Chi Snack Shop is in the heart of St. Mark’s, East Village where it not only sells popular Asian Snacks but shelves and shelves of Korean Beauty and Japanese Beauty. I’m really impressed with their selection in skincare and makeup! This isn’t your average Asian supermarket selection. They carry low to high-end items and even brands I haven’t heard of! Chi Snack Shop actually opened primarily as a snack shop, like it’s namesake. Initially, they had only a small section of K-beauty/J-beauty and as those items flew off shelves, they expanded the beauty selection to almost 80% of the store. I think they even played around with changing their store name to Chi Life Shop as their inventory grew to included fun cellphone accessories, knick-knacks and other character items but last I checked, the store signage was still true to Chi Snack Shop. Let’s take a look inside – and yes, even their snacks impress me!
Getting There/Location
Address: 22 St. Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003
Hours: Mon – Sun, 12PM – 9PM
Chi Snack Shop is located right in the heart of St. Mark’s Place, (fancy name for 8th Street). Closest subway stop is Astor Place by taking the green 6 train or you can take the yellow R or W trains to Prince Street. The L train at 3rd Ave (and 14th Street) can also take you there with a little more walking. You can easily spot the shop in the middle of the street because of its bright millennial pink facade! There used to be an inflatable flamingo floatie but its disappearance is probably due to late-night NYC shenanigans. Once you’re here, there are plenty of other things to do around the area like eating in the horribly popular and touristy KENKA where you can order bull testicles (yes, I’ve tried it). You can kill a few hours in the Barcade playing retro video games and drink beer or try your hand at Asian Hot Pot by going to 99 Favor Taste. As a local, I like to shop at Sunrise Mart to pick up Japanese/Asian ingredients for dinner or pick up coffee beans at the Porto Rico Importing Co. My favorite place to eat is the Yakitori Taisho for skewered meaty goodness, Cafe Mogador and Spot Dessert Bar for molten matcha lava cake. Check out the new Meet Fresh, a Taiwanese dessert place if you want to try authentic shaved ice with sweet mochi, beans and condensed milk.
Brand Selection
I was amazed at the variety of brands as well as the variety within Japanese and Korean beauty. They also carry popular items that are trending at the moment in Asia. They have a really wide range which is impressive for such a small store. I’ll dive right into the brands I saw, note that they might only carry one or a few items from these brands and not a full line.
| Korean Beauty Brands | Japanese Beauty Brands |
| VDL | Kracie |
| 3CE | LuLuLun |
| EGLips | Saborino |
| LUNA | Keana |
| VT | RMK |
| Dear Dahlia | rinRen |
| Espoir | ADDICTION |
| Laniege | CANMAKE |
| Labiotte | THREE |
| Pony Effect | Twany Century |
| SUM:37 | Cle de Peau |
| The Face Shop x Kakao | Labo Labo |
| Holika Holika x Gudetama | HABA |
| Etude House (makeup only) | Shishiedo The Ginza |
| Dr. Jart | SKII |
| JayJun | La Belle Vie |
| A by BOM | Love Liner |
| The History of Whoo | Mote |
| Sulwhasoo | Pola |
| Shangpree | Koh Gen Do |
| Sooh Yang | Minon |
| Amore Pacific Amos Hair | Transino |
Popular Korean cosmetics brand, 3CE has its own shelf inviting you to try its testers.
Korean Brands:
To look at specific Korean items and prices, scroll through here:
Japanese Brands:
Japanese eyeliners, Dejavu.
Eye tape, special edition Love Liners, 1 Day Tattoo, false eyelashes, eyeliners, Heroine Make mascaras, DUP, Leanani.
Lauduree Makeup, Lunasol, Cle De Peau, Twany Century
Japanese Beauty in the back shelves: ReFa beauty tool, The Ginza by Shiseido, Pola, Transino.
THREE is a luxury makeup line in Japan. Balancing Emulsion is $120 (normally 6,800 Yen, about $60 USD); Balancing Cream is $160 (normally 9,000 Yen, about $80 USD) and Balancing Lotion is $100 (normally 5,800 Yen, about $51 USD) which I think is INSANE for makeup. I think the mark-up for luxury brands is not worth buy here (but feel free to have a swatch party if you plan to snag these locally in Japan, heh).
Popular Japanese drugstore buys! I suggest the Saborino 60 Seconds Sheet Masks packs (won for best sheet mask in 2017 and it’s currently is all the rage!), 1,300 Yen if bought in Japan (or $11.50 USD). Next to it is the Saborino All in One Milk Mist (also 1,300 Yen). Below are Bioderma cleansing products. I could not see price stickers on these so be aware of the possible markup. I see the masks go for $20 USD online and the mist for $24 USD.
To look at specific Japanese items and prices, scroll through here:
shiro body care. They just opened a NYC location on West Broadway!
Shiro NYC Store: 436 West Broadway New York, NY 10012
Check out https://shiro-shiro.us/
Other Japanese body care. I’ve seen the Botanist brand in other stores.
ADDICTION is Japan’s luxury makeup brand. The single shadow is priced at 2,000 Yen which is about $17 USD. Blush is the one that’s $40 but it’s 2,800 Yen if bought locally (about $25)
Snacks Selection
I may not always buy a new beauty item for every photo tour visit but I do I leave every time with a new snack! They have my favorite and hard to find Shiroi Cookies and Tokyo Milk Cheese Cookies too. I write about these in more depth here from my Mega Tokyo Haul post. My only warning is to check the expiration dates before purchasing! I had bought butter cookies before and they had just expired (but I ate them anyway). Popular choices are Tokyo Banana if you like bananas or just banana-shaped treats! There are popular Matcha Green Tea Kit Kats if you’re in a pinch and just need to grab a souvenir but I just getting the Tokyo Milk Cheese cookies – it’s a slice of sweet cheese in between two buttery French Langues de Chat (cat tongue) cookies. They even the much loved Shiroi Koibito which use a slab of white or milk chocolate sandwiched in between two buttery biscuits. I’ve bought all of these when I went to Japanese, check out the haul post and go straight to Snacks to see how they look like! Don’t forget to also peruse the refrigerated section for special Japanese drinks too!
Asian snacks are only on one shelf now, be sure to check the expiration date before buying!
The second shelf of snacks. I love anything with Hokkaido Milk and they have these cookies on the top shelfie in the shape of a milk carton.
Other snacks include Pan’s Cake (Taiwan’s signature pineapple cakes) and popular ramen packs like Ichiran, Japan’s most popular ramen chain that recently launched its first couple of stores in NYC. Scallion cookies are a childhood favorite and there are “18 Prohibited Curry Chips” for those who like it spicy. I also spy a special roasted corn flavor of Pretz sticks in the corner.
Prices & Store Mark-Up
Price stickers weren’t always on items so that was annoying. You will have to ask the sales associate to scan items in order to see the prices. And how is the mark-up? For any store in NYC, expect high mark-ups. Some products were decent but others were quite ridiculous ($18 for an Etude House popsicle shaped lip tint?! These are normally under $5 on YesStyle). The bottom line is that you should have an idea of what a product is worth online because sometimes buying things in a physical store is overated. I felt that most items were not worth buying except the snacks because they’re harder to find and sheet masks because those were priced closer to what other stores are selling them for. If price isn’t the issue, then shop your heart away! I always leave this place with a new snack to try (but not without checking the expiration date first!).
Comment!
Have you checked this place out? What did you think of it? My first time visiting, I was amazed at all the levels of Japanese cosmetics they carried!
