Japan Home closing outlets; staff say Valu$ taking over operations

[SINGAPORE] Household retail chain Japan Home has been shuttering some of its stores in Singapore since June – though some may reopen as stores managed jointly with Value Dollar (Valu$), sources told The Business Times.

Its five outlets at Hougang Mall, Century Square, Northpoint City, HarbourFront Centre and Buangkok Square had closing-down sales announced on Japan Home’s Facebook page from June to July.

The business’ e-shop as at Wednesday (Aug 19) afternoon was “undergoing maintenance”, and another page on its website showed that its JFUN & Gold Membership Programme had been terminated with effect from Jul 21, with no new registrations and renewals accepted from that date.

Existing members were given until Aug 18 to redeem J FUN Points, J Cash Rebates and loyalty rewards earned. Unused points and rebates expired after that date.

No update on the operating status of Japan Home’s outlets was given on the website.

BT visited nine Japan Home stores on Tuesday and found three shuttered and a number of others closed for “stocktaking,” with significant Valu$ stocks in some stores.

The Bedok Mall outlet was still open for business, though some of its shelves had been stocked with various Valu$ products.

Valu$ takeover

Staff at Japan Home outlets told BT that the current situation was due to a “change of management” – with certain workers saying that they believe Japan Home had been “sold to Valu$ entirely”.

Valu$ is a chain of retail stores that operates under the dollar-store concept.

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Japan Home workers said that the outlets operated jointly with Valu$ include those in Bedok and Woodlands, with more stores likely to be converted towards this arrangement in the days ahead.

A Valu$ store manager told BT that Valu$ is not replacing Japan Home; however, staff were spotted wearing Valu$ T-shirts at Japan Home’s Waterway Point store.

According to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) records, Valu$ is operated by DD Pte Ltd – which was founded by fast-moving consumer goods provider Radha Exports in 2005.

Singapore-registered Radha Japan – which also owns ACE Fresh and hardware store Mr Fix – has a shareholding of about 30 per cent in Japan Home, based on Acra filings.

The rest is owned by Japan Home Centre (Management) Ltd, which recently rebranded its Hong Kong Japan Home Centre to Best Home Centre after 35 years there, according to Lifestyle Asia.

Its co-founders Ngai Lai Ha and Peter Lau Pak Fai are listed as directors of Singapore-registered Japan Home Retail.

BT has sent queries to Japan Home and Valu$ to verify the takeover.

Magnified losses in recent years

Founded in Hong Kong in 1991, Japan Home expanded into Singapore in 1999 with its first three outlets in Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and Bugis Village. By June 2026, it had 34 outlets.

The private company’s losses after tax from continuing operations had more than doubled to S$2.3 million in its financial year ended Apr 30, 2025 – from a loss of S$858,596 in the year prior, according to financial statements filed with Acra seen by BT.

For the year ended Apr 30, 2024, revenue dipped to S$51.7 million from S$53.7 million previously.

Prior to 2024, the company’s profits had declined for three years.