Daiso is Here!

Posted October 27th, 2010 in Ume's Interests 12 Comments »

Daiso, the multi-billion dollar Japanese Phenomenon, has arrived in Australia.  Last year the chain was declared the 10th fastest growing retailer in the world.

<I wrote about Daiso at here (Japan), here (Jakarta), and here (Japan)>

From potholders to pencils, lollies to locks, there are so many variety of items sold at Daiso.  I’m sure many of you have been to Daiso if you live or have been to one of the countries which has Daiso shop.  There are 24 countries which have already embraced Daiso, and Australia is number 25!  The first city to host this latest overseas raider is Melbourne.

Daiso is known as the 100 yen store in Japan, but in Melbourne every item is priced the same – just $2.80.

“Eyeliners, mascaras – they’ve won an award in Japan, the mascara, so that’s how good the quality is,” Store Director, Ms Hii said. (from Today Tonight)

The chain is set to snap up retail space all over the country and is determined to become a household name.  I really hope they open up a shop in Perth sometime soon (really soon!!).

The Australia’s first Daiso store in Melbourne open this Thursday, at 9AM.

Shop 23 313 Victoria St
Abbotsford VIC 3067
[email protected] or visit www.daiso.com.au

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12 Comments on “Daiso is Here!”

  1. 1 achan said at 2:18 pm on October 27th, 2010:

    That’s so interesting! Daiso is ‘growing’ but I don’t see as many people shopping there now as say 5 years ago. Their stuff is no longer all 100 yen which frustrates me, I hate picking up something and seeing 525 yen on a price tag 🙁
    I think that there are better 100 yen around now that have better variety, but if Daiso is on a roll there is no stopping them!!

  2. 2 Kathy said at 5:14 pm on October 27th, 2010:

    I love daiso and all 100 yen shops, but they need to be cheap for me to love them.

    Is it just me or is $2.80 not so cheap? Even with the yen at 80 yen=$1, things shouldn’t be more than $1.50 each.

    I think I can buy some things cheaper at K-mart these days…

  3. 3 umepontarou said at 9:57 pm on October 27th, 2010:

    Achan,

    Yes I actually go to other 100yen shops such as Seria and CanDu (?) while in Japan. As you said, some items are not 100yen anymore at Daiso.
    But, when I’m in another country I miss Japan so much that I spend lots of money in Daiso, even though the price is around 200~300 yen each when converted.
    Daiso is in many countries, and I think many Japanese people who live outside Japan will go there for shopping 🙂

  4. 4 umepontarou said at 10:10 pm on October 27th, 2010:

    Kathy,

    I guess you are right. Some items, such as pens and towel are expensive if they are $2.80 each.
    Some items, however, may be worth paying $2.80 (such as Made-in-Japan cosmetics and homeward).
    It would be wonderful if they could set the price around $1.00 each even outside Japan too though 🙂

  5. 5 tony maison said at 7:22 pm on November 21st, 2010:

    hi i visited the daisco store, i found it to be very very small ( the chicken feed next door was 3 times the size ) i guess if i was japanese i would be excited but sorry its really not that special
    but good luck anyway ,
    but just wanted to let people know before they travel to this shop that maybe you should just go to costco

  6. 6 umepontarou said at 3:19 pm on November 22nd, 2010:

    Hi Tony,

    Thanks for writing about your experience at Daiso in Melbourne 🙂

    Many people actually have mentioned me that the shop is really really small.
    I realized that being 100 yen shop (although some items are not) and having many varieties of items are the reasons why Daiso grew so big in Japan. People who doesn’t know about Daiso wouldn’t go to the Melbourne shop, I assume.

    … Well, I’m not sure if they are doing good, but good luck too.

  7. 7 EMI said at 10:49 am on January 6th, 2011:

    I love Daiso so much,most quality items are very cheap,and i will like to be in this kind of business,i want to join daiso group,But how?

  8. 8 umepontarou said at 7:34 am on January 7th, 2011:

    Hi Emi,

    Do you mean you want to operate a Daiso shop, or work there? I’m sure they hire people to work there occasionally.

    Maybe you can find some info here :

    http://www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english/index.html

  9. 9 EMI said at 9:26 am on January 7th, 2011:

    Yes,i will like to operate a Daiso shop, but how?

  10. 10 umepontarou said at 12:29 am on January 8th, 2011:

    Emi

    I’m sorry I really don’t know as I’m not the owner of Daiso.
    Please contact Daiso group (the contact details can be found at the site above)

  11. 11 Cha said at 6:48 pm on February 16th, 2011:

    Although Daiso shop is small here, my family & I still enjoy shop there. Their products are always surprise us.

    Only one thing annoys me was when everytime we went there , their staffs always busy with moving boxes or carrying huge ladder around…be honest, I never been to any shop in Melbourne staffs are moving shelves, climbing up ladder when customers around!

    Once I saw a pack of pastic boxes nearly land on a customer’s head! If customer get injured, I think they can be face big trouble. Daiso should concern about customers safety as well.

    Good luck Daiso.

  12. 12 umepontarou said at 9:47 am on February 17th, 2011:

    Hi Cha,

    That’s true… It’s not really safe and also very annoying to the customers!
    Are all the staff Japanese, or? I hope they realise that and do all the shelve-refilling before or after the opening hours.

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