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Thailand: ‘Donki’ store heads for Bangkok
The long-awaited Don Quijote, Japan’s biggest discount store chain, is scheduled to make its debut in Thailand in the fourth quarter of next year.
According to Wicha Chengcharoen, general-manager of TOA Venture Holding, two new venture companies would be set up to operate Don Quijote Mall: JCE-TOA to operate the mall and TOA-PPIH to own and develop the commercial facility.
TOA Venture Holding is an investment arm of TOA Group, Thailand’s leading paint manufacturing group, which last year reported total revenue of 15 billion baht.
The group’s core business includes paint, sugar, cable and property development. The group’s paint business, operated by TOA Paint Plc, recently listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Its share started trading on Oct 10.
Launched in 1989, the store, commonly known as “Donki”, has more than 300 branches around Japan and four in Hawaii.
Long on Thai tourists’ shopping hit list, the chain is known for its huge range of products — from basic electronics and clothing to all sorts of quirky and occasionally lewd Japanese accessories — as well as its pounding in-store soundtrack.
Mr Wicha said JCE-TOA will be 49% held by Pan Pacific International Holdings Pte Ltd, the Don Quijote Group’s holding company for overseas operations based in Singapore, 40% by TOA Venture Holding and 11% by a Thai subsidiary of Nippon Parking Development.
For TOA-PPIH, Pan Pacific will hold 47.5% stake, with TOA Venture 47.5% and Nippon Parking 5%.
The two venture firms will invest a combined 500 million baht, excluding the land price, to build the mall on a three-rai plot on Ekamai Soi 5, the former site of TOA Group’s office building.
With construction about 30% in progress, the eight-storey Don Quijote mall will have total gross floor area of 26,770 square metres. It will have retail space of 10,000 sq m with 25% going to Don Quijote on the first and second floors. There will also be indoor sport and entertainment facilities on the fifth and sixth floors, along with restaurants.
The project’s commercial facility will accommodate as its core tenant a store of the Don Quijote Group’s new type of retail business “Don Don Donki”, the second such outlet to be established in Southeast Asia after one opening in Singapore in December 2017.
The three corporate groups will create a one-of-a-kind mall focused on products and services of Japanese quality by combining their know-how on the development and operation of commercial facilities, mustering knowledge gained in Thailand, and having big parking lots.
Don Quijote is one of the must-visit places for foreign tourists in Japan because the store offers a diverse product line-up and late-night services, as well as for its status as a spot for the ultimate “consumption experience”.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1357067/donki-store-heads-for-bangkok