is a large franchise of 100-yen shops founded in Japan. The headquarters are in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. Daiso has a range of over 100,000 products, of which over 40 percent are imported goods, many of them from China, South Korea, and Japan. Many of their products are house-hold items such as kitchenware and cleaning products. Daiso has locations in 25 countries and regions worldwide. History Daiso was originally opened first as a street vending shop dealing with 100-yen products known as “Yano Shoten" by Hirotake Yano in 1972. He later founded Daiso in 1977. Business method Daiso often uses such locations as previous pachinko parlours for its retail outlets. They spend a lot of money on shelving and fixtures to help the stores compete with more high-end retailers. The stock of items retailed at each shop is varied frequently in order to increase repeat customers. Daiso categorizes all of its own branded items on sale using the morpheme za (ザ), the Japanese representation of the English word "the", plus a category. For example, za hanabi (ザ・花火) is the category for fireworks, and za purasuchikku (ザ・プラスチック) is the category for plastic items such as plastic buckets or trays. In 2004, Daiso started selling items priced at multiples of 100 yen, such as 200, 300, 400 or 500 yen. Locations Daiso has 3,620 stores in Japan, and nearly 2,300 stores overseas in Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, and Vietnam. Number of Daiso stores, as of 2023. Australia The first Daiso store opened up in Abbotsford, Victoria in 2010, selling thousands of items at a flat rate of $2.80. Since then it has expanded to thirteen stores in New South Wales, fourteen in Queensland, three in South Australia, twelve in Victoria and one in Perth (at Westfield Carousel). The stores range from to (Midtown Plaza, Melbourne store), which is currently the largest in Australia. Almost every item is AUD $3.10, or US$, except for a small range of products (5% of total range) that is sold at varying prices from $3 to $15. Bahrain Daiso's main store in Bahrain is located at Dasman Center, Manama, and spans 2 floors. It has been in operation since 2005. Daiso also runs a smaller outlet at Ramli Mall,