Chinatown Kite Shop

This is a locally owned shop what specializes in, just like it says in the name, kites. The selection ranges from the beginner level comes in a plastic bag pre made kite for less then five dollars that you can get just about anywhere (and is practically useless) mass produced kites to massive one of a kind 20 ft long kites that take two people to launch. Also carries pretty much every other type of kite and kite related items, including materials to make your own kites from scratch. this means you can get repair kits for those cheap bagged kites that pretty much come already broken in the bag, or you could poke around and find something much better for a little bit more.
Need a kite shaped like a hawk, a butterfly, frog, lucha wrestler, a throat lozenge, darth vader, hummingbird, dragon or any other conceivable shape? yeah they got ‘em. Need a kite big enough for a human being to ride on? They got those too.* My point is they have just about every kind of kite you could possibly dream of.
In addition to all the kite fun they have dragon dance costumes in the back, both the display only items to show what a urbane and cool apartment dweller you are, and the ones that you can actually use, which in point of fact are way cooler them the demo only models. They also have the best pricing on those items.
Bonus points for the ice cold coke cans for a dollar (cash) up front, really handy on a hot day when wandering around Chinatown.
But the focus here is really on kites.
*not intended for actual human or animal flying use.

Great store with great service.
If you’re walking around the area it’s a must to at least stop by and take a view pics posted outside — while there you might as well walk inside and take a tour. Don’t come in with an attitude and be a complete douch. Everyone speaks English but the older people have stronger accents. Kindly ask them to repeat and or speak slower. (I witness some douchy people.)
Besides the beautiful kites there are also beautiful Asian costumes. It makes you feel like a kid again just to see the place. (Carmen Santiago kite is going places.) Support local family owned business. And show kids they can play without a tv screen.

Chinatown Kite Shop was my first and will probably be the only kite shop I will ever step foot in for the rest of my life!
Reasons for my dramatic statement?
1. It’s a shop dedicated to kites. You mean I can get kites on kites on kites and then some MORE kite action? Umm, say what?!? I don’t know of ANY shops just dedicated to this hobby.
2. The selection offered can not be beat! There were styles and designs there that I didn’t even knew existed. If you are unable to check out their storefront, then you can at least go to their website to see what they have in stock.
3. Their prices are very reasonable! My handmade kite was priced at $ 14.99, which was such a bargain! I even found mini kites on clearance for only $ 2.99. I was able to grab a cute little Dora Kite for my bf’s niece. Also, the shop accepts credit cards, which was nice because other stores in the area only took cash.
The kite shop was a great random find during my trip. Funny story, I was sitting on a bench across the street from this place actually waiting for another store to open. While I was waiting, I just happened to look around to see what other stores were open so that I could browse. Luckily for me the employee opened up shop earlier than their listed store front hours. Thank goodness because I had so much fun looking and admiring all the wonderful kites they had.
Anyway, I’m so glad I was able to stop by and take home another kite to add to my collection!

Fun! If you are looking for a basic plain kite, look elsewhere. Lovely selection of all types of kites including some divine silk and bamboo ones. Enjoyable browsing, friendly service, prices reasonable and comparable to other kite stores online. Taking my purple cat kite out to Chrissy Field today along with my 86 year dad. Wish me luck!

What a gem. There are so many kites in this shop. Kites for every price range and wish. They also open later than most stores around them. We went right before closing and easily found street parking. The prices are pretty reasonable and they take credit cards. Yay!

Nice little shop with a lot of variety of kites.
Getting to the shop might be a little of walk given the fact that it is in the heart of china town. But I think it is worth it.
They offer both traditional designs and cater to the mangaa and disney fans.
The designs are sturdy, but if you are looking for something for a use and throw weekend, they have some inexpensive ones for that purpose too.
The length of flying string for the kite is about 100 ft, but you can always attach longer additional strings.
They accept major credit cards.

