The Japanese discount store chain founded in 1989 in Tokyo and known for its penguin mascot is Don Quijote.
The company’s roots actually reach back to 1980, when Takao Yasuda opened a shop in Suginami, Tokyo, under the name Just Co. It moved into wholesale before opening its first store branded Don Quijote in Fuchu, Tokyo, in March 1989. The company later adopted Don Quijote as its corporate name in 1995.
Its blue penguin mascot is Donpen, introduced in 1998. Donpen’s colorful appearance and the stores’ famously crowded, treasure-hunt-style interiors helped make the chain distinctive. Don Quijote sells food, cosmetics, electronics, household goods and souvenirs, often at discounted prices.
A common mix-up is treating 1989 as the company’s founding year; it marks the first Don Quijote-named store rather than the business’s earliest origin. The name is also sometimes shortened to Donki in Japan, while overseas stores commonly use the Don Don Donki branding.