U.S. Gets 100 Yen Store

[Mulboyne]

Seattle Times: Do you have a yen for low-price stuff?
Ceramic cats. Grass mats. Baseballs, but sorry — no bats. With more than 10,000 imported knickknacks at Daiso, a new discount store in the Alderwood shopping mall, customers can easily spend hours shuffling though its narrow aisles...The Hiroshima-based company's name means "Big Creation" in Japanese. It has more than 2,500 stores in Japan and 500 elsewhere in Asia and in the Middle East. There's one in Richmond, B.C., but the Alderwood store is the company's first venture in the U.S....more...?

[cstaylor]

Wait, I thought that was Wall-mart's gig... selling complete crap at low prices.

[Charles]

Wait, I thought that was Wall-mart's gig... selling complete crap at low prices.

Nah, that was F.W. Woolworth's. 100Y stores always struck me as terribly expensive compared to the old 5 and dime stores.

[Mulboyne]

Consumer Affairs: Daiso Recalls Stuffed Dogs

Daiso LLC is recalling stuffed toys sold in its stores. The stuffed toys contain small parts, posing a choking hazard to young children. The recalled toys are creme-colored stuffed dogs with black eyes and nose. Some of the toys have brown spots on the back. A tag attached to the toy is written in Japanese language with UPC codes: 4947678264166 and 4947678246063. The dogs were sold at Daiso retail stores in California and Washington State from October 2007 through December 2007 for about $3. They were made in China.

The Daiso US website says the toys are a choking hazard. They are also recalling kid's ponchos and jewellery with high lead levels.



The poncho recall is dated May 12th. By the looks of it, however, those ponchos are still on sale in Japan. It's one of the recommended items in this July feature for a newly refurbished Daiso in Kobe:

[Greji]

By the looks of it, however, those ponchos are still on sale in Japan.

Daiso has found out that you can strangle Japanese without worry of class action suits....

[MeinJapanLongTime]

Thought we already had "Dollar" Stores:

http://www.dollargeneral.com/OurStores/Pages/StoreLocationsMap.aspx

http://www.dollarstore.com/

http://www.koleimports.com/

http://www.familydollar.com/

Competition at the low end of the market.