
A Cult Japanese Retailer Making Billions Breaking All the Rules - pseudolus
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-17/the-cult-japanese-retailer-making-billions-breaking-all-the-rules
======
gryson
I think it's important to point out: There is large variation between
different locations of Donki. As the article states, floor staff have a large
say in what is sold at each location.

If you go to a location in a crowded tourist spot, then most of the customers
are going to be tourists, and the selection of items will reflect that (more
throw-away crap). At the Dotombori location in Osaka, for example, it felt
like almost every customer there was speaking Chinese, and the staff also
spoke Chinese.

Out in more rural areas, in my experience, people primarily shop there for
discounted household items. The more bizarre items (and sex toys) seem limited
to the urban locations. There is a degree of dichotomy between the two that is
worth keeping in mind.

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kochikame
It really is one of the worst examples of a retailer anywhere. Shelf after
shelf of semi-disposable, plastic tat, destined for landfill. Crap, processed
food. Knock off cosmetics. Crowded, uncomfortable, unfriendly.

If this is the future, I don't want it.

~~~
the_af
It's the one store/retailer I didn't find interesting _at all_ while visiting
Japan.

I have to confess that, in small doses (so as not to lose my sanity), I sort
of enjoy the all-sorts-of-random-crap stores. I could spend unhealthy amounts
of my time in those 100 Yen stores (or whatever they are called, I might be
misremembering their names).

But Don Quijote was just garish and uncomfortable. It was even difficult to
walk the aisles. Everything about it screamed to me "get out of here fast!". I
can't understand how it is successful.

PS: while on the subject of these crap/budget stores, can someone from the US
tell me if my hunch is right about the following? While visiting the US I
discovered those Five Below stores (everything between $1 and $5) and I think
I figured their trick: while the advertised price range is true, this doesn't
mean what they sell is actually cheap! For example, I'm pretty sure I saw Hot
Wheels cars at about $3 when everywhere else the same toys were near $1. Am I
missing something?

~~~
jstarfish
Yes, you are correct.

All retailers play the same game though, with products priced as loss leaders
to get traffic in the door in the hopes you don't notice you're paying 1.5x as
much for anything else you grab while there.

The dollar stores take it to the next level (as you noticed). They thrive on
the financial illiteracy of poor and rural demographics.

Look at the price of paper towels. Only $1, right? But it's half the size of
the $1 rolls at Walmart.

Other stuff is just poor quality. $1 for a gallon of watered-down "bleach",
versus $3 for the real deal elsewhere.

God help you if you swing a dollar store hammer around. Those dollar safety
glasses will be about as effective as taping an actual dollar across your
eyes.

Like a timeshare salesman or casino, they make you think you're winning to
keep you coming back.

~~~
xnyan
I would not be so casually disparaging of the intelligence of the poor.
Sometimes you know its crap and more expensive in the long term but just don't
have the funds to buy the better version. Poverty in the United States is an
endless series of traps and gotchas to take advantage of people too weak to
properly defend themselves.

~~~
dmitryminkovsky
Not to mention “rural”? You’re rural so you’re financially illiterate?? Might
make sense to follow some farmers on twitter if you think rural means
financially illiterate.

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tokyodude
Donki actually has plenty of useful stuff. The quality might be cheap but I
lived in a mostly donki furnished apartment for 6 years. Bookshelves, kitchen
table, lots of utensils, no issues. I've also bought lots of foodstuffs, some
clothing, stationary, and lots of toiletries and cleaning supplies.

If you want a company that makes completely useless landfill stuff see Flying
Tiger from Sweden. That store is nothing but trash and deserves your wrath far
more than donki

~~~
detritus
I absolutely despise Flying Tiger and its array of absolutely useless one-time
use non-recyclable plastic-glitter-trash and am perversely gladdened by its
spread across Europe as it means my partner can no longer use it as a one-stop
shop for last minute gifts, as the recipients now have a branch in their town
so she'd be caught out.

As an aside, it's from Denmark, not Sweden - either/or would be surprising to
me - my ignorant British perspective is that Scandies tend to be more
Calvinistically-prudent and Gaia-centric and not beholden to landfill crap.

