Koryo Bookstore

Kpop heaven! During my trip to NYC I ran into this store and I was amazed! From albums to merchandise and Korean beauty products, they have it all. I bought 1 Exo notebook, it is so cute and reasonably priced too.

The store itself is really cool. Kpop albums, books, toys, make up– everything. It’s definitely a fun store! However, far too overpriced when you compare to online stores like Amazon or kpoptown, and that’s including shipping. Not to mention most online stores give extra gifts with purchases. In Korea, the items they try to sell are even less then half the price of what they put. I understand they want to make profit, but with the way things are today, I can’t see them lasting much longer. :(Especially since it’s mostly teens and young adults that shop there.

I want it alllllll! Such a large selection of books, music and more. I’d love to return when it isn’t so busy. I am a huge Kpop fan and this place is heaven.

Nothing like the quiet more relaxed environment of other bookstores I’ve been, be it large chains like B&N or local spots like City Lights in SF. Not even close. No quaint little coffee shop and sitting area where people sit and chill reading or studying. NOPE. Koryo is a very bustling place most like because of tourist in town for a Kpop concert going on that weekend but I feel this place is just busy in general. Located in Koreatown, Koryo share a space with a Tony Moly cosmetics store. We walked over to the that size not realizing we were in the bookstore. Less of a bookstore but more like a mini-​version of Media Play (RIP) selling more Korean music and fanfare items then books. I do give credit for the assortment of music CD’s they have besides typical kpop. Now due to the concert, they took advantage of it and had everything kpop all over. It was too much but I get it.
There were two floors, the first was all the music and fan items, and in the back educational toys, books, and study aids to learn Korean. Upstairs, nothing much but clothes which looked cute but that’s it. I didn’t get very far because it was too crowded so, I stayed mainly in the front. The folks at the counter were nice and very helpful to everybody. Kudos to them, there were only three at the counter and they were getting attacked from all sides, with ringing up sales, getting stuff from the back counter, and answering tourists’ questions. I recommend checking Koryo out when visiting the area at least once.

I came to buy an album I was looking for and I found it right away. The albums price was cheaper than I expected as well! It has all the recent albums of groups and some of them even include posters! I also saw various Kpop magazines and photo books. There were other Kpop accessories like bookmarks, folders etc. This place is basically Kpop galore. Go to this place if you are a die hard Kpop person or you want to give a present to a friend who’s into Kpop. You name a group, this store has their album. There were also books in teaching Korean which is very helpful to those wanting to learn Korean. I think check out the upstairs but I think I saw make up as well! Overall this place was great!

This place is great for all things Korean! On my last trip to NYC, I was happy to find a kpop store since there is no kind of store anywhere close to where I live. They have shelves of older albums and even new releases. Prices are okay, but it is worth it. It is well packaged and high quality. The store also has magazines, books, kpop merchandise (posters, pens, fan signs, etc.) and also a place with korean children toys in the back. The workers were kind and also helpful. I will definitely be back.

This is one of the few places for kpop stuff, beauty products, unique children toys, books. Some of the other review talk about the owner following around I was looking for an hour picking stuff up putting it back down rummaging in my purse for my phone and he didn’t even come from behind the register and he was super nice. I did splurge a bit but everything is HIGH QUALITY which is hard to find.
Check this place out

Eh, the staff/​owner always keeps an eye on you, like a CLOSE EYE, as if you’re about to steal something any minute? The selection isn’t too wide but it’s the only bookstore around here in Manhattan basically, so you’re gonna have to deal with the marked up prices, and they’re really sneaky about posters. ASK! ASK ASK for one, but sometimes even if you do, they’ll be like ‘oh we ran out’ mmmhmmmm. Avoid, really. Go buy it online if you can deal with the wait.

If you are looking for anything K-​Pop, Korean book, movies, music, TV… it’s all at Koryo! My BFF almost peed her pants when we walked in — she’s obsessed with K-​Culture and was in heaven. The prices seemed great too and she was super excited that she got a percentage off of everything she bought as a holiday sale special!