If you ever need a kite, whether you want one for a child, fun or a super nice one, this is the place!!! It was really windy last Thursday and I’ve been wanting to fly a kite for a really long time. I was thinking of getting some plain plastic kite but boy oh boy!!! We wanted those hand painted one.
They have a large selection of kites. Animals, cartoons, mermaids…
The hand painted ones are $ 24 – 50. My bf bought the turtle I bought the Phoenix. We definitely went all out with these kites.
The lady was really nice too. She didn’t give us the story about the kites till we left. They are hand painted and shipped from China. They are packaged very well so that it doesn’t break.
She’s been in business since the late 1960s and she says no one really buys kites anymore. I’m trying to spread the word!!! Get your kite here!!!

With the Berkeley Kite Festival approaching, I needed to find a cool kite to fly. I didn’t need the biggest or the best one for tricks, just something that would make me happy to see flying in the breeze. I decided on one shaped as my favorite Ugly Doll character, Ox. After trying and failing to buy it on clearance at Toys R Us (twice, mind you) I found it online on amazon for $ 19 and on the Chinatown Kite Shop website for $ 12.99, minus 20% off for their spring kite sale. Not wanting to pay shipping, I ended up driving into Chinatown (the worst area of SF for driving, in my opinion) just for this kite.
Lucky me, I snagged a spot right in front of the store, and quickly found the kite as soon as I walked in. The lady who was working told me she’d honor the 20% discount I saw online, bringing the kite down to $ 11 after tax! My ideal kite for a discount? Who could complain about that!
After picking up my kite, I browsed the shop and was in awe of the many styles of kites they offer. If you’re looking for a kite, large or small, just for fun, or for serious kite tricks, this is your place! In addition to kites, they sell little toys and other random Chinese imports. It’s definitely worth a stop, if only just to peek at the kites.

Very cool shop to stop in and explore while walking through Chinatown. Even if you don’t buy anything (the kites are pricey), it’s very cool to see what they have for sale.

I came here on Saturday as soon as the shop opened. The lady at the kite shop was so helpful. I have never flown a kite before but a group of my friends decided that this will be what we will do when we head to Ocean Beach on Monday and I was in charge of getting the kites since it was my idea.
She was very informative and helped me pick out kites that are easier to fly. The selections are great. They have kites ranging from $ 12.99 to super expensive stunt ones — which I didn’t bother to touch since I am a noob. LOL
We ended up getting three kites — a butterfly for $ 21.00, a dragon for $ 26 and another dragon with larger wing span for $ 35.
Kite flying was a success! We flew the kites for hours and didn’t want to leave but we had a whole agenda of things we wanted to do that day. Thanks Chinatown Kite Shop!

Specialty shop with a good selection. The shopkeeper was willing to help ship off a kite as well as a few other items I had picked up as a gift. Shipping was very fast too! Should be good for ordering from online as well. Very pleased with the flexibility of the shopkeeper and the help offered.
Very relaxed cat in the shop. It seems to like being pet if you are lucky enough to see it.

Deep down in Chinatown resides a breeding ground of amazing kites. If you’re looking for that croc kite that has a crazy spiral tail or that blue macaw with crazy yellow ribbons bursting from it’s large powerful wings, well my dear friends, Chinatown Kite Shop has these goodies and even more that’ll leave you in awe for hours.
The BF and I did purchase that croc and macaw kite and tested our new found goodies over at Crissy Fields. The croc dazzled bystanders and caught enough paparazzi attention that you’d think a star was strolling along the beach that day. Sorry folks, no stars here, it’s was just me and my beautiful kite. Our croc looked so peaceful as it swiftly floated around the air. Even I couldn’t take my eyes off of such an amazing sight. All that beauty for just $ 10. It definitely was a worthy purchase.
However, the macaw kite was more of a fail. Despite it’s magnificent beauty and being $ 10 more than our croc, our beautiful macaw refused to fly. We tried just about everything to get it up in their air, but there was absolutely no hope. Both feeling frustrated, we returned that kite back to the shop. Without a fuss, the lady who had previously helped us with our purchases, nicely let us exchange the macaw for a simpler kite. The BF chose a traditional diamond shaped kite with a funky red tree frog design, assuming diamond shaped kites are guaranteed to fly (or at least we’re hoping. We haven’t gotten the chance to fly it just yet)
Despite having half success with our kites, I really appreciated how that worker allowed us to exchange our kite. This kite shop has such awesome customer service, why would I want to purchase a kite from any other place?

