The billionaire founder of Daiso Corporation has died of heart failure.

Hirotake Yano, the founder of Japan's discount retailer Daiso Industries, has died of heart failure at the age of 80.

Daiso founder Hirotake Yano has passed away at the age of 80. Photo:

According to a company statement on February 19, Hirotake Yano passed away in Hiroshima, Japan, on February 12.

Close family members held a private funeral, and a memorial service will take place in due course, the statement said.

After graduating from Chuo University in Tokyo in 1967, Mr. Yano worked various jobs, including running his father-in-law's fishing farm until it went bankrupt, and then switching to street vending in 1972.

He founded Daiso, which means "to create something great," in 1977.

Daiso is a brand that calls itself "the shopping paradise of Japan." Thanks to being a pioneer in the country in applying the fixed-price sales model, Mr. Yano has built a fortune worth $1.9 billion - according to Bloomberg.

“Hirotake Yano chose the perfect timing,” said Pascal Martin, a partner at the strategic consulting firm IC&C. “He opened the first 100-yen store in 1991, two years after Japan’s economic bubble burst and Japanese consumer culture began a significant shift.”

Daiso is currently a retail chain with a presence throughout Japan and many parts of the world . Photo: Daiso

Stagnant wages coupled with a sluggish economy have brought about fundamental changes in Japanese consumer habits in recent decades.

People tend to look for better value for their money. This paved the way for the birth of Japan's discount retail industry, which generates annual sales of approximately 600 billion yen (equivalent to $5.4 billion).

Mr. Yano built his success on smart sourcing, allowing them to supply high-quality products for just 100 yen, or about $1. Negotiating directly with manufacturers to order quality products at low prices is a strategy similar to Walmart – the world's largest retailer.

While the Japanese economy has shown significant improvement – ​​with five consecutive months of growth, the longest streak in a decade – the desire to buy discounted products seems to remain deeply ingrained in consumers' subconscious.

According to Daiso's website, with revenue of 589.1 billion yen as of February 2023, this discount retail chain had 4,360 stores domestically and 990 locations overseas by the end of December 2023.

According to Nhat Linh/News Report