Marukai Value

I lurrrrrv this store! Every time here is a fun time and it never gets boring. Pretty much, if you have absolutely no idea what gift to buy for someone, just come here and you’ll most likely find something fun, cool, and interesting. But don’t be surprised if you accidentally come out with more things for you and not for your friend you were initially shopping for.
After renovation, this portion of Marukai got exponentially better. There’s now a huge snack area that consists of sooo many great Japanese snacks and desserts of all sorts located at the right hand side of the store. There’s even a section solely dedicated to matcha green tea snacks which is pretty awesome. There’s also a matcha green tea ice cream sandwich available in the store!
There’s also a bunch of cute and cool things, from cute key chains, funny japanese costumes (i.e. sushi and sake costumes just to name a few), cute stuffed animals, cute writing utensils, and even mini legos of things that you wouldn’t think there would be legos of (I literally got a french bull dog mini lego from here). Additionally, there’s a large animé section with a bunch of merchandise from common Japanese cartoons, such as Attack on Titan, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, and Gundam. Besides this, there’s other miscellaneous items that you can find in the store, primarily located on the left hand side of the store, such as cellular phone accessories and other lifestyle type of items.
This place is pretty clean and although it sounds like there’s just a cluster of random things here, it’s actually pretty nicely organized. If you’re ever bored and around the area or just really wanna buy something cool, just come here either by yourself or with your friends!

Super cute shop for your Japanese/​Kawaii/​Hawaiian needs!
They have a variety of Hawaiian goods: spam, jellies, pancake mixes, souvenirs etc.
Green Tea Heaven! MATCHA MATCHA MATCHA! Kit-​kat
Ramune-​dozens of flavors and brands
POCKY SHELF! Heck I didn’t even know it came in this many flavors: Banana choco, pizza etc.
Sanrio for all you Hello Kitty Lovers! The Sanrio section used to be much larger now there’s only a select few items.
Japanese beauty products: face masks, BB cream, eyelashes, etc.
A whole aisle dedicated to car freshener
Cellphone accessories
Prices are not that cheap, similar to Daiso but better quality and more variety of goods and pricier.

This place is great. I come here when I visit my parents from up north to check out the toys. Unfortunately the only reason I’m giving 3 stars is because the gundam wing models are so overpriced its sad. Few of the perfect grades are 80 – 125 dollars cheaper on Amazon. Hobby link Japan their website is cheaper with shipping direct from Japan. Lower your prices!

This place is awesome! With their new grand opening they have so much more animé and Japanese goods!!! The service is way better than Mitsuwa, where I hear some of their employees sometimes muttering mean things in Japanese. I will no longer go to Mitsuwa unless its for hot ramen but Marukai is hands down the best place to go in San Diego for Japanese goods. I’d go here over Daiso, Mitsuwa or Nijiya Market any day of the week.

Cool place to buy your animé figures! I bought 2 Kill La Kill Medicom figures at decent prices and a Figma Mikasa figure. Definitely a place to check out.

I am so in love with this store! If you love cute asian stuff, marukai is definitely a place you need to check out! After visiting Taiwan, there was a bunch of stuff that I saw and loved, but never thought I could purchase back at home. However, after visiting this store, I found a huge variety of snacks, make up, and stuffed animals! I do think some of the items are overpriced ($ 30 for a cat plushie?), but it is still a place worth checking out!

Probably one of the most fun place to window shop. Been here twice and it got better after my first visit, which at the time was even cooler than what it used to be (so I’ve heard).
They have a wide of assortments of Asian products, down to beauty products, phone accessories, stuffed animals, snacks, candy, and small, unique (and most of the time, unnecessary) household and car knick knacks. Products range to about a dollar up to $ 50…you just gotta look around and find what fits your budget, but that’s just where most of the fun is at anyway. Usually items under $ 10 is what I’m looking for
I personally enjoy the knick knacks, stuffed animal key chains, and snacks… and honestly the «Asian-​ness» of it all. A lot of things were nostalgic to my childhood too, like sailor moon and Sanrio.
Their inventory is different every so often I think… they had both different and similar items from my first visit. I always leave with a handful of goodies :)

Love the new layout for the value store! They included a bigger hello kitty section, AND a rilakkuma section! Their prices are a little towards the expensive end, but I guess it’s what we get for wanting foreign goods. Their food section also increased and I love how they have a Hawaiian section. Again, a little expensive but how can you say to to the variety of chocolate covered macadamia nuts?! This store is 1 out of 3 in this parking lot. They have a grocery store as well as a living store where they sell furniture and other beauty items.

This is the only place I know of that carries LA Girl cosmetics and they’re awesome and dirt cheap. That Japanese skin care stuff is also cheap and wonderful. Too bad the people that work there always look miserable. Ive yet to experience someone that works there thats actually somewhat pleasant. Oh well, Im in and out quick anyways.

A great place to find Sanrio and other fun Asian stuff. Need cool pencils and erasers that stand out from the norm? Come here. Want to get a tea set? Come here. Looking for crazy costumes? Yep, they have some here too. The only downfall is of course since everything is so reasonably priced you tend to over buy and end up staring at these unopened items two months later.

Whoa another store that can feed my addictive nature for cute stuff! This store appeals to the Asian in me.
I can find tons of items that I never thought that I needed but for some reason have deemed useful. They have a variety of snack foods, including a whole section of Hawaiian Foods! I could almost rate this store with 5 stars on that simple fact alone. So far this is becoming my go to place to get me my island snacks rather than waiting for a care package to be sent to me from family and friends in Hawaii.
The parking lot here is small especially considering that there are three stores all sharing the same parking lot.
This store offers up stationary, Hello Kitty items, household, gardening, beauty supplies and more. Most prices are reasonable.
Geez writing this review is making me think that I need to stop by there soon and pick up some Hawaiian juices and snacks.

