Japan is known world-wide for its love of consumerism – from gadgets to food trends, the country is obsessed with “the latest and greatest” in all product lines – and walking through the streets of metropolitan Japan on any given morning, one regularly comes across long queues outside electronics, fashion & other retail locations, whenever a new product is announced, a new shop opens or a new release is planned.
As a result, there is a huge market in Japan for 2nd-hand items – and, while in other countries consumers aren’t likely to immediately sell off items with only slight usage/wear & tear - in Japan it is quite common to immediately re-sell last year’s electronics, fashion and even jewelery, once a new product is released, to help cover the price of purchasing the latest model instead.
As a result, the country has seen an exponential rise in 2nd hand purchase stores (or “recycle shops”, as they’re known here) – and any temporary or long term economic downturn sees these types of stores flourish even more, as consumers are more in need of ready cash for other purchases. “Daikichi” (大吉) is the nation’s most well-known and trusted chain of such stores, focusing on luxury/branded items & expensive jewellery, which the company buys back from franchisees and re-sells online or via other channels. The company has grown exponentially, going from 12 stores in 2011, to over 340 (!) at the start of 2021. In fact, with Covid-19 hitting the country hard in 2020, annual new store numbers have more than tripled between 2019-2020.