive, but if you don't want to wait for hours in line for a drop or missed them all together, call ahead and they'll let you know what they have, how many, and how much. We picked up a couple knockout boxes, tech stickers box, and poster celebration. Ladies I talked to both times were extremely friendly and helpful!

I'm here to give a shout out to Akiba HQ for bringing an interesting store to downtown San Mateo…read morethat isnt another boba tea shop or noodle restaurant. They've been open since the summer, but I don't I notice them getting much foot traffic, probably due to lack of visibility, parking, or publicity. Tucked along 3rd Ave & Railroad Ave, fans of Japanese anime, gundam, manga, die cast, models, and figurines will find their heavenly spot. This store is jam packed with lots of toys & collectibles & cute display figures, ranging from robots, to monsters to buxom Japanese girls reminiscent of the Akihabara prefecture in downtown Tokyo. They have pre-made figurines, build & paint yourself models, plushies, cards, charms, candies, and keychains. They also sell the necessary quality paints, brushes, and tools to build & perfect your own models. The layout of the store is nice, with one side holding most of the kits available, alongside with nice displays of accessories, toys, model building supplies, a counter, and candy & souvenirs. The other side of the store is like a Japanese anime/manga museum & display! It is one continuous LONG showcase that is well lit, clean, and organized, if some of the most amazing figurines thst you can build (and/or buy). Lots of eye candy here thst I cannot even describe in words, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. This store is fun, whether you are into collecting, building, or, just like me, browsing, learning, and gawking. Some reminded me of my childhood watching action cartoons & reading comic books. Others just wowed me with their attention to detail, design, and colors. It is indeed like a candy store here, but the candy is Japanese figurines. I plan to go back soon to buy some kits to see if I can recall & relive my childhood and build up some nice models. Downtown San Mateo is having some sort of retail resurgence for stores other than food or drink, and Akiba HQ, alongside with Nakoko, Clawsome, and Fanloli are leading the charge. With the departure of Talbots and B Street Books, it's nice to have another type of retail store here to browse, shop, and relive memories (or make new ones) in between dinner, movies, and bar hopping. Akiba HQ also has locations in Hayward & Davis, but we are lucky to get one here in San Mateo! Now, you don't have to go to Japantown or Tokyo to get your figurine fix, it's literally right here all in one, tiny, jam-packed store!

Bro at the register sold my 10 year old son this saying it was easy to put together. Bruh, don't…read moremake sales just to make them. If you know something will be hard for a kid, tell them. I literally asked if he thinks my sons can do it. None of the pieces even fit. You need a whole tool kit to shave pieces down to make them fit.

Buyer beware!! This store is selling fake cards and one of the guys tried to gaslight me when I…read morecame in for a refund TLDR - I've been buying from this card shop for a few months now. Never had any issues buying singles, until I came in yesterday. I came in intending to trade some cards for singles, but they didn't have any of the Pokemon singles I wanted. So instead I purchased a Japanese booster box of terastal festival. Was super excited to open these when I got home until I realized upon looking at the first pack that they were fake!! Different color on the yellow of the Pokemon written letters on the box. The "i" character on the top right of the booster box had the white square, but the plastic packs didn't. Some of the text on the back side also didn't match the ones from the original authentic box I have direct from japan. Not to mention the way the cards curved when they opened a pack. Worst part was how the staff handled the issue. Instead of acting shocked and apologetic they were questioning me on how I knew these were fake. They should know!!! If you are selling insanely high priced merch you should know how to do damage control. Not to mention one of the employees opened up a pack and tried to tell me they were real. As if resealed cards don't exist. And before anyone says I could just be coming back with a fake pack and passing it off. I literally bought a second pack in the store and opened it in front of them. These guys are shady. I wouldn't buy from them in my opinion. I posted some pictures of the fakes and real cards. Authentic pics are labeled real in pic. Compare for yourself and educate so you don't get scammed either

I like this place for pokemon cards! They have a bunch of individual packs along with sets. Pricing…read morewas good or comparable to tcg. They don't have a contract with bandai yet so I got the one piece cards elsewhere else. They also have a ton of magic cards upfront. This is definitely one of the larger and newer stores in the peninsula. The staff here are super nice and patient, esp when I couldn't make up my mind on what to grab.

How the hell do you work at anime store and know nothing about Naruto one of the most basic animes…read moreever I basically came there asking about some Naruto product and I guess I was interrupting a conversation with one of the coworkers two friends by the cash register tried to explain what I was looking for and honestly, I think they were making up excuses just to go back to the conversation

If you like Funko Pops, this is your place…read more Seems to have a lot of stuffed animals, Gunko Pops, and high-end weirder Japanese builds with robots that I've never heard of or weird Anime builds. It's better than having an empty space, but this place is pricey, and there was only one associate when I went. She was at the counter, so don't expect much help here.

Best place in Bay Area for in store signings, memorabilia , framing!…read moreIn store signings more of an experience here, get to chat with players take pics and sometimes mingle in store during signing compared to other stores who rush you through in a cattle line. Owner here will work with you getting your framing done just right and best prices around. Plus seems to always have best prices on signed items and even some unique pieces. Plus with the Niner Empire store inside so no need to buy online those Niner items. Did I mention the owner of this shop is super friendly & will chat with you unlike other stores that owners hide in back or just rude when trying to chat with them.

