I’ve been guilty on many occasions of heading to Target for just one thing and leaving with more than $100 worth of tchotchkes. So when I visited my first Bay Area Daiso a few years ago, my head was spinning. I knew I was doomed.
Founded in the 1970s in Japan, Daiso — basically an Asian dollar store — now has more than 3,500 locations in 25 countries. It’s not yet a huge household name in the U.S.; we have only 70-some stores. But California is one of its largest U.S. markets, and here in the Bay Area, we’re home to 15 (including three in SF).
If you’ve never been to Daiso, let me paint you a picture. The neon pink sign outside is just as bright as the lights inside. It’s an oasis of organization: everything is neatly laid out in categorized aisles: housewares, cleaning products, toys, health and beauty, food, stationery, seasonal and holiday items, and more.
Almost everything costs $1.50 — nothing is more than $12 — and the aisles are lined with a dizzying array of trinkets, gadgets, and knickknacks. I bought my favorite cereal bowls and cake molds here, only $3 apiece. And my kids love their sushi-shaped magnets, Disney notepads, and Rilakkuma pencils. But plenty of items at Daiso also leave me scratching my head.
I’ve rounded up nine of the most fascinating finds from my last visit and put together a list, in no particular order. The best part? Everything is $1.50.
All photos by Elaine Wu.
1. Glow-in-the-dark cap
Here we have a bag of those glow-in-the-dark sticks we generally wear around Halloween or at a concert. But this amazing find provides instructions on how to shape the sticks into a baseball cap. I dare you to pull off this look in public.
2. A pencil sharpener on your water bottle
This little plastic teddy bear–shaped pencil sharpener is adorable. It also apparently fits perfectly in place of a cap on a disposable water bottle. I struggle to understand why anyone would want to do this. I’m all for reducing, reusing, and recycling, but this seems both messy and unnecessary.
3. Extending spoon
This utensil looks more like an extending antenna on an old-school television set. I can’t really think of a situation in which a 25.5-inch spoon would be necessary. To steal a bite of a distant person’s meal? To use as part of a magic trick? To help someone with extremely long arms? I don’t get it, but I’m intrigued.
4. Syringe mechanical pencil
This one made me do a double take. It looks alarmingly like a real syringe, albeit filled with a hot pink liquid. I wasn’t sure if it was an actual syringe, a toy, or a lead pencil. Thankfully, it comes with a clearly marked eraser, as well. It’s somehow both cute and slightly disturbing, but apparently it’s a bestseller.
5. Electric eraser
This small handheld device has an eraser on the tip that spins against paper to do the erasing for you. I could see how this might be good for folks with carpal tunnel, tendinitis, or arthritis — or someone who is generally lazy but has able-bodied fingers. Upon further inspection, however, I discovered you have to push on that button as hard as you would with a regular eraser.
6. A surprise toy toilet (aka toy toilet squirt gun)
A Charlie Brown-looking kid (minus private parts) sits on top of a toilet sporting not clothing, but a big smile. It wasn’t obvious at first where the water actually sprays from. I looked closer and found two tiny red arrows on his knees, which seem to instruct the user to spread his legs, so that should be a clue. I found this in the toy section, but it might require a discussion before gifting to a kid.
7. Drink holder clip
You can clip this cup holder to the side of your table and you’re ready to go. But it begs one question: Why don’t you just put your cup on the table?
8. Decorative tofu stamp
In Japan, where cute is the prevailing design aesthetic and tofu is consumed more regularly, it might make more sense to put a silly face on your soft tofu before serving it. Hence these tofu stamps. They might be a good option for a kid’s meal or a dish being served at a party.
9. Eight-ball face roller
Face rollers are all the rage right now; they can help increase circulation and give your skin a healthy glow. But most look nothing like this, which has a pair of double rollers attached to a wishbone-shaped device that goes on either side of your face. Despite its simple design, it looks fairly awkward to use. But for $1.50 and the promise of glowing skin, why not give it a shot?