I could find all the albums that I wanted! They have a lot of variety at the store. From old to new albums, DVDs and magazines too! They sell posters, calendars, pencils, bracelets, photos and etc. The price it is not too much but not too expensive.
What I didn’t like too much of the store was the attention. The guy that sells there is kind of hateful. And uncomfortable… It looks you like you are going to steal something from the store (Really, I went there with different persons and they all told me the same about this guy)

The place is very nice, I got confused on where the entrance was and find out that it was the same entrance as the faceshop. There weren’t a lot of KPop things inside but there were fairly enough to make a fan squeal. but be warned, you might only get to look and not get to buy since the things are really expensive.
Some of the things were just so expensive compared to others with the same price. The stickers were about $ 10 for one sheet and there were postcards/​photo cards that were also the same price but definitely worth it.
There were also books on how to learn Korean and many books about the Korean culture and novels. Would definitely recommend to KPOP fans and people interested in the Korean culture

K-​POP albums galore! I mostly come to this place for my albums. A bit pricey as compared to buying online but if you can’t stand the wait this store is perfect. They have a wide range of albums, magazines, photobooks, DVD, and random kpop merch (calendars, pens, bracelets, postcards etc.)
BUT, I will give everyone a heads up. For example, online you have an option of buying an album with or without a poster. So, if you buy it without it’s cheaper right? Here you’re paying full price for the album (ex. $ 22) and you expect to get the poster along with it right? WRONG.
When you pick your album even if it’s new and pay for it the clerk with ring it up and give it to you without mentioning anything about a poster. You. Have. To. Ask! You ask and he gives you the album poster that should be included, no extra charge. If you don’t you’ll get no poster. BUT, even if the album lets say came out two weeks ago the store (supposedly) runs out of album posters and all you get is the album.
A bit of a pro to this review would be they do have various posters they sell separately for about $ 6 — $ 11. Also if you buy two or more albums they give you (usually) a free random poster.
Despite everything this shop is convenient a bit pricey but hey, I need my kpop merch and albums.

This place is very nice. They get stock of albums not much after the release date. I haven’t purchased albums from here because there is around a $ 10 markup. I’ve just gotten posters because they are cheaper than I can get online.
They have a wide variety of K-​Pop albums and K-​dramas although it’s mostly books in Korean.
They also sell K-​Pop merchandise such as both official and unofficial posters, calendars, pins, jelly bracelets, key chains, and pens.
It’s great as long as you have a lot of cash in your pocket (or purse).
I saw a girl buying around five B.A.P albums.

I had been to this store a couple years ago so I made sure to stop by on my recent trip to Manhattan. I was overwhelmingly delighted again upon seeing the fantastic selection of KPop merchandise! It made me super happy! There is also a good selection of books within the store. It’s a clean, decently sized store with kind staff. I was able to walk out with what I needed along with lingering thoughts of wanting to return for more items.

This store is stocked up with so many kdramas and albums, as well as kpop merchandise! I bought a SHINee bracelet at a reasonable price and will come here whenever I decide on buying an album.

I learned about Koryo after asking the hostess in Miss Korea if there she knew of a place that sold Korean cds and things along that line, and she suggested Koryo. I’m from a place that doesn’t really sell the products. They had so many different albums and OSTs, and SHINee even had their own dedicated shelf (which I loved). There was also a good selection of random merch like fingernail covers and pens. The prices were… a little steep for the the albums and Kpop things, but it was still nice seeing it all together in one place. I noticed some drama DVDs and thought hmmmm, maybe they have actual dramas and movies.
So I walked a little further around the store to try to find it, and in the back room I found heaven. The collection of Korean movies they had was just… incredible. I’m not really a casual watcher, Korean cinema is a serious hobby of mine, and they had pretty much everything that I had ever seen lining those shelves. I asked the man behind the counter how much they were, and he let me know $ 6.00. 6 dollars. 6 DOLLARS. FOR A MOVIE. THAT IS PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND FOR THAT CHEAP… legally.
I stayed there looking around at all the movies to figure which ones I wanted probably for an hour, and he was so nice about it. If I asked him about a particular movie he would look up the Korean name and try to find it for me, and he even burnt me a copy of Our Happy Time while I was looking because he didn’t have one immediately available. And then when I went to check out (I ended up buying five movies altogether), he even threw in a couple of dvds that he thought I may like as service!
I was just really… surprised and pleased by this particular part of the store and New York, at how friendly and accommodating they were. If I ever make the trip to New York again, I am definitely stopping by first thing.

