February 20, 2024, 02:07 GMT
Updated 2 hours ago
Image source: Getty Images
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Daiso has more than 4,000 stores in its home country
Hirotake Yano, the billionaire founder of Japanese discount retailer Daiso, has died of heart failure at the age of 80.
Daiso is a so-called 100 yen store ($0.67; £0.53), similar to pound stores.
Mr. Yano opened his first discount store in 1972 and was considered a pioneer of the dollar store business model.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the founder and former president of Daiso Industries Company Limited, Mr. Hirotake Yano, last Monday,” Daiso said on its website.
The press release goes on to say that a memorial event will be held in the near future.
After graduating from Chuo University in Tokyo in 1967, Mr. Yano held various jobs, including managing his father-in-law's fishery until it went bankrupt.
In 1972, at the age of 29, he started his first business, a street vending shop called Yano Shoten or Yano Store.
Five years later, he changed the company's name to Daiso, which translates to “creating something great.” It became famous for all of its items costing 100 yen each.
Mr. Yano said he and his wife, Katsuyo, found the different pricing of products too time-consuming and decided to charge 100 yen for each item.
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Hirotake Yano founded his first company in 1972
Daiso became successful as the Japanese economy stagnated in the 1990s and customers became more price-conscious.
The business model that Mr. Yano developed is now popular worldwide.
At the end of 2023, Daiso had 4,360 stores in its home country and nearly 1,000 stores around the world, with branches across Asia as well as in North America and the Middle East.
Like the discounters inspired by Mr. Yano, Daiso has had to adjust its pricing approach and now sells goods for multiples of 100 yen.
The company has more than 70,000 different items in stock and says it develops over 1,000 new products every month.
The company describes itself as “Japan’s No. 1 home goods supplier.”
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr. Yano had a net worth of $1.9 billion.