Staff writer

Up-and-coming discount store operator Don Quijote Co. compares its shops to the jungle, whose hum grows as the sun goes down.

With hours extending beyond midnight and a wide range of discount goods, Don Quijote shops have managed to attract late-night folks as well as daytime shoppers despite the prolonged slump in the retail industry.

On display in a maze of narrow aisles are tens of thousands of items ranging from daily necessities to cosmetics, clothing, audio and car equipment, brand-name watches and accessories -- a sure trap for shoppers.

Since opening its first store in Fuchu, western Tokyo, in 1989, Don Quijote has opened 20 outlets in downtown Tokyo and neighboring prefectures.

In June, the company recorded sales of 45.715 billion yen, an 86.7 percent increase over the previous 12-month period. Its profits meanwhile reached 3.649 billion yen with help from nine stores newly opened during the latest business year.

"We have achieved such rapid growth because we have targeted young and single people in the suburbs of Tokyo, who have come to kill time at night," said Mitsuo Takahashi, a Don Quijote director.

"They come to our stores not necessarily to buy things but to look for some surprise and excitement in exploring the 'jungle,' in which various goods are displayed in an unpredictable way," Takahashi said.

Most ordinary convenience stores carry about 300 different items; Don Quijote stores handle up to 40,000, and at a discount, Takahashi said.

"Convenience stores exist for the sake of convenience, but our stores are also meant to be fun places like night stalls and karaoke pubs," he said.

Don Quijote hopes to increase sales to 70 billion yen and ordinary profit to 5 billion yen by increasing the number of its chain stores to 30 by June 2001. It also aims to list on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange by June next year.

But not everything is coming up roses as its business continues to expand.

Local residents complained when its Hoya outlet in Tokyo's Tama area extended its business hours to 3 a.m. on July 1. The store bowed to pressure and set the closing time back to 11 p.m. after Sept. 6.

To settle a similar problem concerning another chain store in Mitaka, Tokyo, whose hours extend to 3 a.m., the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will resume a large-scale retail store council next Wednesday at the request of local communities.

In Yokohama's Naka Ward, local residents and business circles are opposing the discount store's plan to open a 24-hour outlet later this year, because of concerns over an anticipated increase in traffic and disturbance in the area at night.

These stores narrowly escape regulations under the Large-Scale Retail Stores Law, with their floor spaces set at slightly less than 1,000 sq. meters. This enables the firm to start operations only after notifying local administrators and without having to obtain approval from related authorities.

Still, under the law, stores with a floor space of more than 500 sq. meters are expected to reconcile differences with local business circles and municipal governments. If necessary, a prefectural council on large-scale retail stores can mediate. The authorities, however, cannot legally force them to comply with their recommendations.

"Legally speaking, stores of such a scale can open without having to undergo regulatory consultation (on the opening, store space, closing time and holidays) in advance," said Norifumi Okazaki, commerce and industry section chief at Kita Tama Economy Office of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Fuchu. "There's little we administrators can do but expect the operators to be discreet."

Store draws late-night throng, curses from locals> By HIROSHI MATSUBARA Staff writer

Residents around Don Quijote's Koganei store in Hoya, western Tokyo, contend that the keys to the discount chain's success disrupted their neighborhood.

The store's neighbors in what has long been considered a quiet suburb staged nightly protests for two months over its after-midnight hours, bright advertising, risque inventory, including sex toys and legally permitted stimulants, and, more than anything else, the noise made by people cruising the night streets by car and hanging out in the area.

The protests, which began after the Don Quijote branch extended its hours to 3 a.m. in July, finally forced the store to back down and change its closing time back to 11 p.m. on Sept. 6.

Fusae Togano, a community council member, said the store funneled massive numbers of late-night drivers into the neighborhood, where they ended up wandering through the narrow and winding residential streets.

Eiko Katsuragi, another community council member, said at least four pedestrians have been involved in traffic accidents around the store's parking lot, and minor collisions involving customers have taken place on a number of occasions.

"Many apartment renters around the store moved out because of noise and brightness created by the shop during the night," said Taeko Ogura, who belongs to another community council, adding that people living near the parking lot have been suffering from all the car exhaust.

She also complained that the store displays pornographic videos, sex goods, jackknives and legally permitted drugs that are similar in effect to stimulants and narcotics -- all next to a kid's stationery section.

The locals also accuse the company of being reluctant to talk with them about their complaints.

Watanabe claims Don Quijote officials broke their promises with the locals over a variety of issues -- from the store's extension of its hours beyond what it told the neighborhood they would be when it opened to the number of parking ushers it is supposed to employ to ease traffic congestion and prevent accidents.

Masaru Anno, another neighborhood resident, said Don Quijote officials, during a meeting with the locals, emphasized that they are under no obligation to hold negotiations with them or local business groups over how they operate their stores because they do not fall under the category of "large stores" as defined by the Large-Scale Retail Stores Law.

"This exemplifies the store's business style: only pursuing profits and ignoring corporate responsibility for the rest of society," Anno said. "We are afraid of these avaricious corporations steadily increasing."

Mitsuo Takahashi, a Don Quijote director, said serving customer needs is the most important thing the company can do for society.

"Our late-night hours and our merchandise are basically designed to serve the customers' needs, and although we have made a great deal of effort to minimize friction between our business policy and local residents' interests, it is sometimes unavoidable," he said.