Over the weekend, MINISO marked a new chapter in its Canadian expansion with the grand opening of its largest store in the country at West Edmonton Mall. The 12,000 square foot Miniso Land flagship, designed with a distinctive train-themed façade and multiple immersive zones, drew a sizable crowd and, according to the company, set a new Canadian record for first-day sales. The debut underscores MINISO’s global push toward experiential, IP-driven retail and confirms Edmonton as a strategic market for the brand’s next-generation concept.
“This is going to be the biggest store in the country, at least twice the size of our largest existing location, and ten times bigger than a regular MINISO,” said Khalid Aberhouch, CEO of MINISO Canada, in a pre-opening interview. “The experience for customers will be something truly special.”
Shoppers enter through a playful, rail-station motif that sets the tone for a store built around discovery and repeat visits. Inside, the format leans into MINISO’s growing slate of entertainment partnerships with Sanrio, Disney and Harry Potter, alongside the company’s owned IPs, Gift Bear & Friends and YOYO. The selection exceeds 5,000 SKUs, ranging from plush and blind boxes to lifestyle accessories, beauty and novelty snacks.
“The store had really good flow and unique zones,” said Christopher Lui, Retail Insider’s Edmonton correspondent, who attended opening day. “There was a beauty zone, a toy zone, an IP collection zone, a souvenirs area and a snacks section. Each section was well spaced and bright, so it could accommodate lots of customers and still feel inviting.”
Lui described the environment as “a candy land for merchandise,” with multiple photo moments and oversized character features that anchor the layout. “You could literally spend hours there,” he said. “They even sell specialty snacks, including ice cream, that you do not find in many other places.”
The Miniso Land model arrives in Canada
While the exterior signage simply reads MINISO, the Edmonton flagship is the first Canadian execution of the brand’s large-format Miniso Land model. The format has been piloted in Asia and Europe, and it emphasizes a much wider assortment of IP merchandise than the company’s smaller shops. The scale enables full worlds for each franchise rather than a single feature table.
“In a store like this we can expand into a much greater variety of IP blind boxes and licensed collections,” Aberhouch explained. “Customers will find choices here that they simply cannot see in a regular store. We set up eight to ten tables at the entrance dedicated to different IPs, and themed wall sections extend the storytelling throughout the space.”
Aberhouch added that the design budget reflects the ambition. “Just the design and materials will cost around one million dollars. It is a huge commitment, but our research shows it is worth it,” he said. Fixtures are engineered for frequent refreshes, which means the visual presentation will change several times a year so that local shoppers always encounter something new.
Opening-day energy, record results and a family-friendly appeal
MINISO leaned into spectacle for the launch. The brand’s character troupe Gift Bear & Friends made its Canadian debut with a performance that drew enthusiastic fans, and early shoppers shared the floor with hundreds of families and collectors. The company reported that opening-day sales at MINISO West Edmonton Mall set a national record for first-day performance, a data point that aligns with the centre’s robust footfall and the brand’s pop-culture strategy.
Retail Insider’s Christopher Lui said the mix clearly speaks to both dedicated collectors and casual browsers. “If you are into Sanrio or Disney, you will find deep collections,” he said. “Blind boxes are a big part of the appeal. Some run to forty or fifty dollars, and collectors come back for new releases or to complete a set. The staff also mentioned timed drops around film launches, so the assortment feels timely and connected to pop culture.”
He added that the location, overlooking the Ice Palace on Level One, provides natural visibility and traffic. “It has a big entrance and a huge character feature right in the heart of the store that draws people in. You can see it clearly from the second level, which helps with discovery and repeat visits.”
Why West Edmonton Mall, and why now
For Aberhouch, the site choice was straightforward. “West Edmonton Mall is one of the best in Canada,” he said. “It is not easy to find a landlord who can provide ten to twelve thousand square feet in a prime location, and we wanted incredible traffic and visibility. The Ice Palace location is perfect.”
The timing also matters. Opening in early November gives the store a critical runway into the holiday season when categories like plush, collectibles and novelty accessories build momentum. The team anticipates a staffing ramp of at least 40 associates during peak periods, with 15 to 20 on the sales floor daily to manage traffic, restocking and customer service.
