Thursday, September 12, 2024

Card Shops In Japan: Mint Fukuoka (UPDATED)

Please check my "Card Shops in Japan" page before planning a trip to this store to verify that it's still where it was when I visited.

While I'm on the subject of Fukuoka...

Mint Fukuoka used to be located in the Tenjin Vivre shopping mall and was pretty much a run-of-the-mill Mint store in a mall.  From what I saw when I visited it in 2019, the store had singles for recent sets along with hits and unopened product.  It also had a lot of gaming cards and (I think) some amount of random older cards - if nothing else, they had rookie cards for a lot of Hawks players along with other stars.

The store moved out a few years ago - I'd guess the mall getting torn down played a role in that decision.  They're now located in a kind of out-of-the-way location and have apparently ceded the style of store that they used to be to Mint Fukuoka Parco (which is basically a block away from where Tenjin Vivre used to be).  They're now pretty much a hits only store which, like Mint Daimaru Shinsaibashi, really isn't my cup of tea.

As I mentioned, the shop is in kind of an out-of-the-way location.  They're on the sixth floor of the Stage 1 building down Daimyo Central Street about three blocks from the Chuo Ward Office on Meiji dori.  The nearest subway stop is Akasaka station.  Here's a couple photos of the building and the entrance to the shop:



The one somewhat unique thing about this shop is they have a bar inside so you can get a beer to drink while you break open a box of cards.  Mint Shibuya in Tokyo used to have this at their old location but I don't think they do at their new one (which I didn't get to on this past trip). 

Like I said with Mint Daimaru Shinsaibashi, I may have missed something here as I didn't spend a great deal of time in the shop.  And what they have may appeal to other collectors - it just didn't do much for me.  The one thing I will say is that at least Mint Daimaru Shinsaibashi is easy to get to.  Pretty much the only positive about this store's location is it's not far from a Mandarake store that has some old Calbees.

Here's a map of the shop's location:

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