Rumi Life Factory Outlet in Bushwick for Kawaii Shopping

Rumi Life Factory Outlet has opened at 368 Knickerbocker Avenue in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. It's self-described as an "Asian household goods store." I'd describe it as a Five Below, if Five Below focused on Japanese かわいい (kawaii), or "cute style."

My main interest in checking it out was to see what adorable, low-cost stationery products it sells. But I glanced at everything.

The layout is incredibly spacious for Bushwick. The one perk of "corporate" stores (as opposed to mom-and-pop stores) is that they are designed to be wheelchair accessible.

The gifts and children's items are adorable and budget-friendly. If I were one of the hundreds of parents walking by this shop every day, I know I'd be begged to go inside.

You can see that there are nice purses and other accessories for adults.

The pens! I purchased he three-ink model on the right. It uses gel inks and writes well. I have yet to attempt dismantling it, but when I held it next to my Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto, it looked like the entirety of each ink stick (include the plastic clicker at the top) is the same size as a Coleto refill. If this is the case, I could get colored Coleto refills for only 50 cents each ($1.39 pen, $1.51 with tax). Maybe I'll make a post in the future about frugal ways of refilling the Coleto!

The inexpensive hair extensions caught my eye. They're only $1.39, much cheaper than at the beauty supply stores in the area. But will people buying these extensions think to look in this Rumi store?

The kitchen items and lunch boxes are delightfully twee.

Shovels are $1.39 and bathroom mats are $3.39.

Like at Muji, small humidifiers are a feature. However, I didn't notice Rumi selling assorted scents for their humidifiers.

A lot of the hair accessories appeared to be sized for adults as well as children.

Snacks! Rumi sells both cold beverages and dry snacks. At $1.29, the drinks are a steal in Bushwick, since they're definitely not that low-cost in bodegas.

Overall, I'll definitely check this place out if I'm shopping for a kid's birthday. If I were in the market for kitchen storage or a lunch container for work, I'd also look in here. But as it is, I'm full up on kitchen stuff.

So for me, the real gems here are the stationery supplies. I'm making a full-throttle effort to use only my Coletos, but I am weak when it comes to a cute multicolor pen, despite knowing I genuinely don't need another one, especially considering I have several refillable Coletos. But if I can deconstruct the Rumi pens for use in my Coletos, it may change things.