Daiso opens second store in Honolulu
Daiso quietly opened a Honolulu store today with little fanfare as word started spreading on social media.
The popular Japanese discount chain opened its second Hawaii store at the corner of Young and Piikoi streets just three months after beginning sales in December at the Pearl City Shopping Center, which had seen about 2,000 customers daily in the first weeks of operation and consistently had lines of customers out the door.
The Honolulu location at 1024 Piikoi St., with about 20 parking stalls, has limited hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday as it ramps up staffing. Permanent store hours will be announced later.
HouseMart, the parent company of Ace Hardware and Ben Franklin Crafts, which has an exclusive licensing agreement to open Daiso stores in the islands, said “overwhelming demand by local residents prompted the company to expand to a second location.”
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“Over the past three months, our customers have told us that Daiso has met an unfulfilled demand for unique, quality items at affordable prices,” said Milton Fujii, president of 3Katto, which operates Daiso Hawaii.
The retailer sell everything from beauty products and household goods to Japanese snacks and stationery. While known as the “Japanese dollar store,” most products sell for $1.50. Daiso said it manufactures 99 percent of its merchandise in-house with 500 new products developed every month.