~~~
jpatokal
H&M, the global benchmark for disposable clothing, also hails from Sweden. And
Ikea's cheaper particleboard furniture ranges are also pretty disposable.

~~~
tokyodude
I've heard the complaint but I can't help but wonder if that complaint is
propagated by expensive clothing makers upset their over-priced clothing is
not selling.

I've bought clothing from H&M and had zero problems with it. Same with Uniqlo,
Zara, and other cheaper/cheapish clothing places.

I feel like there is a big difference between H&M and Flying Tiger. H&M
actually sells useful items. Shirts, Pants, Jackets, Jeans, Suits. They all
work. I haven't found them to be of poor quality.

Flying Tiger on the other hand seems to sell mostly useless stuff meant to
give away at a white elephant gift exchange and then thrown in the trash.

As some economists will argue, being able to by clothing for less allows
poorer people to buy clothing and allows all people to spend more money
somewhere else (food, shelter, education, entertainment, ...) so it's hard for
me to see how H&M is hurting things but maybe I don't have all the facts. I
know they do have a recycling program. I suppose you could argue that's part
of the problem though.

~~~
brmgb
> They all work. I haven't found them to be of poor quality.

It does works but the quality control is questionable. You will often find
poorly done and finished sewing or pieces which are cut approximately. They
also often use the cheapest fabric they can get away with. It leads to clothes
which really don't age well.

Where I agree with you is that a lot of brands which present themselves as mid
range actually don't do much better and are just selling over-priced pieces.

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jpatokal
No discussion about Don Quijote can be complete without the theme song playing
in the background:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE)

This plays on continuous loop at all stores.

~~~
eru
They have an English version in Singapore. They relented on the continuous
loop, but you still hear it quite often.

They also have hilariously bad Engrish on their in-store signs. I assume it's
deliberate, because anyone I talked to there speaks English just fine.

The baked yams the article mentions are really super popular here, too.

~~~
Teknoman117
I've been in a few and also assume it's deliberate.

To be honest, I get a huge kick out of funky/odd/slightly off translations. I
know they're trying their best and I seriously appreciate that, but I still
find it humorous when it's really bad, just as I expect them to find humor in
me goofing up trying to say something in Japanese.

On the really bad note, I saw what I assume to be donation box on the memorial
to mobilized children in Hiroshima that said 'Please Help Yourself'. I had to
do a second read of that and it conjured up a mental image of some American
digging around in the box for spare change to the sheer horror of Japanese
onlookers.

But who knows, maybe that was the proper translation and it was for the poor
who couldn't quite make the change they needed for something essential. But
when I see a box of money bolted to a memorial, I generally assume it's either
for the people being memorialized or upkeep of the memorial.

Other interesting translations from my Japan vacation:

\- 24 hr Reparking

\- The coke of food for specified health use.

\- A lamp warning label that said "mind the burn."

~~~
eru
Oh, my remark on the signage was about the in-store signs in Don Don Donki in
Singapore (where English is the most common language), not in Japan.

------
CapricornNoble
To me they are like a bizarre Japanese take on a Wal-Mart. Prices are cheap,
the aisles are narrow, there's tons of Chinese-made crap, but they also have
really inexpensive food too (steaks that are gigantic by Japanese
standards....I think mostly imported American meat, pumped full of hormones
and whatnot).

I like to go there at 2am (no traffic = short travel time) to buy food, or
maybe some small tools (socket wrenches, etc..) that I need while working on
my cars at night or even radiator fluid. You can also go earlier in the
evening (around 7-9pm) and scope out the makeup section, try some "nanpa" with
the kabakura girls before they head to work.

Between Aeon MaxValu (supermarket), DonQ, and Family Mart convenience stores,
you have access to easily 90% of the consumable products you might need in a
typical month, and available 24/7\. Clean stores with all-hours convenience
like this are one of the highlights of living in Japan compared to some other
places in Asia. Ttry buying batteries at 2am in Hanoi...

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bemmu
I've been witnessing a new store being built very near to our house.

A typhoon tore away the sign of a pachinko place near us (it hit a nearby
building), and apparently instead of fixing their store they decided to close
it down and sell the building to Don Quijote.

Seems like a good match for them, as the pachinko place is huge, with 6 wide
floors that used to be gambling machines shoulder-to-shoulder, but I guess
will now be tightly packed cheap goods instead.

Everyone here is excited by it, as we have no interesting stores otherwise
nearby. The first I heard the rumors was from wife's barber, and they quickly
spread and other random people started telling me about the new store.

~~~
harisenbon
We had a similar thing happen in our town -- pachinko place went bust, and
they bought it.

Next town over they bought an old local supermarket (again, with huge amounts
of floor space)

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gwern
Don Quixote is infamous. Murakami (the other one) highlighted it in his long
essay on Japan and pop culture, 'Earth in My Window', as emblematic of post-
WWII Japanese consumerism:
[https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2005-murakami](https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2005-murakami)

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ggm
I had the best time in this store in Ikebukuro. It is a bit trashy, but what a
rats-nest of wierd. Bought a pikachu makeup/cleanser face mask for somebody,
they wore it for christmas and looked like a zombie...

