![]() Mr Kamiyama: I see… Gresilla is red grapefruit in syrup, which is a very popular sweet at Costco Japan. sorry, but I’ve actually never been to Costco, so I’m not really familiar with all of these… Then there’s toilet paper, Oikos Greek yoghurt, and then of course there’s Gresila… As you know, Costco is really famous in Japan for their kitchen paper. Mr Kamiyama: What we have here are all Costco’s popular products. So how do they choose which products to resell? It was the same size as a regular convenience store, so no matter how much they try and cram onto their shelves, they’re only able to sell a small percentage of the number of products available at Costco. But it was good to know that Costco themselves were completely fine with other stores buying and reselling their products, and Dodosuco was in no danger of facing the wrath of Costco’s legal team!īut now that the idea of Dodosuco being some sort of sneaky, illicit Costco copy had been put to bed, Ikuna was curious about another issue Dodosuco is, especially compared to an actual branch of Costco, pretty small. It’s also called ‘on-selling’.Ĭome to think of it, Ikuna had seen a couple of her local supermarkets holding ‘Costco fairs’ where they sell a select number of Costco products, but she didn’t really think about it too much at the time. Kamiyama: Yes, Costco allows anyone to resell their products. ![]() Kamiyama: Not at all! We’re actually a shop that resells Costco products. Ikuna: So, is Dodosuco just a fake rip-off version of Costco? Was he running some sort of illegal counterfeit Costco business?! Ikuna decided to put on her investigative glasses and interview the owner of Dodosuco, Mr. How had Costco not come and shut this place down? This was essentially a fake Costco… but how were they getting away with it? Even though they were tucked away in the middle of nowhere in Okayama, this is the age of the Internet and stuff like this spreads quickly. ▼ Candy and chocolate that’s sometimes difficult to find in Japan all over the place!Įverywhere Ikuna looked, there were products usually sold at Costco adorning the shelves. ▼ The freezer was full to the brim with various frozen goods! ▼ The shelves were overflowing with sauces and condiments! The inside of the store was pretty intense, too, as it was jam-packed full of Costco products! The sheer amount that was contained in one ‘pack’ of toilet roll, especially compared to normal Japanese sized products, was pretty intense and Ikuna started to feel like she was at a real Costco. ![]() But since she’d come all the way here, it couldn’t hurt to have a peek inside and see what Dodosuco were selling.Īs she approached the entrance, she spotted a familiar sight - Costco’s famous toilet paper. ![]() This… was very much not a branch of Costco, and Ikuna began to see her bulk-buy dreams come tumbling down around her. or so she thought, as upon closer look she seemed to have arrived at a store called ‘ Dodosuco‘ instead. Her first ever Costco was in sight the blue-and-red colour scheme instantly recognisable, even from a distance! The more she walked, the more she began to doubt - was there really a Costco in such a middle-of-nowhere place like this?īut then she saw it, up ahead, glimmering like a beautiful oasis in a hot desert. The directions took her twenty minutes south of Okayama Station, where she was instructed to drive down a narrow street past a ramen shop.Īt this point, Ikuna parked her car and decided to make the rest of her Costco pilgrimage by foot. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a Costco in Tottori, but there appeared to be one in neighbouring prefecture Okayama, so Ikuna borrowed her parents’ car and made her way to Okayama Station. So what if, instead of checking out a Tokyo branch of Costco, she swung by one on the way home from visiting her parents in her home prefecture of Tottori? The cost of renting a car, plus the annual membership fee, ends up being a little tough for a single person living by themselves to foot. There are a few branches within train distance from Ikuna’s Tokyo home, but one doesn’t just go to Costco for a light shop, and she didn’t fancy getting on a train with her Costco haul. It’s not that she doesn’t want to, but there are only thirty branches of Costco throughout Japan, and for people who don’t have a car, like Ikuna, they’re a little awkward to get to. Our Japanese reporter Ikuna Kamezawa has something to get off her chest. When is a branch of Costco not a branch of Costco? When it’s a Dodosuco.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |