Tokyo Shopping - Hundred Yen Shops
Tokyo Shopping - Hundred Yen Shops
Sprinkled here and there (building codes seem to involve structure more than content or activity in Japan) and very commonly around Tokyo, wonderful 100 yen shops – sometimes 99 yen, maybe a competing firm – offer resident and visitor a wild array of basic items. Almost everything is for sale for the basic fee plus a small consumption tax, which means these are the dollar stores of Asia.
Dozens or perhaps hundreds or even thousands of these often small (a few are multi-storey complexes with the look and stock of department stores) dot the landscape. One of the bigger operators, Daiso, runs more than two thousand stores across Japan. Probably one of the biggest “dollar stores” in Tokyo is Daiso Harajuku in Takeshita Dori, near Harajuku Rail Stop. Japan's biggest 100 Yen, or “dollar” shop, Daiso Giga Machida, covers 5 floors of Machida Station. According to published sources, by “purchasing products in huge quantities and at big discounts from countries with low production and labor costs,” these commonly available, usually small shops bring a broad range of products to consumers. The 100 (or 99) yen shops are great for shopping for basics while you travel, or for rooting out all kinds of interesting knick-knacks to tote home as gifts.
