Miniso stores, like this one in Singapore, typically stock more than 8,000 low-priced items, ranging from cosmetics to toys. The company aims to introduce 100 new items each week. (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)

Chinese retailer Miniso shows strains in dash for global growth

Toasted for New York IPO and Paris debut, trendy discounter hits bumps elsewhere

CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer

November 27, 2020 06:10 JST

SHANGHAI -- The Parisian district known as the 8th arrondissement is famous for the showcase luxury stores of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

China's Miniso Group is hardly in their league. Yet last month, fresh on the heels of its successful $608 million initial public offering in New York, the first French outlet for Miniso's signature mix of cheap but trendy household goods opened just outside the district, between the flagship department stores Printemps Haussmann and Galeries Lafayette, under a franchise deal with Jonathan Siboni, head of a local luxury retail consultancy.