Do you need what’s inside this Japanese store that just opened in Kendall?
Step into Daiso and you may feel like it’s scrolling the For You page on TikTok.
The bargain retail store that’s expanding into Florida with new locations in Kendall and Miami Gardens — think: Japan’s version of the Dollar Store, but with an Instagrammable vibe — is full of seemingly random stuff. You never know what will catch your eye and get you to stop and shop.
You may enter the Higate Square store at 13840 SW 88th St., Kendall Drive, for a snack. Then you’re confronted by a wall of colorfully packaged chips.
What to pick? There’s Seaweed & Salt Potato Chips. Ume Pickled Plum Chips. Shrimp Chips and Prawn Crackers. An array of neon-colored yellow, bright red/orange and pastel colored bags to consider.
The basics are there, too.
All we wanted was a simple jar opener, but the shopping hunt came up empty at all the usual haunts: a Publix before it closed for a rebuild and a Marshall’s HomeGoods at the Palms at Town & Country shopping center in Kendall. Even at Lowe’s, nothing.
But when we popped into the Kendall Daiso to check out opening week activity in February? Jackpot. A jar and bottle opener hung on a rack in the home goods section stocked with corkscrews, wine keepers, noodle cutters, scrapers and a green bag with Japanese lettering that seemed to contain pickle chips from the image.
What is Daiso?
The variety retail chain was founded in Japan in 1977 — the year of “Star Wars,” “Rumours” and “Saturday Night Fever” in America.
Daiso is still headquartered in Higashihiroshima, Japan, with its U.S. subsidiary based in Anaheim, California. The company recently began moving into the United States and has about 100 stores nationally, with more to come, including a third Miami-Dade Daiso on March 21 at Flagler Park Plaza, 8257 W. Flagler St.
In addition to the Kendall and coming Flagler Park outlets, Daiso has a Miami-Dade store at Gardens Promenade in Miami Gardens. Daiso also opened stores in Tampa and Clearwater.
The store specializes in, well, nothing — and everything.
All items priced between $2.25 and $15, and stock includes kitchenware, cleaning supplies, storage containers, home goods like pots and pans and utensils, gardening tools, pet supplies, toys, slippers, makeup, health and baby care products, electronics and food.
Another bargain store moves in
And if that’s not enticing enough, the China-based Miniso, another retailer founded in 2013 with Japanese-themed low‑priced household goods, toys, cosmetics, stationery and Marvel, Disney and Harry Potter-themed collectibles, opened its fourth Miami-Dade store in February at the Palms at Town & Country mall in Kendall.
The store opened at the same time Daiso dropped down the road in Kendall. The new location joins other Miniso stores on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater and Westland Mall in Hialeah.
Items you can’t live without?
Daiso USA recently posted to its 256,000 Instagram followers a cheerful “Random Things from Daiso I Seriously Cannot Live Without” video. The text read: “You don’t plan on needing these… until you’re at Daiso.”
The shopper showed off a six-in-one screwdriver, a four-in-one iPhone or Android charger, and a two-in-one salt and pepper grinder, and closed with an offer for other shoppers to share their random favorites.
Here’s our own list of random things we (almost) “Cannot Live Without” that range in price from $2.25 to $15.
- Gardening supplies
- Pots and pans
- Slippers and footwear
- A jar opener and other kitchen goods
- Snacks and munchies
- Japanese-themed toys and characters
- Standard products (We’ll find something for the house here)
