A fast growing Chinese lifestyle retailer offering everything from Marvel merchandise to cosmetics and kitchenware is opening its first store in Kent.
Lifestyle brand MINISO will be ditching its signature pink look in favour of its first ever blue-themed store at Bluewater shopping centre next month.
The low-cost retailer, which has branches around the world, specialises in household and consumer goods.
It will be bringing some nostalgia to the Greenhithe mall with the sale of eighties and nineties toys, Hello Kitty goods, Care Bears and Tamagotchis, among other product ranges.
Spanning over 2,000 sq ft, MINISO’s new location is offering the first 300 customers through the doors a complimentary goody bag valued at £25 with any purchase when it opens on June 7 at 12pm.
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There will also be a live DJ and shoppers will have the chance to meet the lovable mascot PenPen.
James Waugh, centre director at Bluewater, said: “We’re delighted to welcome such an innovative brand as MINISO to our retail line-up, we are sure that MINISO will make a great addition to the centre.”
The new store will feature all the global lifestyle retailer’s best-selling products, including plushies and popular blind boxes, which have proved popular on social platform TikTok.
Saad Usman, chief operating officer at MINISO UK, said: “Unveiling the first-ever Blue store at Bluewater Shopping Centre marks an exciting new chapter for us.
“This is our third store opening of 2024, with more to come as we expand our presence across the UK.
“As the very first MINISO store in Kent, we’re thrilled to bring the blue to Bluewater and spread joy to more premier shopping centre destinations.”
Located on the Lower Thames Walk, opposite Foot Locker, it will also be one of the few MINISO stores in the UK to selling its latest beauty and self-care range, including face masks, hand creams, and lip masks.
MINISO started in China but now operates 4,200 stores in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America.
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In 2019 the retailer launched its first UK store in Ealing before opening further branches in ther capital, including in Oxford Street in 2023, and most recently, Stratford Westfield.
Bluewater is the company’s 27th UK store.