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MINISO opens first store in Italy

Miniso Italy

Lifestyle product retailer MINISO has announced the opening of its first store in Italy, conducting a soft opening which started on 8th April, and plans to open three more stores this month with their flagship store in the pipeline for a mid-2021 opening.

SEE ALSO : EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with MINISO about global expansion

With the hope of deliveringfhigh-quality, affordable products to residents in the neighborhood during the pandemic, MINISO opened its first store in Italy at Via Tuscolana 865, a residential area in central Rome with convenient access to transportation.

The first day of the soft opening attracted a queue of consumers. Strictly followed the local epidemic prevention regulations, the store limited in-store shoppers to a maximum of 14 at a time, which however did not affect customers’ interest to discover MINISO products. Many people chose to wait in queue outside the store. With 80% of products priced within the US$8.37 per unit range, the store reported an average spend of US$29.54 per order that day.

“MINISO’s products are very competitive in terms of design, price and quality,” said Shimon Ladkani, Vice President of MINISO Italy,

“MINISO has created a friendly and relaxing environment in its stores, making shopping in the stores a pleasant experience for customers. This is a feature that will certainly be appreciated by consumers in Italy,” continued Ladkani.

Mr. Ladkani, who is also a well-known clothing distributor in Italy, has for years provided service and support to popular local clothing chain brands such as Zuiki, Clayton, and Nuna Lie. With plenty of storefront, channel and franchisee partner resources, Mr. Ladkani is confident in MINISO’s market expansion in Italy.

Hot on the heels of the first store opening in Rome, MINISO will open another three stores this April, including one in Catania, one in the Euroma 2 Shopping Mall in Rome, and another one in Centro Commerciale Aprilia 2 in Latina. The MINISO flagship store is set to open in June in Porta di Roma Shopping Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in Rome.

SEE ALSO : EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with MINISO’s CMO

Despite the pandemic, MINISO has continued its expansion in Europe and entered multiple new markets in 2020, opening its first stores in Malta, Iceland, France, Portugal and more areas.

In addition to new market entries, it also added more stores to its existing markets. Earlier this month, MINISO opened its 27th store in Spain, showing the brand’s great potential amidst industry-wide scaling back and closings.