MINISO


MINISO Group Holding Limited, trading as MINISO is a Chinese retailer and variety store chain that specializes in household and consumer goods including cosmetics, stationery, toys, and kitchenware featuring IP design. Founded in 2013 by Ye Guofu, its headquarters are in Haizhu District, Guangzhou. In 2025, the company's sales revenue reached $2.45 billion. In March 2019, MINISO began a collaboration with Marvel Entertainment to sell its branded products.
MINISO has expanded outside of the Chinese market and operates over 7,000 stores including designer toy brand – TOPTOY stores and 6,868 MINISO stores in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America. Sustainalytics and Morningstar ESG risk rating rank MINISO as "Low Risk".

History

MINISO opened its first pilot store in Guangzhou, China in 2013, near its factory. It then expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia before opening several stores in Sydney, Australia. The company was co-founded by Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu in 2013. According to Ye, the brand's early product designs were developed in collaboration with a Japanese designer. However, some media outlets have questioned the authenticity or existence of this designer, suggesting a lack of verifiable information or public records regarding their identity.
The company initially employed a Japanese-influenced branding strategy, despite previously operating under Chinese company Aiyaya. MINISO's first overseas store was opened in Singapore in 2015, two years since its debut in Guangzhou. MINISO has since expanded outside of the Chinese market and operates 6,868 in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America.
In January 2017, MINISO announced that they were seeking to enter the North Korean market, opening their first store in Pyongyang four months later. According to The Economist, the store was popular among the country's wealthy but only accepted foreign currency, including the US dollar, Chinese yuan, and euro as payment. Soon after opening, the company's Japanese branch came under pressure for violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 2321 prohibiting trade with North Korea, distanced themselves from the move, and blamed the Chinese offices for the decision. As a result of the controversy, MINISO promised not to ship any more products to North Korea and the Pyongyang store was rebranded as "Evolution".
In September 2018, MINISO received its first external strategic investment funding of one billion RMB from Tencent and Hillhouse Funding Group. On December 18, 2018, MINISO Canada filed for bankruptcy. In March 2019, MINISO China took over the operations of MINISO Canada. On March 13, 2019, MINISO partnered with Marvel to introduce a range of themed products. MINISO went public on the NYSE in October 2020 under the name MNSO.
In December 2020, MINISO launched a toy brand called TOP TOY, with its first global flagship store located in Guangzhou, Guangdong.
In August 2022, MINISO apologized for "wrong brand positioning and marketing", admitting that the company was a "proud Chinese brand through and through", and said it would remove its Japanese inspired elements by March 2023.
In 2023, MINISO released new brand strategies including launching different store types such as IP-themed stores, "super stores" and national flagship stores and changed the font on the logo. Their stores have been revamped, removing most Japanese references, and are much larger in size for more products.
In May 2024, MINISO ceased operations in the Republic of Ireland and went into administration in Australia for the second time in four years.
As of June 2024, MINISO has established collaborations with over 100 intellectual properties, including Disney, Sanrio, Barbie, Sesame Street, Minions, Pokémon, Harry Potter, Care Bears, Peanuts, Tom and Jerry, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, We Bare Bears, My Little Pony, The Powerpuff Girls and the Beijing Palace Museum. The company currently operates four design centers in China, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. It has launched over 10,000 stock keeping units related to intellectual properties. After partnering with Mattel Inc. since 2022 and releasing Barbie-themed products since 2023, MINISO acquired several percent of Mattel's shares. The acquisition was officially announced at the Barbie 65th anniversary celebrations in April 2024. Also in 2024, MINISO opened its largest Barbie-themed store in Malaysia and Vietnam, attended by both Mattel and MINISO's directors and staff.
On 9 December 2024, Mirage Retail Group, the operator of MINISO Netherlands stores, was declared bankrupt. In February 2025, Mirage Retail Group put MINISO Netherlands up for sale.