Need your dose of Korean Novels, K-​POP CDs, or Korean Drama DVDs?! Then you must come here to Koryo Bookstore! I just had to check it out to get my hands on some fresh KPOP merchandise. This store is the right size and smack dab in the middle of Korea Town. There is so much stuff that I did not know what to do! My fan-​boy self kept squealing at the various artists albums I saw and their posters, and stickers, and other fun stuff. I wish I had all the money in the world to afford all of it. Unfortunately the prices are a bit high since I am assuming this stuff was brought in from Korea. The only other real option is to shop online if you wanted any of this.

Really nice book store in the heart of the city. Of course I didn’t go there for the books, I went for their CDs! And boy do they have quite a collection. They’ve got all of the latest and greatest K-​pop hits, plus most of the popular groups’ old music as well.
There’s also a wall dedicated to posters and calendars and the such, a whole corner for famous dramas, and also a small DVD rental place in the back.
Everything about this place is sweet, except the exorbitant prices but ehhh what can you do.

Nostalgia and finding a gift of necessity certainly play into the love I have for this place (albeit, a love created by one measly visit of less than 10 minutes).
Prior to my visit, I scoured the mean streets of New York (Best Buy) looking for a token parting gift (any Kpop CD I could find). Sadly, there were no SNSD albums left in stock at either of the Best Buy locations that I visited; apparently they were all sold out when they had their album signing some months back (think they would’ve restocked???).
After failing, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my goal. Then it hit me like a ton of $#iT… they gotta have something in Ktown. And they did (should’ve probably done my research before wasting an hour looking around the city.
All fingers pointed to Koryo: a beacon of hope for one (me). Walking in, the music selection may either be the first thing to catch your eye… or it may be «easy» to miss. For me it was the latter; I spent the first few minutes wandering aimlessly around the relatively small bookstore (like a dumbass), pretending I could read Hangul (I can’t). I finally asked for help and the cashier simply pointed to where the music was… three feet behind me.
Kpop album packaging is definitely fancy, maybe that’s why they justify the high price tag. However, I’ll be the first to admit that the box art for the 2NE1 mini album is pretty awesome. So I picked it up, paid my $ 26 (for 6 songs and awesome box art) and wrapped it up and wrote the going-​away-​present card. I was definitely relieved to have found that album where I did, when I did. Someone’s life is gonna change because of that album…

I LOVED THIS PLACE. It was my first trip to Koreatown and I did lots of research and decided to come here. My objective was to satiate my desire for SHINee and SS501 posters. Once you walk into the place you’re greeted by the well-​loved cutout of Kim Hyun Joong and directly to the right of it is the CD display.
I picked up SHINee’s Romeo and First Live Concert «SHINee World» albums. They both were marked up quite a bit because on YesAsia Romeo was $ 11.99 but at Koryo it was $ 22.00. On YesAsia the First Live Concert album was $ 21.99 but at Koryo it was $ 35.00. They had four copies of Romeo left. Two had Onew’s picture and the other two were Minho and Key. Ideally I’d go for Taemin’s but they didn’t have it :-(. By the way if you come looking for Exo albums I heard the owner say they get new shipments on Fridays.
Around the corner there are the posters hanging high up on the walls. They’re not the standard big size that one would expect. They’re 12cut posters meaning they’re maybe ¹⁄₃ or ¼ the size of the big ones but they come in packs of 12. I think Koryo had maybe 8 sets of them and per group they only had one pack. Besides SHINee and SS501 I remember seeing Super Junior, 2AM, MBLAQ, 2NE1, and SNSD too. Anyway the 12cut posters were like $ 24.95 per pack.
All in all I spent $ 116 including tax (8.875% — watch out!). The man at the counter was very friendly and he answered all the questions I had about where things were. Even when I was confused and walked right past the posters, the lady in the back (drama section) kindly told me where they were. Because I spent quite a bit of money the man at the counter gave me a free Kim Hyun Joong poster.
«You like Kim Hyun Joong, yes?»
YES I DO.
When I recover from that dent in my pocketbook and feel another urge to go kpop shopping I’ll check back here for more SHINee stuff but I’ll also check other stores for cheaper albums. It’s worth a visit, though!