Daiso Store - Oceanside

The Daiso store had a grand opening recently in Oceanside. I stopped in for a look because my grand nieces and nephews like the stores in Orange County  and they've purchased for me a number of unique items: toe socks, tiny sauce bottles, a face roller/massager, a fan decorated with cute Japanese cats. 

It's a fun shopping experience. I was looking for nothing and spent a grand total of $15.00 on 5 plastic storage boxes, a birthday card, a package of tomato salt candies (?) and three packages of the hard-to-find and excellent Lee Kum Kee Sauce for Black Pepper Chicken priced at $1.00 in Daiso and over $2.00 per package elsewhere.

The items that intrigued me were the fancy tapes of various kinds, art supplies, tiny fancy envelopes, pretty note paper and envelopes. 

Daiso is not new to the U.S. having had a store in Seattle since 2004 and one in San Francisco since 2008. Daiso now has 29 stores in the U.S., most in Orange County. They have over 2,860 stores in Japan and 37 stores in the middle east. The founder, Mr. Hirotake Yama, has an interesting attitude to business, which can be read in detail on their website...some of it is here:

"In the near future, a flexible response to change will be required for businesses. In order for them to survive, methods of the past must be discarded, and changes have to be made from within. To create a business according to a new set of values, it is important to have a feeling of constant self-denial.   I believe that is the first step to increasing business sustainability. For example, when looking at 20th-century business management in Japan, growth was assumed from the start. But things are different in the 21st century. Business know-how based on growth as a given does not work anymore. Business owners have to figure that out quickly and apply that knowledge if they want their businesses to survive.  Since our founding as the pioneer of 100 yen shops, we have continued to evolve and take on new challenges. One of those challenges was to abandon our original business model of “everything for 100 yen,” and start developing and selling products for 200 yen, 1,000 yen, and so on. Our company’s stores are rapidly expanding domestically and overseas today, but not once have I ever hoped to grow my business or put up a lot of stores. From the company’s founding to this day, growth has solely been achieved through constant trial and error, and learning from mistakes in order to survive. "

New values that can’t be imitated by other companies.

Daiso’s stores provide a unique experience of curiosity and enjoyment for thousands of customers to go home satisfied, not only in Japan but now all over the world. Our wide range of stores, products, and highly-competitive prices never fail to satisfy the discerning customer. You might wonder what the secret is behind Daiso’s success in such a demanding business environment. It is something that no other company is able to imitate—our three values of “Quality,” “Variety,” and “Uniqueness.” These three strengths are the pillars of our success. There is no other company like this today. New values never seen anywhere else, combined with exclusive business strategies that bring joy and amazement to customers worldwide are what keep Daiso moving ahead of the competition.

Would I recommend you make a special trip to the store? No, unless you really need a face roller or tomato/salt candies. Most of the items are impulse things - no real essentials for sale there. It's just fun.