What a colorful little shop! filled with kites here and there. some hangin above you, a wonderful display. prices are average kite prices.
go pick one up!

Cool shop with a variety of kites to cater to most all budgets. I would’ve bought one myself, but I was broke. Will definitely buy one next time I’m in Chinatown, whenever that is.

Take the day off, wander up Grant Street, Pop into the Empress of China for some Mai Tais. Take in some pictures of golden-​era San Francisco with Chuck Norris and Kareem Abdul Jabar.
Once you’re feeling punchy, swagger into the shop and find yourself a good Charlie Brown kite. Or a biplane. Or a dragon. Or a box kite. They have them all. Pick up a windsock while you’re at it, because you can never have too many.
Then bring a bottle of wine to Crissy Field. Hold the kite string in one hand and a glass in another. Close your eyes. You are now in paradise.

I love the beautiful birds and butterfly kites here. Just so detailed and gorgeous that you almost don’t want to fly it in case you damage it. I even liked the kites shaped like crabs. Who even thinks about designing kites shaped like crabs?
It’s really jam packed in here but they’ll be sure to have whatever you’re looking for in kites!

I felt claustrophobic when I walked inside this store, especially towards the back. Everything space seemed to be crammed in with something. The have all sorts of kites here: Ships, Spongebob, Nemo, etc. It’s a nice place to just look at all of them!

In preparation for the annual Berkeley Kite Festival, the bf and i were not going to be shown up by every other attendee. Oh no, we wanted a kite that would be worthy to not only be flown but to be shown.
A quick search on google led us to this shop. I’ve seen it many times during my walks through chinatown, but never thought to stop in. What a find! Kites on the floor, on the wall, on the ceiling – and so much variety too! Traditional shapes and not-​so-​traditional ones aplenty.
The ladies working there were super helpful. They told me which kites would be harder for me to fly (based on the amount of strength it would take to pull the kite, the kite size, etc). I ended up with a butterfly kite and the bf bought a fighter plane one. They were pricey for I thought kites would cost (about $ 30 each), but there were definitely cheaper ones to choose from for those that are on a budget.
Unable to wait until the festival to fly our kites, we immediately headed to the marina. After flying the kites (which took awhile for me to get the hang of), both of us felt extremely satisfied with our purchases. We had such a blast and the kites looked fantastic up in the sky.
SF, with its windy ways, is the perfect place to fly kites. This may just be my new perfect hobby.

Oh, oh, oh!
Let’s go fly a kite!
Up to the highest height!
Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring!
Up through the atmosphere,
Up where the air is clear,
Oh, let’s go fly a kite!
…http://​www​.youtube​.com/​w​a​t​c​h​?​v​=​U​G​a​T​f​G​H​E​L​V​4​&​a​m​p​;​f​e​a​t​u​r​e​=​r​e​lated
What? You don’t remember the end of «Mary Poppins» when the Banks family joins the rest of London in Regents Park to fly kites? That was a great scene even though Mary leaves them forever. Alas, you won’t see Mary in this cluttered shop, but it is appropriate that it is in Chinatown since the Chinese invented kites… and pretty much everything else. And here you’ll find lots of kites of all shapes, sizes and of course, prices.
I had my eye on the Spongebob Squarepants kite since we have so much in common… being yellow and porous with no neck. But then my eye got drawn to a parachute kite with a skydiver outstretched at the bottom. That kite was less than $ 30, and most of them seem to run in the $ 25-​$ 50 range. Yes, I think I’m gonna buy one and take another grasp at my forgotten youth. I’ll be the one a-​huffing-​and-​a-​puffing at Crissy Field with the parachute kite dragging on the ground, while the svelte joggers pass me by in their designer togs. Oh good grief!

I was in need of a mega awesome kite to fly. Of course I goto Unilocal and search for kites and get the following results:
1. Chinatown kite shop
2. Chrissy field
Basically, Unilocal made my day. The search engine not only knew where to buy the kite but it also knew exactly where to fly the kite.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I work on the search engine at Unilocal.
The store was charming, the selection was great, box, stunt, and nice nice kites for the kids. They had a sponge bob kite that I was eying. What a great kite store and super close to BART.