Got Sachi her birthday present this Saturday (more on that later), but the only place in town that had what I wanted to get her was Bic Camera. Bic is usually OK, but not their main Ikebukuro store. They have three or four branches around the station, but their main shop is a nightmare to get around. The escalators (only wide enough for one person) only go up, and after going to the 2nd floor, you have to walk halfway across the place to get to the escalators going up to the 3rd floor. The elevators are worse–just two small cars, always overloaded, and it takes forever for them to go anywhere.

I was disheartened to discover that what I wanted to get was on the 6th floor, but I had time, so I didn’t sweat it. But after I bought it, they could not give me the box or even bring it up for me–no, I had to go all the way down to the basement to pick it up. (Even though they had it sitting there, they took five minutes to discuss whether or not to hand it to me.) The I wanted it gift-wrapped. No problem! All you have to do is go up to the 7th floor. The 7th floor?!? Who the hell puts item pickup in the basement and gift-wrapping on the 7th floor? The 7th floor doesn’t even have anything worth gift-wrapping–that counter was among the toilet fixtures. So, in a building that it already really inconvenient to run around in, I had to go up to the 6th floor, down to the basement, back up to the 7th floor, and then down and out. Just to buy a single item.

If you need anything in Ikebukuro, stay the heck away from Bic, the place is a narrow, crowded nightmare to navigate. Labi, right next door, has wide, dual up-and-down escalators and several large, fast elevators, and the place has wide places to walk. They just didn’t have what I wanted, else I would have gone there instead.