Relatively new to a Japanese retail scene long dominated by now-suffering high-priced department stores and supermarket chains, 100 yen shops are catching on.
A variety of wares are sold at 100 yen shops -- ranging from kitchen utensils to spectacles. Most cannot be bought cheaply anywhere else.
Hirotake Yano, president of Daiso Industries Co., Japan's top 100 yen shop chain, is convinced that customers are lured more by the variety of the goods than their rock-bottom price.