Daiso

Most things are $ 2, what’s not to love?

This place is a dream for Knick Knackers! I always have fun when I go to Daiso. I have never left without buying something!
My favourite sections are … uuhmm … pretty much the entire store haha. My daughters love going to the cosmetics section. My son enjoys the snacks section. I love going all over but most of the time I end up buying something from Kitchen Ware or Snacks.

This place has many various items. Their snacks are absolutely yummy. Their school supply products ate adorable and there is lots of housewares, make up and useful merchandises.

I love Daiso!
It’s such a great place for all the things you need for your home. I especially love the «do it yourself» section. The wall mounted wire squares are available in many sizes and you can hang a wide variety of baskets on them. They have made so many parts on my house way more organized. They are also a great place for kitchen wares, all the usual kitchen stuff plus some unusual gadgets and tiny baking pans for toaster ovens.
Their cleaning section has many brushes for specific cleaning needs, and the housewares section has plastic containers for just about anything. Also really like the mini sauce bottles, and other accessories that are great for packing a lunch. I always carry my adorable little fork/​spoon/​chopstick set with me!
In summary: a great place to get yourself organized and have fun doing it.

It’s practically a Dollarama but far better because everything is made in Japan. The variety of household goods they sell at ridiculous price point is phenomenal. I think I was there for an hour because coming from Toronto, the only thing similar is One’s Better Living but it really doesn’t even compare. Seriously everything for 2 dollars but better quality and durability than your typical dollar store chain is like the Asian Ikea for household accessories.

+
great for craft supplies
inexpensive gifts (stocking stuffers)
love the stationary section
garden area is good too
-
wouldn’t trust the plastics and kids toys here
always busy
always being bumped into without a excuse me or sorry

Daiso is probably one of the best places to shop at and I’m sure the tourists will go crazy (great for souvenirs for a fraction of the cost). Daiso’s got two floors of goodness and is located at Aberdeen with sky train accessible. It literally is a Japanese $ 2 store and 80−90% of their items are indeed just for 2 $ (I find that many «dollar stores» in town are never just $ 1.25 anymore). They sell anything and everything you can imagine from kitchenware, bathroom toiletries, make-​up/​cosmetics, toys, stationary, snacks, arts & crafts, gardening, electronics, storage bins, laundry items, seasonal items and the list goes on endlessly. It is so much fun browsing through the store even if you are not buying. Staff there are usually able to help you locate items. Plenty of parking located at mall available.

12÷14÷15 Stop #11: Located in Aberdeen Centre… It’s like a Japanese Dollar Tree!!! They have some junky trinkets, but you could find some deals. OK, listen up Hello Kitty fans… You know those beanie baby dolls? They have HK ones at like a fraction of the cost of other stores in the mall (or the USA). I got a big HK doll (I’ll take a pic and upload it here) for like $ 10-​something US conversion. In the US, that same doll would easily be over $ 30. Soooo, my HK bestie is gonna be super happy this Christmas! Bought some Canadian maple popcorn too for souvenirs. This is another place I’d come to on each trip. Great place for affordable souvenirs. No free WIFI inside the store, but I just did my Unilocal-​In in the mall part. It’s a 2 story store too! Fun place.

Daiso. Oh how I love thee! My fave $ 2 (and up) Japanese random anything-​you-​might-​possibly-​need store.
I usually come here for household items (boxes, cups, plastic wash basins, laundry bags, ziplock bags, washcloths, etc), stationery (washi tapes, rubber stamps & stamp pads, sticky notes, cute stickers, notebooks, pens, albums, etc), snacks, and many many other random things (I recently bought a Halloween wig here.).
I often joke to my friends that I can never leave Daiso empty handed, ever. And it’s true — I always find something to buy even when I’m just browsing. So yes, Daiso, just take my money!

I visit Daiso every time when I am in town to pick up some small items that I might forget to pack. For $ 2, that’s really cannot be beat.
I have been wishing that Daiso would open up in Toronto soon? But I have been waiting for years…
This beats Dollarama or any other Dollar Stores I have been to. 2 floor of goodies and hours of shopping pleasures!

This is probably my favorite Daiso location ever. It’s huge, and there’s a ton of stuff to look at. I could seriously browse this store for hours.
They have a giant selection of craft stuff and stationery, and a big display of bento boxes and accessories. They also have Canadian tourist items, as well as Asian beauty goods. It’s just aisle after aisle of interesting products. I really wish we had a store of this size close to my hometown!

This Daiso place is great in terms of product assortments. However, what make me really mad is that the service at this place is really suck. Especially their cashier, most of them are impolite and indifference. And no refund or exchange even your product not open yet with receipt.
The Daiso in Asia is doing really well and good service. I guess the franchisee here just don’t care about service at all!

The $ 2 dollar store. Love this place. Its like a dollar store but has better quality and more choices. I only come here only when I need something. I don’t come in suddenly to browse. This place has a lot of knick knacks stuff.
Its 2 floors and is full of things from top to bottom. As well this place is always busy.

