Biggest thing 'since the arrival of Magellan': A look inside Don Don Donki

Wagyu beef, tuna by the pound, and fresh produce straight from Japan. The shelves at Japanese retail giant Don Don Donki are packed.

Though the general public won’t be let in until Thursday’s grand opening, passing motorists on Monday will have seen parking lot already filled up for the “VIP opening” and the ribbon cutting ceremony that marked the official activation of cash registers at the Tamuning mall.

Business big-shots, along with village mayors, senators, and Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, were among those that got the first chance to fall into the checkout line at the much awaited Village of Donki convenience store.

Japan Consul-General for Guam Ishigami Rumiko, who made an appearance for the ribbon cutting, joked it was one of Guam’s most historic events, “arguably since the arrival of Magellan in 1521.”

Mall department manager Charles McJohn said the Village of Donki convenience store boasts a mix of low prices, wide variety, and high volume of products that no other grocer on Guam can provide.

“I think all of those things combined make it very attractive for people and what benefits the most people on Guam is good for everyone,” McJohn said during a tour of the retail floor space.

Product selection includes everything one would expect from a Japanese mega-store.

In the meat section, there’s what McJohn said is the widest variety of wagyu beef one will find on island.

Over in the produce aisle, strawberries, Fuji apples, sweet potatoes and melons, all of it sourced from Japan, filled up the shelving.

A wide variety of sweet and salty Japanese snacks are available, along with what McJohn asserted was the most diverse stock of instant ramen noodles on Guam.

But there’s also everything you would expect in any other local grocery store, including cans of Spam and corned beef stacked high.

According to McJohn, about 18 palettes worth of corned beef alone are stocked up in Donki’s underground storage area, which itself is over 80,000 square feet.

The key to the wide-selection is the Donki store chain’s ability to source products from one end of the Pacific to the other.

With the chain of Donki mega-stores spanning Japan, southeast Asia, and the U.S., Donki can bring goods to Guam from Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Hawaii and California.

“So with that network there’s sort of a major mash up where we can source different things and bring it into the island,” he said. “We combine our networks to get the best price possible from our distributors.”

And Japanese products aren’t the only Asian foodstuffs you can find.

“We have other Asian products, (it’s) not just Japan. We also sourced stuff from Philippines, Korea, Thailand. So your curries, your sinigang mix, your kimchi base, we do source a lot of those items directly,” McJohn said.

For those that need some help getting around the 247,000 sq. ft. store, there are three mobility scooters available upon entry and more on the way.

Dining options, other vendors

Besides the ready-to-eat bentos and sushi plates available on the grocery side, the new mall also boasts a food court with 12 different places to get food and beverage.

There’s a ramen joint, a poke’ eatery, taco stand and even local favorites like Three Squares and an Infusion Coffee & Tea in the food court.

Those with time to spare and a more refined palate can even sit down for table service at the Waka Sakura Sushi Restaurant, which seats 200 diners, according to restaurant supervisor John Manalo.

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Manalo, a 27-year-old Dededo resident who is one of the hundreds of new employees at the mall, called the restaurant a “new style of sushi dining” for the island, with “nearly fully automated” service for customers.

Rotary conveyor belts bring sushi directly from the kitchen to every single table in the house, and customers can place all of their orders directly from the table, with tablets that tally up their food and beverage selections.

Restaurant employee Mika Ishikizu said the dining experience is also more authentic, with ingredients sourced directly from Japan.

Ishikizu, 39, originally from Saitama, Japan, worked in Australia before following a job opportunity and the new Donki store in Tamuning.

Besides eateries, two standalone stores from Japan also have spots inside the mall: popular Japanese dollar-store chain Daiso, and a Japanese drug store Matsukiyo.

There’s even an upstairs lounge area where customers will be able to recline in luxury, though that was off-limits during Monday’s VIP opening, and is expected to open up in the coming days, according to mall manager McJohn.

Alcohol in stock

With an 11th-hour approval of the Donki store’s liquor license, McJohn said there’s been an effort to stock up on a wide variety of alcoholic products for adult customers.

“In fact, we have significant amount of whiskies and beers that are very new to Guam, sakes and things of that fare,” he said.

The downstairs spirits section wasn’t available for a tour on Monday, but customers can take an elevator ride down to stock up.

Guam law puts a cap on the number of off-sale alcohol sales licenses that can be placed in each village, one per 200 residents, but Donki successfully applied for an exemption through a process that the Legislature created just last year.

Sen. Joe San Agustin, who added the exemption process provision to the government’s budget law for the current fiscal year, said he’s glad to help the store get its license after all the years it’s been under construction.

“I look at it this way, this is the beginning of Guam’s growth. You got a Donki village, what will be next? A Walmart? What other stores can we open on Guam, and be a magnet to everybody else in the Pacific?” San Agustin, one of the numerous VIPs invited to Monday’s opening, said.

He said the $7 million in tax revenue that the store anticipates to pay to GovGuam in the first year of operations can go towards fixing the Guam Memorial Hospital or repair roads, among other things.

A long time coming

It’s been a long road to get to the opening date of the store, said Kazuhiro Matsumoto, CEO of Donki investor Pan Pacific Retail Management, during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the store.

“The journey to this day has not been easy,” Matsumoto told the gathered crowd.

“Despite facing constraints due to the pandemic and natural disasters like typhoons, the people of Guam ... have never given up, facing challenges head on,” he said.

The opening was a testament to “the warm support of everyone here,” the executive added.

Residents have been driving down Marine Corps Drive, peering into the Donki store and sharing gossip about a possible opening date for five years, said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, who also took the stage.

“The opening up of this great store, this great place, goes beyond just providing our people of Guam over 400 jobs. It (will) provide us with a stronger economy,” the governor said.

The store “goes beyond everything that we can imagine,” she said, adding that it’s also a testament of Guam’s great friendship and relationship with Japan.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to spend my money here,” the governor added.