BE CAREFUL!!!! Josh…read moreand Tony came out of my house and picked up a whole box truck full of memorabilia, Tonya Trucks, all sorts of different things. The agreement when they were here because I recently suffered a stroke was they were gonna send me a check every week for anything that they sold. I don't use Venmo or any other electronic banking system like that. I text Tony Josh is in Texas and ask him what's going on basically? He said he is holding my money from items sold because I have not cashed previous checks and then just a few minutes ago. I received a text from Josh stating they're gonna put everything out on the curb I need to come pick it up. What kind of business is this? Don't trust anything with these people. I think they forget how important customers are to their business. They would not have a business without customers willing to sell their memorabilia. Tony informed me they cannot keep accounting straight because I have not cashed some of my checks. How hard is it to balance a checkbook? I would be very careful on listing any merchandise with these people.!!! I will be taking legal action against this company. They have no right to withhold money and my items from me. No i am really not. I have no problem giving you your money but i do have a problem with you holding the checks and then telling me too bad you will cash when you want so i am now simply going to send you a cashiers check and call it a day. If you dont want to make things a little easier on me then i dont want the business. I have never had this issue with anyone about checks. They are sent and they are cashed in a decent amount of time.

For various reasons, I didn't shop at Hobby Lobby for the longest time, but the disappearance of…read moreJoAnne's Fabrics leaves no other local place to shop for fabric. Since going in for sewing projects, I've slowly fallen in love with all of the other wonders inside this amazing store. I swear they have everything! The other day I needed to repair a piece of jewelry and found a whole department in HL with anything needed to make rings, necklaces, bracelets and more, all at great prices. They have gorgeous wall art and fun trinkets for the backyard and garden. Need art supplies? They've got you covered. Honestly, they have things that I didn't even know existed. I could walk around for hours marveling at the vastness of this store and all of its hidden secrets. The biggest learning curve was figuring out the alternating discounts throughout the store. Don't pay full price for anything there because it'll likely go on sale the following week. Download the app so that you don't get confused. Hobby Lobby has it all. No, seriously. Go see for yourself.

Slow slow slow and the " customer service manager " Christell is part of the problem . She wears…read morethat badge lightly . The lines are long , there's carts in the way and she's sees an old friend of hers . She's so busy chatting while surrounded by chaos . She has another line open and guess who she pulls out to get rung up ? Het friend of course while I'm stick behind a super long order with the slowest cashier ever . Ridiculous

the staff is amazing, the collection of paint, minis and books is great. I recommend the store. I…read moreplay D&D with my son and friends and I can get advise and materials no problem. if you are new or advanced you can find a store for you here. Great job !!

I called in to place preorders on a couple of MTG x FF decks on Feb 19th and whoever picked up the…read morecall said they would write down my name and orders for when they set up the pre-order list up. Everything cool, right? Well, it turns out, no. I came in today since I was in the area to double check if I was on the list and was not. They completely forgot to add me in and the list was so long, it was highly unlikely I would get the decks I pre-ordered. They told me it would be best to go to another shop to order and was not at all apologetic about the mishap. In fact, there were no apologies made. I really wanted to support a local card shop but the lack of accountability and the poor customer service makes it very difficult to do so. I won't be back.

My son and I are new to RC and wanted to checkout one of the local shops. On Sunday, I took my 10…read moreyear-old son to rent an RC car but there was a race going on and so renting wasn't an option. We started talking to one of the shop clerks and learning about what a good starter kit could be for us. The clerk was super friendly and spent a long time discussing different price points and features and what would work for us at this moment. Then the manager came over and invited us to see how one of the RC cars races out in the parking lot. It was exhilirating and gave us "the spark" we needed to make the purchase. We took our brand new Traxxer 4x4 Slash Ready-To-Run home and played with it for hours. What a blast. My son's exact words after going through our third battery was "Wow, this was so frickin fun, even more than I thought it would be." Thanks NorCal Hobbies for helping us get into a new one.

Yes, I'd change that part so it's clear they did have Monster Jam RC trucks, just not Sparkle Smash…read morespecifically: This was my first time coming here, but my husband has been here before. He wanted to stop by to check out the RC cars and boats, and even he was surprised by how much the store had changed since the last time he visited! There was honestly so much to look at. They have a HUGE variety of RC stuff--cars, trucks, boats, planes, parts, accessories, different bodies, and so much more. They even work on and repair RC cars there, which is really convenient. For me, the coolest part was the indoor RC track! Since this was my first time here, I was honestly amazed watching everyone race their little RC cars around the track . I didn't realize how big of a hobby this was, so it was actually really fun to watch. They also have an entire rock-crawling room with rocks, bridges, ramps, and different obstacles for the RC trucks, which was really cool to see. The guy working there was also really nice. He greeted us when we came in and answered all of my husband's questions. He was friendly and took the time to talk to us without making us feel rushed. They also had several Monster Jam RC trucks, which immediately caught my attention . I specifically asked about the Sparkle Smash truck. They didn't have that particular one, but he said they might get it later on. He also told us to come back because they're having a Monster Jam event soon, and now I'm actually interested in coming back for it! My husband already knew about this place, but as a first-time visitor, I was really impressed. Even though RC cars aren't really my hobby, I still had a good time looking around and watching everyone race. Between the huge selection, indoor track, rock-crawling area, repair services, and friendly customer service, we'll definitely be back!

Tap Plastics is my favorite store. Their staff are very friendly and helpful. They know their…read moreproducts can really help your projects.

I needed several waterproof shelving. Went to TAP plastic and had them cut to specification. The…read morestaff was very helpful in both guiding me in the materials that made sense and the thickness that I should use. And the cherry on top was the fact that the staff were very friendly and fast.

The owner is very responsive, kind, and immediate to my needs. I called in about whether or not…read morethey have country flags for sale and they had exactly what I was looking for.

Let me start by saying that Mrs.Rezan is a sweetheart! I felt very welcomed to her business and I…read morewill be back for more services! I was looking for the flag of Iran and I was pleasantly surprised that they had one and in many different sizes! Any flag you need! She also can do custom flags as well. Support your local business especially this gem! Thank you Mrs. Bayazit