Bornelund, Maruhiro, Kawagoe

Beautiful and educational toys, excellent staff and service

The toy store in Maruhiro is my favourite place in the 8 floors and 3 annexes of the Kawagoe branch of Maruhiro Department Store. Within that space the Bornelund store is a toy heaven for small children. They have samples of almost all, if not all, of their products laid out for the children to play with, touch, feel and explore. Their toys are beautiful too, mainly wooden or natural, in bright colours and very stimulating to even the smallest of children. The Bornelund in Maruhiro are stockists of my favourite game supplier Orchard Toys. Bornelund import these games and educational materials from England. The prices in Bornelund for Orchard Toys are a fraction of the price you would pay on Amazon Japan. Bornelund also sells Magformers which are a popular toy in the children's centres of Saitama. The Magformer sets are quite expensive here, you might be able to source them elsewhere for cheaper. Apart from that they have a huge range of educational toys. They have a very good point system too. If you sign up for the point system card and write the ages of your children on the card, you are entitled to a 10% discount of one purchase around the time of their birthday. The form for joining the point system is bilingual: English and Japanese. You can even collect points on your Maruhiro card as well as on your Bornelund point card. The store opens from 10 am to 7 pm seven days a week, except for the days that Maruhiro takes off. You will need to check the Maruhiro schedule for the up-to-date information as it is not a fixed schedule. The closest station is Seibu Shinjuku Line's Hon-Kawagoe station. Parking is shared with Maruhiro, if you purchase something you can get your parking ticket validated.