Akihabara in Bangkok? No way!

Saw what looks like an Akihabara store during one of our trips around the city and I said I have to go back and check it. I remember my first Akiba experience in Japan a few months back and it thought this one would be as awesome.

After preparing the wallet for some odd, unexpected purchase, the visit to the store turned out to be less than exciting.

I really thought it’s going to be a big store, considering the one I visited in Tokyo was like 6 storeys tall. This one is just one floor and half of the space were occupied by home appliances.

The selection of gadgets is very limited and I don’t think they even carried all the major brands — no high-end phones, no fancy gadgets — reminds me of a typical Electroworld store back in the Philippines.

The retail prices of the products were generally a mix of both expensive and affordable compared to Manila prices. If the rough forex rate is Php1.40USD 0.02INR 2EUR 0.02CNY 0.17 to a Baht, then the Nokia C3 would cost about Php7,000USD 119INR 10,112EUR 114CNY 869 and the new 11-inch Vaio Y (with AMD E-350) is going for Php24,000USD 409INR 34,670EUR 390CNY 2,978. i think there are more gadget stores in the city or much bigger ones but I just didn’t have time to wander around.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

11 Comments

Harley Son says:

14 years ago

life sometimes disappoints us. nonetheless, you get a good heart pumping for some time! enjoy po!
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Darren says:

14 years ago

It’s Thailand, what you can expect except ladyboys? ROR
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RJ says:

14 years ago

You were just in the wrong side of Bangkok, Yuga! You should have gone to Pantip Plaza, the Geek’s Heaven. 5 or 6 floors selling just electronic gadgets… PC’s, notebooks, tablets, media players, cameras, mobile phones, portable hard disks..anything..

i just remember i saw there a Samsung 500GB portable hd for just 1200 PHP.
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spacebar says:

14 years ago

i almost thought that this one’s a geek’s heaven…but taking a look inside disappointed me! it’s just like your typical electronics shop here in the philippines. this store does not deserve to carry akiba’s great name!
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cosmoscoke says:

14 years ago

the signboard of this store reminds me of abenson here in the philippines. the inside part of this store is almost identical to abenson where half of the store is occupied by appliances and there are only few gadgets.
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Jonaflormicfren says:

14 years ago

Likes and preferences differ in different places. So maybe this store looks and contain like this. http://learner-spot.blogspot.com/
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EdwinC says:

14 years ago

They should set up Akihabara shop, too, in the Philippines.
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Lezuric says:

14 years ago

Akihabara shop in PH? thats odd maybe.. :P
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Vince says:

14 years ago

its a fake. just like the “new-egg” pc store that used to be in SM san lazaro. No relation to the US chain of PC stores. I guess they found out and sent their lawyers coz the store had to change its name and logo
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