The Entertainment Area Known as a Wholesale District

There is a members-only wholesale store called Jet near my house.

Members-only? A wholesale store? In this Reiwa era?
You might think that with shopping malls available,
or even the option to just buy things online,
but this place is actually quite interesting.

Background

To give a little historical context,
there is a place called Semba in Honmachi, Osaka.
It has been a central hub of Osaka since the Edo period, but
entering the mid-1950s, to improve efficiency regarding issues like warehouse shortages due to dense logistics and traffic congestion,
it was decided to relocate the wholesale district to the Hokusetsu region of Osaka.
(Osaka Semba Textile Wholesale Business Complex)

The originator of this plan was Man-ei Co., Ltd., which operated a wholesale business in Honmachi,
and three companies, including Man-ei (and its subsidiary), established the joint venture SSOK Association.
This SSOK (renamed to Jet in 2007) has been operating as a wholesaler
to this day.

My personal impression is that
20 years ago, it was extremely bustling.
10 years ago, it was a bit desolate.
In the last few years, while not quite at its peak, it is bustling again.
That is my impression.

How to Enter

To become a member, you pay an admission fee (equivalent to an annual membership fee) of 1,000 yen
to create a membership card.
The validity period is one year.
One membership card allows up to two guests to enter.
By the way, there is a Man-ei main store in Honmachi,
and issuing a membership card valid for both stores costs 2,000 yen.
If your annual purchase amount (since it is a wholesaler, technically the procurement amount) is 100,000 yen or more,
the admission fee for the following year is free.

Inside the Store

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the store.
I cannot convey it well with my poor writing skills, but...
the atmosphere inside the store feels very Showa-era.

The old building and interior,
the not-so-orderly display,
the staff uniforms that look like they are from the bubble era...
But for some reason, it feels fresh in a full-circle kind of way.

Products Handled

It is divided into several buildings,
- Main Building (food, daily necessities, household goods, apparel, children's goods, bedding, etc.)
- East Building (brand items, apparel (suits, high-end brands), travel,
golf equipment, glasses, watches, jewelry, etc.)
- Interior Building (beds, living/dining furniture, etc.)
- Others: cosmetics, pet supplies, flower corner, etc.
are available.
Also, there is a cafeteria on the 6th floor of the East Building.
It is not a cafe; it is a cafeteria.

Actually Shopping

Some readers might wonder,
"Is it worth paying an annual fee just to go shopping?"
but my answer is
"You can easily make your money back after shopping once."
In short, even if you don't go frequently, you can make your money back if you go once a year.

First of all, since they call themselves a wholesaler, the prices are low to begin with.
It depends on the genre and the item, but my honest impression is that it is on average about 20% cheaper than buying at regular retail prices.
(For example, food isn't that cheap, but
high-priced items are often half-price if you're not careful.)

Also, unlike online shopping,
the fact that you can "see the actual item and buy it" is a big deal.
Being able to see and buy items at the same (or lower) price as online shopping
is very pleasing.

Things I actually bought

I will introduce a few of them.
Prices are excluding tax.

Undergarments

I often buy undergarments at Jet.
I feel like they are 20-30% off, and sometimes even half price.
Famous brand undergarments are sold there for about the same price as GU.

When I went today, some leftover stock of undergarments called "Asedoron"
had been marked down from 2,000 yen to 500 yen.
Though they only had size LL left.

Apparel and Brand Items

I often go to the East Building looking for good deals on brand items.
Since the discount amount is large for expensive items even at 20-30% off,
it's quite a good deal.
There are quite a few imported (not necessarily high-end) items in men's apparel.
I don't buy them because they just remind me of middle-aged men from the bubble era,
but it's fun just to look at them.

Furniture

I bought a kitchen cabinet there about three years ago.
It was roughly 200,000 yen down to 100,000 yen.
Thanks to this, my membership fee for the following year became free.

To be honest, the inventory doesn't change that frequently,
so it's not a place you need to go every week.
I think you can enjoy it enough by just going when you remember to,
like at the change of seasons.

As mentioned above, the discount amounts are large,
so I think you can easily make your money back in a single shopping trip,
and above all, there are quite a few items you won't find in regular stores,
so I think you can spend about half a day just looking for good deals.