Sunday, December 9, 2012

Don Quiote Okinawa Branch - A second look

You might already know that a new discount department store has opened here in Okinawa called Don Quiote. Although there are other department stores here in Okinawa, some of which offer competitive pricing this is the first of its kind for the island.

My first report came just a few days after the store's grand opening. My husband and I braved the crowds to get in early one morning. It was very hectic to say the least which I had anticipated would be the case with the grand opening of a discount store but we got a look and were on our way.

We didn't go back for a little while because there really was no need for it but today after some of our early morning errands we decided to head over to Don Quiote to get some necessities before heading home. It was very nice to see the store for what was really the first time since the crowds were now at a normal level. After a month or so of being open the store is still in pretty good shape although I have to say there were some things that surprised me. Some sections had completely bare shelves to include some shoes, mens bags/fannypacks and Duffy's section. To be completely honest I was very surprised by this. With the store newly opened I anticipated that there would be stocked shelves.

Another thing that I noticed was that there were boxes of goods still on the floor in some of the very small aisles. I know that this might not seems like a big deal to some people but I bring it up simply as an observation. Well there's also the fact that my husband tripped on one and almost knocked over a display of cookies. I think the thing that is curious about the boxes being out and on the floor is the size of the aisles themselves. They are very small and crowded much like other discount stores here in Okinawa and in other places in Japan. It is not often, however, that boxes end up in the middle of the floor so I thought it was odd.

I also found out which was very pleasing in my opinion that Don Quiote takes credit card. This was something that I was not entirely sure about the first time that I went but I had the chance to have that clarified today. There is a stipulation though which is that the bill must be over 1000 yen. That's easy enough.

The overall outcome is that I am more than pleased with the store and it's definitely a good place to have around although I wish that some of the shelves were not bare (mostly because they were the sections I was interested in making purchases from).

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