One dollar and One euro shops are very common if you ask me... Funny thing is that almost everything is made in Asia (China, Taiwan...) Not that I complain at all. Certain copies of brands should be avoided though. I also wonder how they do a profit margin... Probably by quantity.
yup it's by quantity. I even found it expressed by Daiso, a popular 100yen shop :) http://www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english/about/ I enjoy getting some of their stuff 'cause it's really good (well except for the cookware here, 'nuff said). It's a good deal if you get quality products for a low price that's why everyone in the know here are nuts about it :P
lots of MYR1 shop at my location... it is a kind of business technique... lol
In Australia, there are plenty of $1 shops around, but not everything in there is $1. I've been to a few ¥100 shops in Japan and not everything was ¥100. But still, some great stuff found in those shops.
this is true! ^_^
good idea about buying presents for your friends in one of these shops!
A 100 yen shop here would be great since 100yen is about 0,60€. But these stores are known as the 1€ store but its very rare to find one, sometimes shopping malls make promotions like this.
We have plenty of $1 shops over here as well, though like what Adun said, not everthing's for a dollar. Daiso over here is different, where each item goes for 2 dollars, no more, no less.
I think Tesco are to blame danny, their value range starts from 12p. Pound shops never last anyhow, esp the market in portsmouth bloodly council drove em out.
Aren't most of these shops run by Chinese/Korean immigrants who bring stuff direct from the mainland thus they could price it so low? How about an introduction of the Zakka stores around Akiba? They've got some interesting stuff there too.
There are some $1 shops around here, in fact theres one right across from my work place lol. But its going out of business due to the lack of sales, but like others have said, everything wasn't $1 as a electric scooter sells for $150. The only true $1 stores that stick around are corporate stores in my opinion.
Our £1 shops are pretty good value, but considering you can get the same sorta stuff for the converted equivalent of about 45p in Tokyo is insane! Never went in a 100 yen shop when ive been in Japan. Went to some Don Quixotes though - massive places!
We've got two kind here in the U.S. Dollar Tree is the chain where everything is a one dollar or less. Family Dollar and Dollar General are the two chains where everything is one dollar or more. I believe all of these stores are franchise operations here in the U.S. So more than likely it's the suppliers making the money. Yes, you can find some great items in the stores here. I think overall the stores in Japan have better looking merchandise.
Yup dollar tree, 99cent store and family tree... However they dont really sell good stuff. Danny you school post some pictures of wat 100 yen store sells
Please excuse my poor grammar. Oooh..."We have got" ^^; I'm so embarrassed. Never do one than three task at once.

NPR has a good article about discount shops in japan http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6373539

Hah! in Malaysia, Kuching. These kind of shop is everywhere! In my area, it has its very own "100% discount store" too. Cheers
Yeah, we have a few dollar stores in the area. They are actually great deals on stuff you need: almost anything.
The biggest 100yen shop in Japan is Daiso. Danny, have you been to the one in Machida, Kanagawa? I went there once when I wend back to Japan some years ago. It was so big and had many gooddies. Daiso also opened stores around asia and some in Canada and U.S.A. One is in Daly City CA. However, other 100 yen shop called Ichibankan is cheaper. 100 yen shop is definitely fun place to be.^^
sweet. now i can cut down on the cost of living when im over there for training...
"I'd pick up cheap presents for the lads in the 100 yen shop and spend the rest of my hard earned dosh on games and Idol photo books in Akihabara." Hahahhahahaha... you cheap sod! Thank god we didn't know each other back in England otherwise I'd be more than disappointed with your ¥100 souvenirs!
There are loads of one pound shops in the UK, Like poundland. And they sell a load of cheap crap.
danny can u email me on wat program u use to make this website at Hans_Empire@yahoo.
We got Daiso in Singapore too, but the stuffs are sold at the 100 yen equivalent of SGD1.99. I wonder if we would see the day where manga and gundam can be bought at 100 yen stores. =P
In China, there were 10 Yuan stores, which is the equivalent of about 162 Yen. Over here, there are some 20 Peso stores and a couple of 88 and 100 Peso stores that carry Japanese stuff too; roughly 54 Yen, 236 Yen and 268 Yen, respectively.
There are loads of £1 Shops in england, however, the quality of the stuff isnt very good. I bought a box of scalpels for graphics so that it would make cutting card and the likes alot easier...onyl thing is, most of the blades either snapped, or rusted o.O However, i shall keep my eye out for these stores when i go to Japan, i need to save money ^_^ DO they by any chance do food in the 100 yen store? xD
tough break arekusu, but then i hav bought high end scapels for graphics and they all break pretty quick, might just be me though. £1 stores are great if u just need some low quality fun. for example, when u buy 2 dvds for a pound, u know they arent gonna be good, but they can still make an entertaining evening. there is a 99p store near where i live that sells proper artist canvases, they are really nice.
Well, here in Portugal I think we had always had the "Loja dos trezentos" literally, the "Three-hundred Store" which refers to 300 Escudos in the old coin. Now we have the one Euro shops.
It's funny you mention the durable utensils. One of my friends who is a magician has probably bought several dozen packs of spoons there, which he then magically bends. Where else are you going to get 5 metal spoons for a dollar? The people who work there must wonder what the heck he does with all those spoons.
hmmm... have not seen any 100 yen shops where I am currently residing at. But that maybe limited to the bigger cities. From the previous comments I am surprised there are many in England. Back in SG some $1.99 shops sell poor quality stuff. But I do visit these shops for my stationary. Danny I hope did not buy those 100 yen items for your comrades they might be disappointed...But with the type of spending lifestyle on IDOL books and Gundams one may have to resort to that. I see you have put some very NSFW in the related links. Have you seen any otaku related merchadise in 100 yen shops before?
Funny thing is, the most appreciated (and still used) souveneirs I brought back from Japan, were all from a couple of 100 yen shops. The quality of the stuff was outstanding, compared to the dollar store merchandise here in the States.
I like the Japanese $1,2,3 dollar store that opened up last year better than the usual $1 stores we have. It sells things I would actually use.
Actually, certain dollar stores around here sell a brand of pop called Faygo, and most of the flavors taste way better than other pops. I would never buy anything but pop and candy there though...
We have pound shops all over the UK, and there's a great bargain shop called home Bargains - about a year ago I got the HG 1/100 Aile Strike Gundam for £2.99 - about 730 Yen!
In Italy we have "Out at 1 Euro" Some of this shops are run by chineese people. The merchandise is not bad...
They have a 100 yen shop around my area. Good enough for mundane item like cutlery, vase etc. Hardly go there but my mum love it.
singapore has quite a bit of 100 yen shops. more famed are "value dollar"..daiso is nice. but i dun go there often.. do they haf cheap porn there? Xd
Tiny Red Man, Alafista Otaku, toxicmind, Windbell, Didnt know you guys had Daiso too. Akiraman, I have seen some character goods but nothing hardcore otaku. Arekusu, Some of them do sell food ^^ Gibson, Its called Nav2.0. Homebrew software. toxicmind, Have not been but I know that there are some really huge 100 yen stores around. Subaruhess, 12P?!
Danny i cant find the Nav2.0. Homebrew software u mention =( CAn u tell me where to get it?
There's a 100 yen shop near where I live, but I only been there once. They do have some interesting stuff but the selection are quite limited though

