(Last modified May 20, 2003)
Rainbow Video: Located at 6255 Peachtree Industrial Blvd in Doraville. They charge for a membership, and then rent tapes for $1.50 ($2 for OAVs). There are also some tapes for sale. Tapes are in raw Japanese from Japan except for a very small selection (which doesn't ever get any bigger). This store used to have a lot of stuff, but in December 1997 the Japanese video store crackdown finally reached it. They still have loads of OAVs and other material that has been released outside of TV, including some TV episodes of shows like Sailor Moon.
Rainbow Video also rents manga.
Public transportation: #25 from Chamblee Station goes directly by the plaza. You can get off it before it goes around the loop, quickly run into the store, and get on the same #25 going back.
Inoue food mart: Japanese grocery store, in the same plaza with (and right next to) Rainbow Video. Small. They also carry some manga phonebooks.
Public transportation: same as Rainbow Video.
Iwase Books: Moved to the plaza with Rainbow Video. I forget what their new name is. They're the biggest source of magazines and original Japanese manga, but they overcharge horribly ($1.90 for 100 yen, more than twice the exchange rate). Unless you really need something now, order from somewhere else by mail. They also rent Japanese TV tapes and occasionally have old tapes for sale. They've also been getting more merchandise lately.
Public transportation: same as Rainbow Video.
Tomato Japanese grocery: Smyrna, 2086 Cobb Parkway. Japanese food, video rentals, and a used book section including quite a bit of used manga.
Public transportation: Cobb Community Transit #10 bus (if you're in Atlanta you can get this bus at Arts Center Station). Only alternate busses go past it on Saturday, and nothing on Sunday.
Tomato Japanese grocery (see above link): 7124 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Norcross (just outside the Doraville border). Groceries and video rentals, fewer magazines than the other one. There is raw Japanese anime for rental. They recently got a whole section of used manga in Japanese. I'm not sure if this was just moved from another store (I didn't check the other store recently). This is hidden just before a restaurant entrance.
Public transportation: none.
Tokyo Discount: 5177-B Buford Highway, Doraville. A small store with lots of random items from Japan. Very little anime-related stuff.
House of Video Games/House of Anime: 1500 Pleasant Hill Rd. NW Duluth. A big rental store for Japanese animation. Some other stuff but not much. Their rentals are supplemented with pirates and fansubs, but only of material that hasn't been released. (The "House of Anime" on Steve Reynolds Boulevard is really their warehouse, so going there is useless.) Rentals are two days.
Public transportation: none.
Sanrio Surprises: Merchandise for Hello Kitty and related series. Located in Perimeter Square Mall. There are also two other ones listed in the phone book: 100 North Point Center Alpharetta, and Northlake Mall.
Vengeance of Excalibur: 8160 Tara Road, Jonesborou (south of the city itself). Tapes, Japanese manga, and US translations, along with SM CDs, posters, merchandise, and fansubs sold on the same rack as the legitimate tapes....
Public transportation: none.
Oxford Comics: Piedmont Road, Atlanta. As well as comics, they have a wall of commercial anime, but half of it costs more than the suggested retail price. Be sure to check the price before buying any videos there. Some posters too, merchandise, and SM CDs. They have some manga in the original Japanese, plus a lot of translated manga. They do have a very good DVD rental section.
Public transportation: #5 or #38 bus.
Books, Comics, Manga, and More: Located in the Galleria mall across from Cumberland Mall in Smyrna. Has American comics, American books, original manga, translated manga, and some anime on DVD for rent.
Public transportation: Cobb Community Transit #10 bus.
Pokemon Center: I haven't visited this yet. It's located in Kennesaw.
Tyke's Games: 1056 S. Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA. I haven't visited this one yet either.
Retro: Japanese thrift store, in the same plaza with Rainbow Video. Closed as of 11/1/98.
Daido: Japanese grocery store. Chamblee-Tucker Road, just off Buford Highway. Closed as of mid-2000.
House of Anime (Stone Mountain branch): Closed sometime in 1999.
Neo HK: Formerly at 655 Highland Avenue, Atlanta. Rental store which carried anime and Hong Kong stuff, plus the occasional merchandise item for sale. They closed in December 2000.
Anime Galaxy: Formerly at 4153 Lawrenceville Highway NW, Lilburn. Closed January 2001.
Anime O-tekku (Georgia Tech): Meets the third Saturday of every month, from noon to 8 or so. Also has showings in the middle of the week.
Public transportation: walk west from North Avenue station and onto the campus.
Karekano Anime: (formerly Anime-X and MAS): Meets at the Chamblee library on the 4th Saturday of each month except when a holiday, AWA, etc. push it around.
Atlanta Anime: Meets twice a month on Sundays at the Comic Company in Decatur.
Public transportation: There is some. Someone please tell me.
UGAnime: University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Anime Weekend Atlanta: This is a fairly major anime convention in the fall each year in Atlanta.
Created by Ken Arromdee