Daiso: The billionaire founder of the Japanese discount store dies

Hirotaki Yano, the billionaire founder of Japanese retail company Daiso, has died of heart failure at the age of 80.

Daiso is a store called a 100 yen (US$0.67; £0.53) store, which is similar to sterling stores.

Yano opened his first discount retail store in 1972, and was seen as a pioneer of the dollar store business model.

Daiso said on its website: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the founder and former president of Daiso Industries Co., Ltd., Mr. Hirotaki Yano, last Monday.”

The statement added that a memorial gathering will be held in the near future.

After graduating from Chuo University in Tokyo in 1967, Yano worked in several different jobs, including managing a fishery owned by his father-in-law until it went bankrupt.

In 1972, when he was 29, he set up his first business, a street store called Yano Shoten, or Yano Shop.

Five years later, he changed the company's name to Daiso, which translates to “create something big.” It is famous for all its items, which cost 100 yen each.

Mr. Yano said he and his wife, Katsuyu, found that having to price products differently was too time-consuming, so they decided to charge 100 yen per product.

Daiso became successful as the Japanese economy stagnated in the 1990s and customers became more price conscious.

The business model that Yano pioneered is now popular around the world.

As of the end of 2023, Daiso had 4,360 stores in its home country and nearly 1,000 stores worldwide, with outlets throughout Asia as well as in North America and the Middle East.

Like the discount stores that Yano inspired, Daiso had to adapt its approach to pricing and now sells goods in multiples of 100 yen.

It has more than 70,000 different items in stock, and says it develops more than 1,000 new products monthly.

The company calls itself “Japan's No. 1 Living Supplier.”

Yano's fortune is $1.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.