Would you believe that I actually went there with my best friend Ellen on opening day two weeks ago to take photos and be all productive and on top of cheap trends and all that and it’s taken me this long to upload photos?? What kind of blogger am I??
I was really excited about the opening of Daiso Japan. I told Michael, “Daiso Japan is coming to Brisbane! It will be awesome! I will get so many things!” but you know what.. In an attempt to stop being so wasteful with my spending habits (a shopaholic fashion blogger.. how clichéd), I only walked out with one thing. No doubt I will come back later at some point and buy things here and there that I really need and see the value of, but until that time, I’m good with my possessions as they are.
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, a Japanese convenience store has opened on the top level of the Myer Centre in Brisbane, and people are going nuts over it. Cute things are an easy sell, and Daiso is stuffed with adorable–and everything costs a mere $2.80. Why $2.80? I have no idea!
This store seems best for people who have a color theme going through their house and want everything to be colour coordinated.. There are lots of items in bold, punchy colours such as bright pink, green, blue, orange and yellow. This suited me just fine, having a bright green and bright blue theme going on in my room. I was tempted to buy many things but the only thing I purchased was a bright blue pillow with bright green trim for my dilapidated office chair. It’s seen better days, and to put off buying a new chair altogether, I’m just going to let the pillow do its job of hiding the giant rip in the fabric right on the seat. Don’t ask how it got there, because I don’t know..
Anyways, hold onto your potatoes, because this post, I’ll be going through some of the cool stuff you can buy from Daiso Japan!
As stated, everything is $2.80. Everything! Apparently, the staff gets asked how much something is multiple times a day–can you seriously believe that?
Daiso has everything you’d expect a convenience store to have, it even has a few Japanese food products. Bathroom supplies, lotions and potions, cosmetics, homewares, clothing, stationery, tupperware, gardening supplies and cooking utensils–all of these things can be found within these colourful Japanese walls.
Isn’t the variety amazing? When me and Ellen went there during the grand opening, the line to the checkouts snaked throughout the entire shop and the store was packed with wild-eyed, purple basket- wielding citizens scrabbling for items and just generally making a mess, and these were the only some of the photos from that day! The rest of the photos are blurred from being constantly knocked into (Have you ever been knocked over the head with a purple plastic basket full of cat figurines? HAVE YOU?) or people stepping in front of the camera, but I would say that this is only about half the range that Daiso currently offers. To see a small sample size of the different things they stock, check out the Daiso Japan (Australia) website.
I have to offer you these few words of advice for newcomers to bargain shops such as these–don’t walk in expecting to buy out the whole store. In the scheme of things, $2.80 isn’t that cheap. For one of many examples, the cotton ear buds for $2.80? You can find these in Aldi or Woolworths for $1. A small pack of pens for $2.80? You can undoubtedly get similar for $1 in Officeworks. This goes for many, many other things in the shop. Four items in your cart is already over $11, and it’s easy to stock up on things you think are cheap, or you think you desperately need, but are really neither of those things. Before you pick anything up to buy, think to yourself–Can I buy this elsewhere for less than this? Do I really need this or do I just want it? Will I use this?
That should do enough to curb any excessive spending you wish to do in Daiso. Cheap is cheap, but if you’re paying a couple of dollars more than you need to spend, that’s another couple of dollars out of your wallet you could have spent on something else, and it’ll add up very quickly once you get caught up in the magic that is Daiso Japan!
12 Comments
As a guy Daiso does a good job of narrowing down your options.
I buy cool or crazy joke gifts for people here. Especially good for house warming or token birthday gifts.
I do agree, many things you can shop around for. I do think most often they’re of high quality for the price though. So if you’re looking for quality over quantity it can be the place for it. Defs better than normal aussie 2 dollar shops.
My go to is their cleaning tools, compared to what you’d get at bunnings/woolworths for 2.80 it’s much better. For example, microfibre cloths, dusters, a 10 pack of assorted sponges for different purposes and also those magic eraser sponges that all have ridiculous markups elsewhere and the cheap ones are horrible quality.
That’s cool! I can’t really vouch for the quality myself as the cushion I bought from them is now as thin as cardboard and only serves as decoration now, but I haven’t really shopped there to the extent it looks like you have :)
I’ll have to look more closely at their cleaning supplies–After having a dog who has colourful plastic toys that scrape along the walls and leave rainbow marks everywhere, those magic erasers sure would come in handy!
Thanks for your comment, Markus :)
Everything is $2.80 because in Japan Daiso are a 100Yen store, where everything costs 100Yen. Back in the day 100Y would equal $1 but considering the state of the exchange rate & the probable cost of importing the goods further to Australia, it ends up being $2.80 :)
Awesome! That totally makes sense, thanks for the trivia tidbit :)
Love Daiso. I can never leave this place empty handed. Ever.
It’s definitely tempting to buy something new and shiny every time you visit, haha!
Love Daiso! Was so excited when it opened up in Melbourne too. We now have 3 or so stores I think. I swear I can spend hours in there haha. The brush cleaners are amazing for cleaning makeup brushes! I finally managed to find them in stock last week and grabbed two but I’ll definitely be going back for more!
Could definitely spend hours in there; just so much to look at! I’ll have to look at their brush cleaners the next time I’m in there :P
we’ve got a couple in sydney but I haven’t been yet, I kinda actually want to see the ones in Japan when I go in October! sounds like its pretty awesome, but I have heard its easy to get sucked in and get lots of ‘bargains’
Oh lol I was sucked in by the advertising and thought that the Brisbane one was the first in Australia. WHAT KIND OF SUCKER AM I.
I gotta tell you, I was very close to walking out with more than a cushion but after weighing up my “do I need this?”s and so on, I found out that I really had no need for most of the stuff in there. People love buying junk, though! It’s so easy and fun!
I want one of these in Adelaide already!
Yesssss.. feel jealous! :P I think they’ll be moving interstate as well depending on the success of this store.