Retro Game Store Reviews: Guruguru Hachioji and Guruguru Yamato

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to write about just one of these stores or do both, but seeing as they are rare in the Kanto area it would be quite some time before I am able to visit one again. Therefore I decided to put both stores that I visited in one article so you can get an idea of what the chain is like. Just keep in mind that these stores are very far from each other.

The Guruguru chain of stores is another regional used goods and media shop that I came across a while back while on vacation with the family. I just happened to see one while driving up in Saitama, and when I returned home I managed to discover their website which lead me to the stores I’ll be talking about today: the Hachioji and Yamato branches.

Guruguru Hachioji

The full name of this chain of stores is Guruguru Daiteikoku, but for the sake of this article I’m just going to refer to it as Guruguru plus the location of the store. I recently visited the Hachioji store back in March of 2025 while on a road trip to check out other retro game shops I hadn’t seen in the area yet. It was quite the trek out there, but I felt like it was worth it to check out this entirely new chain of stores I knew nothing about prior to going there.

The Selection

Guruguru reminded me somewhat of the Otachu stores I talked about in my previous article and the Kanteidan group of stores I visited in Shizuoka. They are all located in these warehouse like buildings with high ceilings and tons of floor space, so it doesn’t feel like there is a lot there but that isn’t the case. There was a lot to look through at the Hachioji store, with a great selection of games all the way back to Famicom and a lot of accessories too. The only drawback of this store was their abysmal selection of handhelds and hardware. Nothing really to see in terms of those. There was also a lack of rarer games like those on the Sega Saturn or Mega Drive, but their Nintendo and Sony offerings were pretty good.

The Pricing

While I’m always on the look out for good deals and grail items, my main target on the trip to this store was Playstation One games. I managed to find a great deal on Dino Crisis, and while I had a digital copy in English, I wanted to have a physical copy of my own as well. It was 50-75% less than every other store I had priced it at prior to arriving, so I was pretty excited to find it. I thought that the pricing overall was pretty good. I looked through Nintendo DS games, Gamecube Games, and even some of their newer Switch and PS4 games and they were all affordable. Not quite as good as the Shizuoka Kanteidan stores in terms of deals, but slightly better than Surugaya (which is usually much better than all those Akihabara stores we wont’ mention). You might find some of the games here cheaper at a Book Off or a Hard Off, but you probably won’t find as good of a selection of games. Some of the quality of the games also left something to be desired, but overall I wouldn’t complain.

Access

Walkers aren’t going to like this one. Whether you’re coming from Minami-Osawa or Keio-Horinouchi station on the Keio Sagamihara line, it’s a 30 minute walk. I drove a rental car out here so it was much easier to get to, but even a bus takes about 20 minutes to get there from each station. Whichever you choose, it’s going to be rough. It’s also takes quite a long time to get there if you’re coming from Yokohama or Tokyo. The west side of Tokyo, like Shinjuku or Shibuya are good starting points to get to those stations, but if you’re coming from Yokohama you’ll want to take the Yokohama line to Hashimoto then transfer to the Keio line. Prepare yourself for a trip.

The Verdict

You might be asking yourself at this point, “why would anybody want to go all the way out to this store just to look for retro video games?” Well, to be fair the area isn’t known for games, but rather Hello Kitty. Sanrio Puroland (the Hello Kitty theme park) is near Tama-Center station, just a few stops away, and Minami-Osawa station is home to a Mitsui Premium Outlet shopping area, so if you’re spending a weekend with some Sanrio characters and want to see if they have any good games for sale, it’s totally worth it. It’s especially convenient that Guruguru Hachioji is a 24 hour store, so after all the shopping and meeting of the Hello Kitty characters is done, you can make it a late night and check out the store.

• Selection 3.5/5
• Pricing 4.5/5
• Ease of Access 2.5/5

Guruguru Yamato

After visiting the Hachioji branch, I just had to check out the other Guruguru in the area. Guruguru Yamato wasn’t very far from the Kozashibuya Hard Off (which I love), so when I visited that store the other month, I decided to check out Guruguru as well.

The Selection

While the Yamato branch has an even worse hardware and accessory section than Hachioji one, its software selection was still pretty good. You’ll find more games here than you would at your usual Hard Off or Book off, but it also suffers from the same problem that the Hachioji store had; lots of Sony and Nintendo products, not much in the way of everything else (like Sega stuff). I was looking through the Playstation One and Nintendo products when I visited, and both inventories were rather robust. Not a lot of super rare games to be found, but not all junk/shovelware either. They have a large amount of games that were popular when each retro system was big back in the day.

The Pricing

I didn’t end up buying anything at this store, but the prices were pretty much in line with the other one I had visited. You’ll find some good deals here on most games and some might be priced a little higher than what you’ll find at Book Off or Hard Off, but for the most part you’ll save money shopping at Guruguru Yamato. If I hadn’t purchased a few games prior to visiting this branch, I probably would have picked them up there. Quality wise it’s a mixed bag (lots of unboxed items as you can see with the Famicom, Super Famicom, and N64 products), so just be sure to check the conditions of discs and other parts before you buy something.

Access

This time, walkers don’t have it that bad. Guruguru Yamato is located less than 10 minutes from Yamato station. Yamato station can be reached both on the Sotetsu and the Odakyu train lines. If you’re visiting by bullet train, Shin Yokohama station is a major transport hub with subways, JR lines, and a Sotetsu station so it’s pretty easy to get to from there. It’s much further if you’re coming from Tokyo though. The Odakyu line going towards Odawara will get you there, but it might just be cheaper to head there from Yokohama. If you do decide to come from Shinjuku, you could make it a day of shopping because Machida is on the way there (which has a large Surugaya and a Book Off Super Bazaar). Something to keep in mind if you’re planning a trip!

The Verdict

Being close to several other places that sell retro games is a definite plus for Guruguru Yamato. Now only is there a Hard Off nearby in Kozashibuya, there is also a ZEST in Yamato (that’s more of a walk), and some stores near Seya and Chou-Rinkan station as well. Check out the Book off and Hard Off Apps to see what they have nearby Yamato. You could probably spend an entire day there just shopping around for games. Aside from the good location, the prices were affordable, and there’s a lot to look through as well. I would say it’s worth checking out overall.

• Selection 3.5/5
• Pricing 4/5
• Ease of Access 4/5

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