The store’s five primary zones, as described by Lui, are designed to optimize that traffic. Shoppers move from a high-impact IP entrance into toys and beauty, then toward snacks and a localized souvenirs area. The layout intentionally supports longer dwell times through browsing prompts, photo backdrops and a claw machine area that adds a game-like layer to the visit.
From variety shop to IP powerhouse
MINISO entered Canada in 2017 with a value-meets-design proposition focused on private-label essentials and giftable novelties. In recent years, the brand has evolved into an IP-led lifestyle retailer, increasingly defined by collaborations with major entertainment franchises. The MINISO West Edmonton Mall flagship illustrates that pivot at scale, creating a self-contained world where licensed storytelling is the primary driver of discovery and purchase.
“These kinds of stores let us present multiple character worlds side by side, each with its own décor and atmosphere,” Aberhouch said. “We want customers to be able to walk from one world to another in a single visit.”
The model appears to be resonating. The company says it has seen outsized results from high-traffic locations and from pop-ups that tested deeper IP assortments. “We opened a very successful store at Union Station and piloted a pop-up in Toronto that performed ten times above expectations,” Aberhouch said. “So far, so good. We believe West Edmonton Mall will be another strong proof point.”
Assortment depth and the blind box economy
The flagship’s assortment strategy leans heavily on collectibles and plush, with regular drops that sync to global entertainment calendars. Lui said customers were already asking about upcoming film tie-ins. “Staff mentioned Zootopia as an example of a collection that would coincide with a release,” he said. “That sense of anticipation encourages return visits because there is always something new incoming.”
Blind boxes, a category in which shoppers purchase sealed packages to reveal a character at random, add a gamified element to the experience. The chase for rarer figures fuels repeat purchases, and the Edmonton store’s deeper assortments provide multiple series to collect. “Collectors will absolutely come back,” Lui said. “The prices vary and some sets are rare, so people work to complete them.”
Local flavour, national reach
The store incorporates cues to Edmonton and to Canada more broadly, from themed décor at the entrance to a curated souvenirs area that targets locals and tourists. The goal is to anchor a global brand in a regional context while keeping the product engine global and fast-moving.
“We want to include everything, not only products that come from Asia,” Aberhouch said. “We are collaborating with local players in Canada and with partners in the United States, Korea, Japan and Europe. The idea is a wider variety that can attract every single person who walks in.”
That inclusivity extends to demographics. Historically, MINISO’s Canadian traffic has skewed young, with the twelve-to-thirty-five segment representing the vast majority of customers. Aberhouch said the team is broadening the mix so that families and older shoppers find more to explore. “We want the very young and the very old to enjoy the store as much as the core fan,” he said. “So far the results have been very positive.”
Supply chain and scale
Behind the scenes, MINISO is building infrastructure to support growth. The company plans to surpass 100 Canadian stores by the end of 2025 and continues to evaluate new locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, with additional sites under consideration in other provinces. To reduce replenishment times, MINISO is investing in a second warehouse in British Columbia to complement its Greater Toronto Area facility, a move that should improve delivery speed to Western Canada and enable tighter coordination for new releases.
“The more you open, the more efficiently you can divide costs and accelerate logistics,” Aberhouch said. “We want BC stores to receive hot items within a day or two rather than waiting weeks.”
Although the brand has historically operated a mix of corporate-owned and franchised stores in Canada, Aberhouch emphasized that future growth will focus on directly operated locations in order to maintain consistent execution and customer service. He credited his Canadian team with building the foundation for that expansion. “I am very proud of our people in Canada,” he said. “They are hardworking and engaged across every department, from operations and merchandising to marketing and logistics.”
West Edmonton Mall as an innovation stage
For West Edmonton Mall, the opening adds another high-profile experiential retailer to an ecosystem that blends shopping with entertainment. The centre reports over 30 million visits annually and houses more than 800 shops alongside attractions that range from skating and aquatic experiences to themed hotels. MINISO’s entrance near the Ice Palace positions the store in a natural flow of family traffic, and its visibility from the upper level helps with wayfinding and casual discovery.
Lui expects the location to benefit further once the area’s transit projects advance. “When the LRT opens, the bus terminal and transit terminal are expected to shift back to that entrance,” he said. “That will concentrate flow near MINISO, which should be a long-term positive.”
