Rainbow Station

Located on the busy streets of Grant Ave in Chinatown, this store offers many stationary items ranging from pens and pencils, to giant dolls from companies like Sanrio. About 99.9% of the stationary items are cute and based on cartoons. They also sell journal books, stickers, lunchboxes, accessories (hair, watches, cell phones), school bags, decorations, and much more.
I don’t come to Chinatown often, but when I do, it’s either for grocery or looking for «star jars.» Most places in Chinatown that I knew sold these, have closed down. luckily Rainbow Station haven’t! I didn’t come to Rainbow Station often because it was pricier than other places, but now I have no other choice. I do like to come in here once in awhile (when visiting Chinatown), to see what other cute things they carry. As I said, my favorites are origami paper for folding stars, and the jars for them. If you plan on buying them, the stars inside them are not for sale.
Prices are a little on the expensive side (I’m sure you can find cheaper online, but if you need it ASAP, this is the place to go!), but overall everything here is just full of cuteness! On the plus side, the cashiers can speak English! I’d definitely recommend coming in for a visit if you’re in the area :)

bought a $ 15 pencil case for a kid. you know the kind that has lots of buttons and secret compartments that pop open when you push said buttons. took the pencil box home to see kid joyfully unwrap it only to discover in utter disappointment that it was DAMAGED GOODS! the pencil case is BROKEN. there was a huge gash on the side, like someone took a razor blade and slashed it. according to the store, «NO REFUND NO EXCHANGE». no wonder they wrapped it so tightly in plastic wrap! they sell garbage! if you aren’t into getting ripped off, avoid this place! THIS PLACE IS WACK!

Review #1051.
The store also carries lots and lots of stationery, from pens, colouring and journal books, stickers, to lunchboxes, water bottles, containers that will keep your coffee warm, combs, hair accessories, earrings, a glass case filled with watches, schoolbags, stuffed animals, and others that are made in Taiwan but just as cute decorations.
Prices are reasonable and you will feel like you just walk into a cartoon land!

Easy shopping for the little kids in your life and the young at heart!
Mostly sells toys, so it was easy to find something for my nieces. I ended buying my nieces plush Angry Birds, which they fell in love with!
Prices seemed a little high but my purchase was worth it! Great selection of Sanrio knickknacks.

It’s a girly girl place (nostalgic when I bought Hello Kitty, My Melody, My Twin Stars type of merchandsie). Basically a place that sells Sanrio merchandise and among other things. My daughter picked up a princess backpack for $ 25.99…I would have gone to Target but since I was vacationing in San Francisco and she was begging me to get this backpack for school, I said okay and knowing I don’t have to make a trip to Target to find backpacks for my kids.
There’s alot of stuff to look at and to amuse the children but the prices are on the more expensive side.

You know the saying about a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? You can kind of apply that saying to Rainbow Station — except the pot is kind of tilted and the gold is a little faded… I mean, it definitely looks like gold from far away, but when you get up close, you realize the gold isn’t all that pretty.
Okay, enough with the analogy. This place is like a Sanrio, except they rip you off and they watch you like hawks waiting to swoop down on their unsuspecting prey. Cute stuff, but… not cheap. Large selection, but not such great quality sometimes. It’s just a typical girly girl store for me. I’d rather go to Sanrio, where I can guarantee that the bags aren’t rip offs

Ahh I remember spending most of my allowance at rainbow station as a child. I even got my very first dinky Dino here! Although it’s not a real licensed Sanrio. It used to be filled with all sorts of hello kitty items. Nowadays, rainbow station has turned into a store filled with random goods. Their prices are a bit on the pricey side. But where else can you find hello kitty next to a gundam figure?

I’ve been shopping here since I was a little girl. My grandmother used to live in an apartment close by and every time we would visit, she would give me money and I would always blow it here! I still come by whenever I am in Chinatown because my love for Hello Kitty and cute things still lives on. There isn’t as much Sanrio products any more, a lot of them aren’t even authentic but it is still fun to look at what they have.

I remember this place from my childhood and in the recent years (2001 – 2002) they renovated. Ever since then it was brighter and less cluttered.
Lots of interesting little toys, gadgets and hello kitty stationary at decent Chinatown prices.