Global expansion

MINISO first established a retail presence in China, and the majority of its stores still operate there. It has pursued an aggressive expansion plan in countries connected with China's One Belt One Road economic policy, alongside other similar international retailers like Mumuso, XIMIVOGUE, YOYOSO, USUPSO and LÄTT LIV, with shopping malls sometimes having several rival stores.
It first began expanding in Asian countries and regions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Nepal, Macau, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, North Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Bangladesh. Sales in one store in Vietnam on its opening day exceeded $10,000 in one hour. Its Japanese branch closed in 2020 due to the pandemic. MINISO's store in Pyongyang was the first and only foreign-branded chain store in North Korea. It opened its first Australian store in early 2017.
On 27 May 2016, MINISO opened its first Thai store in Seacon Square Srinakarin, Bangkok, operating under the name of Miniso Company Limited, which Singtai Trading Company Limited is the sole importer. Currently, MINISO has a total of 52 branches in Thailand.
MINISO currently operates 294 stores in North America and 598 in Latin America. Its first U.S. store opened in Pasadena in April 2017.
In Central America, MINISO opened its first store in Panama in 2018. They had opened four more stores there by October that year. They also started operations in Costa Rica in 2019, where there are currently 10 stores.
In South America, MINISO opened its first retail store in Brazil in August 2017. Its second store followed in Chile in December 2017, where there are now 30 locations. In May 2018, MINISO opened its first retail store in Peru at Jockey Plaza Shopping Center. In Colombia, operations began with the simultaneous opening of two stores on August 30 in Bogotá, and by December 2018, they planned to have 15 stores in the country. In October 2018, MINISO opened its first store in Bolivia and reached its tenth store in that country by 2020.
In Europe, MINISO operates retail outlets in Spain, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Serbia, Armenia, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and Iceland.
In Africa, MINISO first entered Morocco in early 2017 with 15 stores in multiple cities around the kingdom, South Africa in August 2017 and Nigeria in West Africa one month later. There are also stores in Kenya and in Kampala, Uganda. As of January 2018, MINISO operated two stores in Egypt.
On August 1, 2018, MINISO opened its first store in Kuwait in the Avenues Mall Phase 4. On September 25, 2019, its second store was opened in The Avenues Mall Phase 1. On March 3, 2021, another store was opened in Marina Mall, and a fourth location opened on July 7, 2022, in Souq Sharq Mall.
File:Miniso showroom in Basundhara City Dhaka Bangladesh.jpg|thumb|Miniso outlet at Bashundhara City shopping mall, Dhaka, Bangladesh
On September 1, 2018, MINISO opened two stores in Romania and plans to open 40 more stores nationwide.
MINISO has opened more than 70 franchises in Pakistan during past three years.
On January 12, 2018, MINISO opened its first store in Bangladesh, with 29 stores currently. In October 2018, MINISO opened its first store in New Zealand, at its peak around 8 stores operated around the country. All operations were liquidated in January 2026.
In June 2019, MINISO announced it would open six more stores in Israel bringing the total to 18 by the end of the year.
On 8 November 2019, MINISO opened its first store in the United Kingdom in Ealing, a West London suburb. They then proceeded to open more stores as of December 2023; including one in Wandsworth, South London and their Central London flagship store in Oxford Street on 10 November 2023, as well as a 'MINI MINISO' concept store near Chinatown, London on 29 September 2023. In February 2024, its largest UK store opened in Camden, London.
As of January 2020, MINISO had over 3,500 stores in 79 countries, with an approximate revenue of US$2.4 billion in 2019.
In January 2021, MINISO opened its first Portuguese store in Porto, Portugal, and announced plans to open 250 stores in Spain and Portugal.
As of August 2021, MINISO had four stores in Oman, with three located in the capital city of Muscat and one store in Sohar.
In May 2023, MINISO opened its first flagship store in Times Square, New York City and also one store inside the Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, California before its first live action movie was launched, specialized to sell Barbie-themed collaboration products. In December of the same year, its 100th U.S. store opened in Orlando, Florida. One year later, MINISO opened a pop-up store in Times Square, setting a new U.S. record for sales per square foot and ranking in the top three U.S. stores in terms of sales performance. On July 21st, 2023, MINISO launches its Barbie-themed products on its flagship store and also the Chinese Mattel's office, both in Changsha, to celebrate the releases of the live action movie of Barbie. More than 100 variants of Miniso-Barbie collaboration products were launched. On October 24, 2023, MINISO opened its first flagship store in Latin America at Costanera Center in Santiago, Chile.
In December 2023, MINISO opened its first Sanrio co-branded pop-up store, located in Margo City, a shopping mall in Depok, Indonesia. On March 30, 2024, MINISO opening its largest Barbie-themed store in Berjaya Times Square, Malaysia, partnered with Mattel. On 31 August 2024, the company opened its largest store globally at Central Park Jakarta, Indonesia.
In May 2024, MINISO expanded its presence in the New York metropolitan area with the opening of its first IP collection store in New Jersey. By the end of 2024, MINISO opened its 200th store in the United States.
In June 2024, MINISO opened a flagship store on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, positioning the store as a global IP co-branded collection hub, launching more than 2,400 IP co-branded products, including Disney, Sanrio, BT21, Barbie, Harry Potter, Plants vs. Zombies, Minions, Pokémon and Peanuts.
At the end of 2024, MINISO launched a flagship project, "MINISO LAND," in Madrid, Spain, aiming to enhance brand experience through themed spaces.
In January 2025, MINISO opened a flagship store at Asiatique The Riverfront in Thailand, further expanding its presence in Southeast Asia.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, MINISO continued opening "IP-powered flagship stores" in key international markets, including Times Square in New York, Oxford Street in London, and the Champs-Élysées in Paris, showcasing collaborations with global IP brands and enhancing its international brand image.
Also in June 2024, MINISO introduced its biggest flagship store at Plaza Hollywood in Hong Kong, making it the brand's largest store in the region.