Shopping streets run outward from the station in four directions. Kōenji is organised around that crossing, and the lanes between the streets are packed with second-hand clothing shops, live music venues, public baths and places to drink. The vintage clothing trade dominates for a practical reason: it works in a very small unit, and the buyer controls the size of each purchase rather than being tied to a supplier's minimum order.

The venues and the bars are close enough together that after dark you can watch the traffic move from one to the next along the same few lanes, which is the reason the district feels busier than its size. The sentō that survive here are connected to the housing: this district has a great many small flats built without baths, and while that is less true than it was, enough of it remains to keep several bathhouses trading. The Chūō line reaches Shinjuku in about ten minutes, single-occupancy flats are plentiful and cheap by Tokyo standards, and living costs are appreciably lower here than they are a few stations further in.

Low rent decides what kind of shop can exist. If a business can survive on modest takings, it does not have to stock only what is certain to sell, and the owner's own taste can be allowed onto the shelves without threatening the lease. That is the mechanism behind the district's reputation, and there is nothing mysterious about it. Kōenji looks idiosyncratic because the financial margin for idiosyncrasy is still there, and that margin will last exactly as long as the rents stay where they are.