By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
On August 11th, The Vancouver Sun revealed that the Chinese-Japanese retailer MINISO is setting up shop on Granville Street, with more operations to follow. A week later, I was in town to attend a concert and happened to walk by it on my way to my hotel. My weekend visit to this metropolis was much-needed since home is a tiny town, with hardly any operation offering quality dollar store valued goods I am regularly after. As I entered the doors, the cheerful energy from the staff and vibrant colours in the variety of products found throughout impressed me.
At first, I thought I was walking into a business filled with products for ladies. Health and beauty products were the first items I saw. A bit of wandering around had me discovering items I can use for my travelling office and sojourns into the wilderness. The space is not all that huge (even though it measured 4900 square feet). I thought I was walking into a LEGO store given its style of decor. I bought myself a 11-piece Swiss Army Knife for a fantastic price of $4.95.
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