China News Service, February 20 (Xinhua) According to Bloomberg, on the 19th local time, Japanese discount retailer Daiso announced that its founder Hiroyuki Yano died of heart failure at the age of 80.
According to reports, Daiso Department Store announced that Hiroyuki Yano passed away in Hiroshima on February 12. Relatives held a private funeral for him.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Hiroyuki Yano was known as the "pioneer of the dollar store business model" and his net worth was approximately US$1.9 billion (approximately 13.68 billion yuan) at the time of his death.
According to reports, after Yano Hiroyuki graduated from Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan, in 1967, he worked in different jobs, including running his father-in-law's fishery business until the company went bankrupt. In 1972, Yano Hiroyuki started selling goods from a truck. In order to save the time of putting price tags on all goods, he sold all products at a uniform price of 100 yen. In 1977, Hiroyuki Yano established Daiso Department Store Company. "Daiso" means "creating big things."
Daiso Department Store has been very successful as stagnant wages and a sluggish economy have left Japanese consumers looking for value for money. Subsequently, this business model became popular in other countries.
According to the website of Daiso Department Store, Daiso's revenue for the fiscal year ending in February 2023 was 589.1 billion yen. As of the end of December 2023, the company had 4,360 stores in Japan and 990 stores overseas.