January 30, 2017

Meet Jintana Tantipinichwong of Dokya Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jintana Tantipinichwong.

What does “Dokya” mean? The literal English translation of the word “Dokya” is “flowers by the grass.” The Dokya family-owned brand was brought over from Bangkok, Thailand to Los Angeles in 1994 with the first Thai Books and Music store in the heart of Hollywood by a Thai entrepreneur and his wife. The first store offered a huge selection of Thai books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs. A second store was quickly added a few years later on the outskirts of Chinatown, expanding the inventory to include authentic herbal and skincare products imported from Thailand. In 2015, Dokya Thai Health & Beauty website was launched as a constituent of Dokya LA after the realization that the bread and butter business in traditional books was on the decline due to the digitalization of media. Currently, in 2017, the first brick and mortar store still remains in its original location in Thai Town.

As consumers became more interested in the benefits of using natural and organic ingredients, Dokya LA shifted its focus from books to health and beauty. Although our passion for books will never cease, Dokya LA proudly invites those from all over the greater Los Angeles area and throughout America to check out these healthful and top-notch Thai products and add them into your daily routine!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Running a successful small business in Los Angeles is not an easy venture. Other than the common struggles that small business owners face every day, such as ever increasing rent, one of the biggest challenges that Dokya LA had to fight was the digitalization of all things media. Nowadays, magazines, books, music, and movies are easily accessible through the internet. Even large-chain American bookstores or physical movie rental stores have been on a rapid decline. Smartphones and tablets render the need for physical copies of books, CDs, and DVDs useless. Dokya LA was confronted with the difficulty of restructuring and rebranding its business to adapt to this change.

After rebranding, another challenge Dokya LA faced was how to learn to cater to not only Thai-Americans of Los Angeles but to those from other ethnicities and backgrounds as well. The business had to import products that were in Thai and English so consumers could know the ingredients. In the early days, this was rare. Roughly a decade later, many Thai products now have English labels as a standard!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Dokya Los Angeles – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Dokya LA is a company built on providing Thai-Americans and their friends of all cultures and backgrounds with authentic hand-selected products imported from the Kingdom of Thailand, whether it be books, music, movies, health, and beauty products. The company’s mission is simple: to introduce Thai culture to the citizens of United States. Whether you need to plan an upcoming vacation to Thailand, wish to cook khao-soi (that amazing Northern Thai dish you devoured last night), pick up a pair of Muay Thai shorts, or find out what Thai herbs can do for your receding hairline, Dokya LA offers the best of all things Thai! Dokya LA is proud to have been serving not only the Thai community of Southern California but to all people nationwide for over two decades.

Through the passion of bringing Thai culture to the United States, in the city of Los Angeles where a plethora of distinct cultures thrives, we put in tremendous effort and research into selecting quality products to import, which in turn sets us apart from other ethically-based stores.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The future plan for Dokya LA is to reach Americans from all corners of the nation through online platforms and continue to grow the new e-commerce platform at www.dokyahealthbeauty.com. Having a strong online presence that focuses on health and beauty through Thai ingredients will help with the transitioning away from books, movies, and music. Dokya LA strives to introduce quality Thai products to customers while preserving our strong Thai culture.

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