The traditional 100yen shoppe is more my speed, but this place is where you
need to be, if its random gift time, as long as neck-pillows for airlines and
trains, in the shape of a crotch with red undies are your idea of a random
gift.

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vmlinuz
I've been into these shops a couple of times when traveling in Japan, and
while I mostly didn't end up buying much, they're definitely a lot of fun to
browse.

I like Muji, I like Daiso (branded as Living Plaza here, and which I always
describe to people as "what if Muji did a pound shop?") and I'm looking
forward to the first Don Quijote store opening in Hong Kong later this year!

~~~
CaptainZapp
Muji has fantastic socks.

In their European branches, that is. Possibly they are also great in their
Japanese shops.

With a shoe size of 11 1/2, however, you don't really get a chance to test
that, since you won't find anything for your feet in that size.

Even sneakers are problematic.

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distantaidenn
While not explicit, I do get the sense that they are trying to glamorize these
atrocious stores. If you are American just imagine a 6 story "Big Lots!" that
happens to also sell designer bags and sex toys.

Those stores are a mess inside and I can only imagine make a profit because
they sell everything. In central Tokyo, most of them are just tourist traps at
this point.

~~~
aikinai
They’re certainly not tourist traps; they’re a staple for people living in
central Tokyo.

Many years ago I lived in Shibuya and Donki was the only place I could get a
lot of basic supplies, including even groceries, at a reasonable price. Now I
live somewhere else in central Tokyo and don’t go nearly as often thanks to
Amazon, but it’s still the only place to buy a lot of items.

~~~
distantaidenn
Perhaps not many years ago, but they are certainly full of tourists now. Check
out the Shibuya or Roppongi Donki on any given day, and the number of tourists
is far greater than that of locals -- same with Daiso, recently.

Also my comment doesn't preclude Donki having some daily necessities. As for
calling it a "staple" for central Tokyo, that's a bit of a stretch. If you
said outside of the 23 wards, then I would agree.

~~~
w00kie
You're taking the two places that have the most tourists and lowest
residential concentration in Tokyo. Obviously it's going to be mostly tourists
in the shop.

Go see a Donki in a residential neighborhood and it'll be full of locals. I
live in Shirokane, an upscale highly residential neighborhood off of Meguro
station, and even if it's reputed as one of the richest place in Tokyo there
is a Donki and it's packed with local families shopping.

~~~
patio11
Ditto Nakameguro, a tony neighborhood with both lots of tourists and a dense
residential population. The local store is, by casual observation, mostly
people from the neighborhood buying shampoo, coffee, liquor, and sundries.

~~~
JJMcJ
So similar to many parts of Manhattan?

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c3534l
This makes me feel good about my life's goal of starting a parody store of
Linens 'n Things called Batteries and Shit that just sells random crap that
doesn't really go together.

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yoube
> And they come anytime they please, since all locations stay open 24/7

Not quite right, they do open till very late but the one I've been to (in
Iwate) closed at around 3 am.

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kerorin
As a Japanese individual, Donki is the best store if you wanted to do midnight
disappearing act.

Some typical bikes, junky foods and meat and vegetables to energize, a lot of
liquor, battery for smartphones, some condoms for emergency, hangers and
clothes to live in the new place, travel luggage, most general amenities,
lightbulbs, contact lenses, bandage, medicines, and some funny stuffs ... they
are all there!

You can also buy an adorable doll named DonPen there during the act. Of course
I have it.

------
rahimnathwani
"Store managers control merchandising, negotiating prices directly with
suppliers"

This sounds like it ought to make scaling to different countries difficult. If
you don't have a unique supply chain, then what advantage do you have over a
mom and pop discount store?

Uniqlo, Muji, and Daiso (which is less well known but has quite a few US
stores) seem to source centrally, just like other global retailers.

~~~
anthony_doan
> If you don't have a unique supply chain, then what advantage do you have
> over a mom and pop discount store?

In the article it mentioned those managers dictate what gets on the shelf and
mention how they chase after surprise hit (wax nose hair). It seems they're
more agile than their competitors and let managers living in those area
decides what products to stock.

Perhaps they don't need a unique supply chain?

------
doctorstupid
Whilst possibly overwhelming or discomforting, walking through Donki gives an
honest display of consumerism, and manages to make it exciting. Like Walmart,
it's essentially an incredible variety of stuff jumbled together. But Walmart
is an Amazon warehouse in which the customers do the picking. It's systematic
and depressing, and one feels like they might be in an item in a production
line. Donki is chaotic, musical and risqué. It's not uncommon to see well-
dressed couples on dates swinging tipsily through, because it's somehow
conducive to romance, or at the very least, not a very shameful place to be
seen. A store will have a variety of atmospheres, not all of them pleasant,
but I much prefer the honesty of the chaos to the censored productions of most
consumer 'experiences'.

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PaulHoule
That's a place I've been to in "VR".

In the Yakuza games you get to go to a Donki store.

If I ever go to Japan there are a few places that I'll have no trouble getting
around because I've been all over them again and again in video games.

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rum3
It just looks like a regular Chinese bazaar store except Japanese. Do they
sell pens that dries out after a few weeks? USB cables that starts glitching
after two weeks? Shoes that fall apart after a few days?

