Loft is most recommended for tourists as it’s the go-to for Japanese inspired knick knacks, stationery, toteable home goods and of course, beauty. You can find Star Wars themed toys, anime items, pretty paper fans, photo frames, travel accessories and cultural items too. The MoMa Design Store has a small section as well. Beauty-wise, they have everything the drugstores carried as well as some natural brands too. It’s a beautiful space to shop and the Shibuya location even has a bar and sit-down section that serves alcohol and small bites if you need to rest. There are wide aisles and it’s not the same chaotic and cramped experience you’ll get shopping at a Matsumoto Kyoshi or Don Quijote store. How the tax-free system works here is that you have buy all your items first and then head to the top floor to wait on another line in order to have the taxes refunded back to you. This means you can make a purchase as many times as you want, but you must save all your receipts in order to have the tax-free counter refund and wrap your consumable items in a tamper-free bag. Read more tips like this on my Shopping Tips as a Tourist in Japan post. Now onto the photo tour!

Loft – Shibuya

〒150-0042 Tokyo, Shibuya, Udagawacho, 21−1

Overview

Although I’m not really into “natural” beauty, there were shelves lined up with natural brands. Salespeople spoke good English and were generally very nice and allowed you to have space to browse freely. Japan in general don’t really have “salespeople follow you around” (that’s more known in Hong Kong, China and Korea where it’s their way of providing good customer service). I was looking for the Kuramoto Bijin Hakumai Ferment Milk (I showed a salesperson a picture on my phone) and she couldn’t find it probably because they didn’t carry it but she showed me a similar product that uses sake as the main ingredient. I took a picture to remember it for a future purchase since it will probably end up on Amazon in a few months but there wasn’t any English on the mask or lotion bottles so I can’t seem to find out what it’s called. Help a girl out if you happen to know (It’s the clear bottle with the orange logo below)!

I mainly stuck to the beauty floor and looked at their massive collection of bento boxes. I didn’t want to take too many useless knick knacks home so bento boxes work as a great momento of your trip while also storing your lunches in a cute and awesome way! Had I already not bought two at a Franc Franc home goods store, I would’ve went wild at Loft. Prices are the same at drugstores so there’s no need to price compare. I loved the Shibya City Lounge because my boyfriend squatted there while he waited for me to finish shopping. My only gripe was waiting on a second line to get my tax refunded back to me on the top floor. Keep that in mind in case it’s near closing time; I think the tax-free counter closed 30 minutes before the actual store closing time (which is what happened to me but I was able to make it).