In my place there's a shop called 100 yen shop too but the merchandise sold are above 100yen.haha

There are some similar shops here in Malaysia. But eventhough its cheap, the stuffs sold in these shops tend to have bad qualities.
same to to me, indonesia/malaysia have lot of cheap store with cheap maded stuff to. especially if you go to mangga dua(department store) they sold pirated bag,clothes,toy,and DVD. i buy a pirated DVD movie or game for 0,6$(don't believe?, take a visit here) as for wii cd's for 2$ X360 for $3,5 ps3 cd still sold for 50$(unpirated^^)
dude, don't be so proud of that fact. It's embarassing :P They have Daisso where I live here too, the goods they sell cost Rp. 15000 ~ 185 yen
we have quite a few 100 yen shops in malaysia but the name is a misnomer unfortunately... prices for items range from a few cents to even hundreds sometimes, and items varies greatly from outlet to outlet... so much for the malaysian version of the 100 yen shop eh?
I have to agree the dude seth. These cheap stores in malaysia tend to sell bad quality items. i would prefer spent my money in a regular hypermarkets like TESCO or Carrefour. I even came across a shop name "20 cent Discount Store". WTBF was that?? And it is just a regular shop with no discount what so ever... Malaysian and its weird branding. They try to be catchy, but in the end, people just swear back at the shop... Lol... When i m going to visit japan, i gonna visit the 100 yen shop.. yeah!
here, we also have our own version of the Y100 shops and they sell both good and crappy quality goods... does some Y100 shops sells some otaku-related merchandises? ^^
Arekusu: They sure do :) I prefer the 99yen shop for food though as they tend to get a lot of stuff from supermarkets right when its close to expiry. Thats no problem if you intend to consume it the same day :)
I love 100 yen stores! :D we have Daiso here, kinda like $2 or more store ^O^ Love it!

if only malaysia can have a similar 100 yen shop and sell japanese stuff (foods, clothings, manga/anime stuff etc etc)
There's a dollar store in Vancouver however I think there are better quality items in another store called Daiso, where they sell every item for a toonie (two dollars). in Manila they have a store called Japan Home Center which sells stuff for 88 pesos, roughly about the same price as two canadian dollars. ^^

its hard to find a cosplay shop in my place...but i was so interested in cosplay...
there used to be S$1.99 shops around but after the government decommissioned the 1 cent coins, all $1.99 shops changed to $2 shops.
We also have R$1,99 shops here (R$ are "Reais"... brazilian currency). But you do get very crappy quality stuff... also, lots of itens that when you hit the register, it's more than R$1,99. Go figure. I've been on several of those while on Japan... but didn't spend much on them. I bet I would spend tons on then if I lived on Japan, but there aren't too many stuff for tourists there. I mean, ok, there was tons of stuff, but nothing that particularly caught my attention. Not that I was expecting to find a Yuki in Bikini figure there anyways. XD
Here in Singapore, we have "Daiso" a Japanese store which sells S$2 items, some stuff are great but some are just not worth two bucks...
can't speak for the rest of Canada, but around these parts, two major chains are "Dollarama" and "A Buck or Two." They typically stock small kitchenware,random hardware, cheap toys for the little kids, misc homewares (stationary, picture frames, etc), and consumables like snacks or personal hygiene products. Sadly, while Danny seems to think he gets good deals in Japan, the Canadian ones tend to stock no-name brand crap. The only things I buy are CD-wallets, super-glue, or maybe notepads...