From Japanese house supplies, snacks, and animé toys, this place would cater to those that enjoy and appreciate Japanese products.
Pros:
Good selection of animé figurines
Big selection of Hello Kitty stuff (for the Mrs.)
A variety of Japanese products
Yay for Both Japanese and Hawaiian snacks/​foods
Cons:
No more $ 1.50 products, moved to Marukai Living next door.
Small parking lot, with smaller parking lanes behind the building.
Is having too many things you think you want a bad thing?!
Is the value right?
Yes. It. IS… well… depending on if you are looking for animé figurines, Hello Kitty stuff, customizable miniature motor cars, or kendamas. Other than that, the other stuff like house supplies, medical first-​aid stuff, snacks, food, and other random stuff is there for your needs. I do miss the times when it was called «Daiso» and when they had $ 1.50 most items. Since that portion moved next door to the Marukai Living, it hasn’t been the same in terms of «I am going in just looking, but leaving with 4+ items.» It is more like «I’m going in looking, and now I’m walking away without anything.»
Parking isn’t usually bad in front of the building. I rarely had to drive to the back side of the building to park in the other plaza’s lot. But if you had to park there, by careful because the parking lanes are small and most people usually hella double park over the lanes.
Other than that, I think the place is awesome.
Would I come back? Of course. If I had the money to spare (or the real want to buy) collectibles or other random stuff, I would go there. But if I am in the area, I would most likely get a snack or something. =)

this place is a special place.
why.
because the sh*t that they have here is strangely delightful.
like snacks. snacks that look like little cheeseburgers. but are actually bite size sweets for your mouf.
and condiments. like sriracha. but not ordinary sriracha. but the mayo type. yeah. waistline just expanded.
and sh*tload of sanrio sh*t. if sanrio sh*t is your thing.
oh. and stationaires. i don’t know why i want these japanese stationaires. but i do.
although i never get them. because the sh*t i got works just as well.
and toys. animé toys. like gundam models. they got an ok selection. but nothing too fancy.
ones gotta wonder why i go here.
well that reason is because it’s the only place i know in sd that carries tamiya mini 4wd cars. and accessories.
yeah. i got cars i need to build/​race.
oh. and the snacks. wait. did i mention the snacks. because i have a thing for this corn. or mebbe it’s a cheese flavored snack. that’s kind of like a cheetohs puff.
anyways.
it would be nice if they put the track back up.
because i could easily spend hours f*cking around on that thing.
T_​T

A fun place to run around and look at different things. The 3 different stores make it fun and the prices are pretty cheap. The parking isn’t the best and there are only a few employees that were friendly (usually those at the register). I had one employee that was a bit rude. They saw that I was down an ilse looking at what they had and instead of slowling down or even asking to go around me they barreled down the ilse and I had to move out of the way or they’d run into me. I also realized that the Living one wasn’t as well stocked as the other two stores, maybe just waiting for shipment to come in I guess. Oh well, I would recommend going here if you want to look around and find some Asian products for a good price. Just watch out for «determined» employees down the isles.

Somehow I always fine little things that I need from this place. I’ll just come to browse and somehow end up 20 dollars poorer every time. They should just put a sign up that says «We will take your money now».

Loving Marukai because I save money in the $ 1.50 section. Everything is cute and convenient too. They updated their stores. This place reminds me of the time I went to Japan. Bring cash just in case. They just had a grand opening.

Marukai Value is no longer the $ 1.50 store anymore, they moved that the Marukai Living.
With its new upgrades and towers of aisles, its easy to get lost in the amazing wonders of animé figurines, Hello Kitty cuteness and Japanese/​Hawaiian delights that are not only over priced but tempting to buy.
You can still find really unique and cute things here without having to drive up to LA or flying to Japan. However be warned that the prices tend to be a bit higher here so if you know you can get that Gundum figurine on Amazon for $ 5 cheaper… you know better.

Heads up! It’s no longer «Marukai value» even though it still says it on the building… The $ 1.50 items moved to Marukai Living next store…
With that said, the store was rearranged and full of merchandise and foods… Lots of cool little things to browse through… Things are a bit pricy though…
Otherwise, an okay parking lot and decent customer service. I headed straight next door to the $ 1.50 section! Hehe

This store cracks me up! They have the most unusual items in this store. It was a 99 cent Japanese store, but from this point forward prices have gone up. Some of the stuff is useful, some stuff is cheap, and some stuff are just bazaar!

I’m new to the County and was very happy to find both Marukai and Nijiya markets in the area. I imagine they are competitors, and both have weekly flyers. Marukai has the largest selection of sake I have ever seen in my life. and great deals to boot! I used to live in the Bay Area and would visit Takara Sake Brewery regularly (Sho Chiku Bai). Their Shirakabegura Tokubetsu Junmai was my favorite and I was happy to see it on sale at Marukai– it had to wholesale pricing it was that good. So the deals are solid.
I also thought the selection of fresh fish was diverse, fresh looking and fair priced. Having free ice to pack in bags to keep it that way was a nice touch. As a whole I thought their selection was just right, whereas Nijiya had a deeper, more obtuse selection for the truly discerning customer– something I do not need yet.