~~~
jpatokal
Pretty much, but Donki's main selling point is the incredible array of
completely off-the-wall shit in no discernible order. For example, this pic
has rubber chickens, an exploding hat, a helium dispenser for making your
voice squeaky, gorilla plushies, retro gaming consoles, sexy maid costumes, a
giant robot toy, a RC helicopter and a waffle iron:

[https://photos.app.goo.gl/n3Cri8BKUDWyfiAG6](https://photos.app.goo.gl/n3Cri8BKUDWyfiAG6)

I think they intentionally put these in nightlife districts, so they can be a
sort of drunk man's IKEA where you always end up buying more than you planned
to.

~~~
tjpnz
>I think they intentionally put these in nightlife districts, so they can be a
sort of drunk man's IKEA where you always end up buying more than you planned
to.

Complete with food.

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dsfyu404ed
Reminds me of Christmas Tree Shops.[0] Small isles, home goods from China but
unlike the big box stores it's not quite one stop shopping for the junk you
need.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Tree_Shops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Tree_Shops)

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newsoul2019
I've been to the one on O'ahu (Hawaii), I thought it was a fun store and great
place to buy omiyage(souveniers)

~~~
Steko
The Hawaii stores were taken over from Daiei (Japanese supermarket chain) and
I don't think they've changed that much, still a different animal from the
Japanese Donki stores I've been to. In comparison they've opened a couple
Daisos in Hawaii recently and the goods are identical to what you find in any
Daiso in Japan.

~~~
Talanes
I had a coworker once bring back everyone some decorated chopsticks from Daiso
after a trip to Japan. We worked across the street from a Daiso that got the
same chopsticks in stock about a week later.

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gwbas1c
> Floor staff should have near-total autonomy to decide what to sell. Store
> managers control merchandising, negotiating prices directly with suppliers,
> and decide how to change sales displays...

Does that scale? What's the point of a mega-corp at that point, beyond
providing capital to start a local store?

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damian2000
For Australians, I'd compare this place to a red dot store, just a little
larger. I wasn't really that impressed by it, didn't seem like it's doing
anything better than other stores. Maybe it's unique in Japan because other
stores are so organised and neat.

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_cs2017_
My impression was that in Japan, retail establishments are typically expected
to be elegant, cute, neat, etc. How did Don Quijote become so popular while
going so heavily against this trend?

Or perhaps my impression was completely wrong?

~~~
asutekku
If you go to an supermarket or any department store in japan you will see
that’s not the case. Maybe the touristy stores are neat (that’s the case
everywhere) but the stores people use in their daily lives are more or less
just filled with stuff from top to bottom.

~~~
_cs2017_
Somehow I feel even the basic 7/11 in Japan is more elegant / neat compared to
the 7/11 in the US. I don't know, maybe it's just some subconscious bias on my
part.

~~~
asutekku
I don’t know how it is in america but coming from the northern europe for me
most of the stores here are borderline messy and hard to navigate even if i
know the language.

------
kkarakk
Further marching towards the dystopian future where a certain class of people
can only afford cheap easily broken trash that creates landfills the size of
the himalyas

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xrd
It's called Don Quixote in the article but I love that the name on the marquee
is "mega donki." Mega Donkey seems more apropos to me.

~~~
eru
They are branded Don Don Donki in Singapore.

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nihonde
Never been inside a Donki store despite living in Japan, but I’ve owned the
stock for a while and it has been a solid investment.

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esilver
Bloomberg is paywalled so I wasn’t able to read much of the linked article;
Reuters, however, wrote about Don Quixote in August 2018 [0].

Interesting retailing concept. I do wonder if Japanese consumers will ever
tire of the novelty. Then again, 29 years of growth might suggest otherwise.

[0] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-don-
quijote/japans-...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-don-
quijote/japans-don-quijote-rides-high-on-rule-breaking-reputation-
idUSKBN1KZ0OV)

------
timwaagh
sounds like an alternative to the 'flying tiger' stores here. with more sex
toys. they're ok to walk through with friends and chase them with unicorn
dolls and the like. but i never bought a thing there.

