Montreal Chinatown: Kpop Stores

While searching for any sign of kpop in Motreal online, all I found was that I'd have much better luck in Toronto (which has two Koreatowns!). Yet while sauntering through the streets of Montreal's Chinatown, I stumbled on two kpop stores! In order to explain my experience with both of these stores, I'll tell my day's story.

The first store I saw was at the corner of Clark Street and Rue de la Gauchetière. The official posters of Boyfriend and Teen Top caught my eye, then I spotted the (fake) Korean dramas underneath them. (I took this photo before they opened, when there were no dramas on display). Inside the 12 by 12 foot space held many fake Asian dramas, CDs and concert DVDs, as well as a pile of fake kpop posters. I asked the shopkeeper about the official posters outside, and he said he'd call up his friend who has another store just around the corner with mostly kpop goods to open his store for me. It's already after 11AM and it still wasn't opened...so just beware that the store hours are whenever the store owner feels like operating it.

The second store, called Studio A, is directly across the street and a few doors down from C&C Korean Cosmetics Chinatown location. The address is approximately on Clark Street, directly across from the back entrance of Swatow Plaza. The front is covered in official, recent kpop posters, including Super Junior, Nu'est, Exo-K, and more. But what drew me to this storefront was the beautiful Infinite Infinitize poster in dead center! That was the only poster I had my eyes set on. Once the shop owner came to open up, inside there was a small box of official kpop posters, and then long rows of Asian dramas and kpop CDs and concert DVDs. The kpop CDs were definitely legit, factory sealed with holographic stickers of authentication. Some were priced at $15, but majority of the popular CDs were priced at $30. I had wanted to buy Infinite's Evolution album, but priced at $30 is ridiculous when Amazon offers it for $11.99. In the back are lots of fake kpop merchandise, including more of those fake posters from the first store, mini desk calendars, stickers, key rings with photos, rubber wristbands and messenger bags (which may be real?), and even pillows.

I took a quick photo of the pillows and bags but the shop owner then told me that photos aren't allowed he was probably afraid that I would report him for all of his fake goods. I came to this store so happy about seeing that Infinite poster, but left disappointed at the illegitimacy of majority of this merchandise. Then again, I came to Montreal expecting no life of kpop, so these stores were bittersweet, for lack of a better analogy.

Moral of the story: official posters are on the storefront to make their businesses look legit, but inside they sell mostly fake goods. I used to buy fake goods because that's all I had access to, but now that I have my legit CNBlue and Infinite merchandise, I only want real goods released from their entertainment companies!