Shoppers roam a Miniso storefront in Hong Kong's Tsuen Kam Centre mall in May 2020. Credit: Shaihoga Hsum, Creative Commons
Tegucigalpa in Honduras. Guangzhou in China. Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Antananarivo in Madagascar. And Los Angeles in the United States. You can find a Miniso store in every one of those cities. The Chinese retailer, modeled after Japan’s 100-yen variety stores, has created a formidable empire since its founding in 2013.
Miniso has 2,500 stores in China and another 1,700 in more than 60 countries abroad, selling products from snacks to clothes and accessories to home goods. To keep customers coming back, the company puts out 100 new products a week. It brought in $1.3 billion in revenue in its fiscal year ending June 30, despite the havoc wreaked by Covid-19, which has bankrupted many retailers.
In many ways, Miniso is similar to other low-cost retailers or Japanese variety stores that have built a global presence. But the company is a rare example of a Chinese business that has built a brick and mortar chain across the globe. And it has done so with the support of Asia’s most
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