I visited this place just recently, and there is new management since I have last been here (around 4 years ago, give or take). The store is just like I remembered it, very Sanrio and very cute. The only problem is that everything is more of a rip-​off. I understand that the economy is down, but this store will empty my wallet if I decide to go on a wild spree. Example #1: A palm-​sized plushie is about $ 8+ (Note that I have small girl-​sized hands).
Also, their lead pencil selection has diminished. The lead pencils are mainly Hello Kitty, and a few other characters. They have no Keroppi, Batz-​maru, Pochacco, or Pekkle lead pencils.

Just like all the other Sanrio stores, the things are over price but super CUTESY! =) Although it’s very hard to find Little Twin Stars items this place has like some fash wash cloth with them on it, and maybe one or two other times. The service is eh, just didn’t really like all the gossiping/​smack talk they were doing in Chinese about the ppl/​customers in the store.

The merchandise is great, but their surveillance is crazy. At first, I thought it was only me. Then I saw all your guys’ reviews, and I was like «I’m not the only one who thought that.» They have some interesting and Sanrio’s «golden age» products. Other than that, I really wouldn’t recommend coming here.

This store is ok. I rather go to the real Sanrio store. When I was in high school, I bought all my planners here. I haven’t set foot in here since then.
It is true that the employees follow and watch your every move like a hawk. But it’s understandable. They are also pretty rude and unhelpful.
The cool thing about this store is they not only sell Sanrio related things but also other popular Asian stuff.
I would come here again only if I’m looking for something that’s not found in Sanrio.

I like this place because you find more other sanrio stuff here rather then your average store you walk into. The bonus card gifts are kind of crappy but the people here are extremely nice.

I remembered I used to love this store when I was little, my sister and I called it the «Hello Kitty Store» the people there are kind of rude, they follow you around, thinking you are going to steal something too! I mean what the hell. I haven’t bought anything from this store in the longest time, I remembered that I bought this Hello Kitty Camera for about $ 20 and it did not even work! I would rather go to the regular Sanrio, then to come here.

working at sanrio, i blew in here on a whim one day, wondering where people had gotten their things at this so called «chinatown sanrio.»
i saw relics from the old days, like pekkle erasers and a spotte dottie planner.
they still had the shrinkwrap on them, even though they must have been over 10 years old.
and why didn’t i buy this stuff?
jeez, man, i need to go back and get a pekkle eraser. we don ‘t make em like we used to.

This place was a lifesaver the other day! It was Christmas day and I totally forgot that I had to get my baby cousin a gift. Well, I knew I had to but for some reason I thought I had an extra day, but I obviously didn’t. I knew JTown and CTown would be open, so I checked JTown first. Nothing.
So came here and immediately found something really cute and not at all in the «settle for» category. And it was totally soft and clean. I could have done without the crowd, but what are you going to do in tourist territory.
And this place treated me well back in my junior high /​high school days. Fond memories of spending money on totally unnecessary cute stuff.

Sanrio haven! Lots of sanrio knick knacks from the dolls which come in all sizes small to super large to bubble gum and stationery. Everything is so cute and adorable, worth a visit for those craving Hello Kitty. :)

The only place where you can buy authentic Sanrio stuff in C-​Town (there’s lots of lame knock offs in Chinatown but this is the place w/​the real deal).
I like how they shrink wrap all their stuffed animals (the owner must be anal but goodie for the buyer cuz the animals are not manhandled to death!).
They also sell cute litter ceramic figurines. A great store to visit when you’re in C-​Town!

Okay, this store isn’t really a toy store, I couldn’t find a way to classify it so I picked a close description.
Rainbow sells all things Sanrio-​but cheaper! And not just Sanrio but pretty much all Asian cartoon characters (sheepo, murphy the cute little dog, gomugomu the polar bear, blue bear, etc) have their own following here.
They sell hello kitty/​chococat/​pucca funny love/​keropi etc kleenex, bandaids, lunch boxes, backpacks, pencils, pencil cases, candy, origami stars, whew… SO MUCH STUFF!
This store, is like kryptonite to me. It is, my weakness.