Used Tackle? Tackle Berry!

I always liked the idea of buying new or used fishing tackle and trade it for something else over time. I do it sometimes using classified ads or fishing forum. I use rods and sell them once I am bored or better get some new lures after selling some of those that I don't use much. This kind of trade is pretty common in the fishing world, but there is a company that has taken this process a level above and I have do admit that I think it is brilliant!

In Japan -where else?- there is a chain of tackle shops that sells all used fishing gear and it does it with a huge number of stores across the country. It is called Tackle Berry and it a huge hit in Japan.

Thanks to "google translate" I like to spend some time on their official home page. I check their stores, the myriad of products up for sale and the blogs that every store carefully updates on a daily based.

Stores everywhere...but in Japan.

It was founded in 2000 and in 11 years has opened more than 150 stores (there is a list here) across Japan.
They range from huge shops to smaller corner shops, yet all of them stock very nice used gear.
What I like most is the blog update system they use to promote the latest additions to the stocks. I browsed the blogs and saw used items at very good prices. Also they have a rating system for every product they put online. Rates goes from A (excellent) to C (average). I assume they have products that they put on sale online.

They even have the Berry Girls!!!

Certainly we (anglers living out of Japan) are not going to benefit from this stores (yet) but I think what Tackle Berry created is brilliant! I just hope one day we will have a similar shops where we can trade and buy used gear. The wide choices of used gear would be great indeed. Imagine yourself buying a Major Craft or Yamaga Blanks used rod and then sell them for a Megabass rod.  I think you need a serious fishing tackle market for a system like Tackle Berry's to work.

Rods

Lures

Reels