History

Just like the U.S. has dollar stores, Japan has 100-yen stores. One of the most famous is Daiso, based in Hiroshima. It’s popular for stocking a variety of original products, the vast majority of which cost 100 yen (since 2004, the store has also been selling some items priced at multiples of 100 yen). But what is it exactly that makes this store so special? The History of Daiso Daiso dates back to 1972, when it was a street vending shop called Yano Shoten that sold just 100-yen products. Its popularity led founder Hirotake Yano to open the first Daiso in 1977 in his father’s hometown of Higashi-Hiroshima (Hirotake Yano was born in China in 1943 and moved to Hiroshima after World War II). Today, there are 3,620 Daiso stores around Japan and another 2,300 in 25 other countries around the globe. Every hour, around a quarter of a million people are shopping at Daiso somewhere in the world. The huge size of the enterprise has allowed the business to keep prices low and quality high. What are the Most Popular Products? Daiso has some products that are famously “sold in seconds,” meaning the store sells one every few seconds.…