Japan popular discount store Donki will be opening in Singapore

By AM Lee

Japanese popularly known discount store Don Quijote was also known as “Donki” in Japan will be opening its first Southeast Asia store in Singapore’s Orchard Road.

The store’s opening date and more details will be announced at a later date.

Donki will offer “cool” Japanese themed products, it said.

Don Quijote, opened its first general discount store “Donki” in 1989 in Japan and it is known for having a wide range of products at low prices and also for opening late at night, with some stores open 24 hours.

The Don Quijote Group announced that its Singapore-based holding company for overseas operations, Pan Pacific International Holdings Pte Ltd (PPIHD), will develop the store “Donki” as a development centre for its growth strategies in South-east Asia.

The Don Quijote Group has 350 “Donki” stores today.

“The first Don Quijote store opened in Fuchu, western Tokyo, in March 1989. Since then, the Company has achieved increases in consolidated sales and operating income for 27 consecutive years, as of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016.”

“But the course we traveled has certainly not been smooth sailing. An analogy closer to our reality of constant trial and error would be riding out stormy seas to get where we are now.” said Koji Oohara.

Koji Oohara, President and CEO of Don Quijote Group

Outside Japan, Don Quijote operated three store in the USA market in Hawaii since 2006, and Pan Pacific International Holdings is the Singapore-based holding company for the group’s overseas operations.

In September of the same year, Marukai Corporation, which operates nine stores in California and two stores in Hawaii, were acquired by Pan Pacific International Holdings.

If you’d like to contribute your story to us, drop us an email at editors@sureboh.sg and we’ll review it. We read each submission that comes to us within two weeks of receiving it.