DAISO Where have you been all my life?
I must be the last person on this planet to set foot in The Daiso. This hugely popular Japanese chain expanded to Aberdeen Center in Richmond, BC in 2003, with two stories and 26,400 sq ft of space to shop for things you didn’t think you would ever need but must buy because it is so damn cute and cheap and Japanese.
HOURS: 9:30am to 9pm daily. Note that the mall has shorter hours, so you can shop here before/​after the mall closes.
For my Hawaii friends who don’t know what this store is about, Daiso is like a Don Quijote/​Shirokiya/​Marukai meets Ikea store with almost everything in the store CAD$ 2 (US$ 1.57 using credit card when we went). My friends tell me in LA it’s US$ 1.50, but I’ve never even been to the ones in SF or LA or Seattle. There are some items that are marked with a green tag that cost more, but everything I saw was still under $ 10.
Everything is so random here. Disposable underwear, mechanical pencils, electric erasers, scissors, waterproof eyeliner, facial masks, pillboxes, pressure point massagers, toilet scrubbers, laundry bags, Canada souvenirs, stationery, dishes, snacks from japan, hair clippers, pet food, footballs, and more. Unlike the dollar stores or Pricebusters stores in the US which normally just sell crap, the stuff here is good stuff. You just have to walk up and down to find something calling out your name. For me it was the pens and pencils. I just love Japanese ball point pens and pencils, can’t stand all the gel ink stuff that we get in the US.
I’m not usually a shopper, but bumping into this store made my day. I had to go back twice in one day because there’s no way you can take it all in the first time. I only wish I had found this store in the beginning of our trip instead of at the end.

Since there’s a no photo taking policy inside the store and I don’t break rules, I have only a photo of the entrance. This store is so much better than regular North American dollar stores. Think of Daiso as «the IKEA of Dollar Stores»!
The products are made mostly in China, but the theme is Japanese and North American. The products are good quality here too, since things I have bought from here have lasted for many many years. I still have folders, binders, and dishes from here since 2008! Ranging from home décor to stationary to culinary dishes to pet items, this two floor dollar store is gigantic. I’m a big fan of their girly false eyelashes since my short thin Asian eyelashes are basically non-​existant.
The staff understand English somewhat, but they speak Japanese and Chinese in their mother tongue. When I bought my home a few years back, my first trip was Daiso to fill up my entire kitchen cupboards with utensils, dishes, bowls, cups, and table ware. I was so broke from buying my first home that all I had was a huge cardboard box on the floor as my «dining table», no furniture (except for an air mattress), and all my Daiso dishware and Daiso home décor items. So Daiso will always have a special place in my heart!

In my earlier post, I did say that I didn’t quite trust their beauty items (like eye shadow, foundation, cleansers, etc), but I did find something that I totally love!
Its a charcoal-​based cleanser, long thin white tube, made in Korea, and the content is a light grey charcoal color cleanser. Charcoal is really good for cleansing your skin, and I’ve been using this for the past 9 months with no skin issues. I even looked it up online, and turns out its pretty popular amongst the Daiso lovers in Japan! Awesome buy :) Apparently they have a really good toner there too, and hyaluronic acid, which is on my next shopping list.

This is by far my favorite Daiso location. Free and plentiful parking and two stories of Daiso goodness = one happy girl. I come to this location whenever I’m across the border to get gardening supplies and random knick-​knacks that we don’t have in the stores in the US. The selection is better, although the price is slightly higher per item. What’s the big difference between $ 1.50 and $ 2.00 anyway? Content, that’s what. And while the dollar is strong it’s a good time to shop there!

You can seriously spend a couple of hours wandering around this store and still be intrigued after passing by the same sections multiple times!
There’s such a huge variety of items sold here that there’s literally something for everybody! The majority of the items are basic household needs but there are also fun seasonal items such as mini Christmas trees and Halloween decorations.
The Daiso in Richmond is very large, bright and clean, which is completely different from the smaller dreary stores in the USA! (However, I believe that their products only cost $ 1.50) The Daiso stores in Japan are actually 100 yen stores (dollar stores) and do not carry the same stock as the North American stores. Only some of the stock from Japan is sold in North America (eg. with 100% Japanese packaging) but a lot of the items are made specifically for North America.
Daiso may be a bit far away for some people, but just remember that Aberdeen Centre is a mere 20 minutes away from downtown by skytrain! (Canada Line)
PS. The food court here is excellent!

If you like Yoko Ya Ya in Tinseltown, you will love Dasio! It’s 2 levels of Japanese (2) dollar store fun!
Some items are a bit more, but for the most part, the majority of things are 2 $.
There are cosmetics — things I have tried and would recommend include
— Eye shadow– the ones I have tried have awesome pigment in them !
— Eyebrow pencil
— Eyelashes
— Cotton pads
— Make up remover wipes
Normally there is no chance I would ever be using anything other then high end products like Mac, Dior, Clinique, Lancome ect… but these are actually better then I could of hoped.
They also have some great hair accessory’s and if you use at home hair color, they have great little kits that include-​gloves, a cape, elasticized ear covers, &a hair color comb/​brush-​very handy!
The housewares section is vast and I really like the laundry bags in all sizes and shapes for all your clothes and bedding needs.
There is way way too much more to list– all I can say is its worth checking out.
To get there, take the Canada line skytrain to Aberdeen center. Go one stop past River Rock Casino (Bridgeport Station) and its in the mall (east of the skytrain stop)

«I don’t know how I’m gonna use it yet; but I know I can.» — My motto throughout the store. It’s like an IKEA, but cheaper… and more Japanese.
That’s just the lovely thing about being in a store like Daiso. You never walk in there looking for something (or maybe you do), but you will always seem to walk out with a bunch of nonsense that you will now use around the house. Daiso is a discovery, and now I’m hooked. It’s better than a dollar store, but not far from its concept either. Everything costs $ 2 and up. I found some surprisingly useful household knick-​knacks there today. Things for the kitchen, bathroom and even some DIY.
The people who shop there aren’t always great. I have to remind myself that I’m in Richmond. This woman cut in line ahead of me, and then did it again when a new lane opened up beside me. You just can’t win. On the bright side, my purchases sure made me happy!