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Hirotake Yano, the Japanese 100-yen shop pioneer and founder of the Daiso chain, has died, the company said.

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Japanese founder of 100-yen store chain Daiso dies

Agence France-Presse

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/yano-daiso.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><p>TOKYO, Japan - Hirotake Yano, the Japanese 100-yen shop pioneer and founder of the Daiso chain, has died, the company said.</p><p>The billionaire &quot;passed away due to heart failure at the age of 80 in Hiroshima&quot; on February 12, Daiso said in a statement on Monday.</p><p>After unsuccessful stints at his father-in-law&#x27;s fish business and peddling encyclopedias, Yano started selling goods from a street stall in 1972.</p><p>Five years later, tired of having to put different prices on different items, Yano launched Daiso where all goods cost 100 yen ($0.67 today).</p><p>Helped by stagnant wages and prices, Daiso outlets -- selling everything from the useful to the silly, and sometimes for more than 100 yen -- are now ubiquitous.</p><p>The firm began expanding across Asia and abroad, beginning in Taiwan in 2001, and 990 of its 5,350 stores are outside Japan, according to its website.</p><p>&quot;I have failed many times... But I kept going because I thought there was nothing else I could do,&quot; local media quoted Yano as saying in 2001.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s the value and the fun that customers can find in 100 yen. They get mental satisfaction from their shopping experience,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>stu/kaf/sco</strong><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Hirotake Yano, the Japanese 100-yen shop pioneer and founder of the Daiso chain, has died, the company said.</p>