Founder of Daiso, Japan’s dollar-store chain, dies; he was 80

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Hirotake Yano, who founded the retail chain Daiso known for 100-yen shops, Japan’s equivalent of the dollar store, has died. He was 80. The company said this week that Yano died Feb. 12 of heart failure in Hiroshima. Yano founded his business as Yano Shoten in 1972, which took on the name Daiso in 1977 and opened its first 100 yen store in 1991. Daiso now runs more than 5,000 shops in 26 nations and regions, raking in more than 580 billion yen, or $4 billion, in sales over the latest fiscal year. One hundred yen is equivalent to about 67 U.S. cents at current exchange rates. The stores carry some 76,000 products, ranging from stationery items and kitchen sponges to stuffed animals.