Lifestyle

The lesser-known high street store with prices from £1 giving Primark a run for its money


Looking for low-cost beauty essentials and homeware? (Picture: Miniso/RICHARD HANSON)

From affordable homeware to beauty essentials to accessories, Primark has long been one of the go-to high street destinations for affordability.

But there’s one lesser-known shop taking over UK streets and shopping centres alike that’s slowly becoming the talk of the town, stocking everything from lamps to kitchen accessories to storage solutions.

Ever heard of Miniso? Starting out in China as a chain specialising in household and consumer goods, it’s since expanded worldwide to include more than 6,000 shops across 100 countries.

In the UK alone, there are already 26 stores, including one on London’s Oxford Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, and Camden, as well as locations in Brighton, Basingstoke, Cambridge, Manchester and Leeds.

It’s known for its collaborations with brands like Sanrio(Picture: Miniso/RICHARD HANSON)

And there’s more to come yet, as the brand has submitted plans to open a store on the bustling Princes Street in Edinburgh, which would mark the first of its kind in Scotland.  

So, what can you get at Miniso? Prices start as small as £1, including things like lemon-patterned wire storage baskets and dustproof containers, so if you’re looking to add a few trinkets to your home office, now’s your chance.

Need to up your cleaning game? There’s plenty in this realm on offer, including handsomely priced cleaning brushes and sponges, as well as Hello Kitty-themed teaspoons, bento boxes and cookie cutters for the wider kitchen cupboard.

If you’re already looking to plan ahead for the spookiest season of the year, there are Halloween offers in the likes of ghost string lights (£4), pumpkin ceramic cups (£2.25), bunting (£2.50) and even a paint-your-own cat head sweet jar (£2.25).  

One shopper labelled Miniso ‘the cutest thing’ she’d ever seen (Picture: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Miniso is famed for its brand collaborations, with ranges including Sanrio, Barbie, Minions, Pokémon and Disney, as well as the popular ‘blind box,’ which gives shoppers the chance to purchase a goody bag with a bunch of mystery offerings, including the Shrek (£13.99), Sanrio characters (£11), and My Melody Afternoon Tea collections (£19).

As such, there’s been plenty of hype on social media about Miniso – with many fawning over the collabs in particular.

‘This store is literally the cutest thing I’ve ever been in,’ @freyaheath told her TikTok fans of her visit to the brand’s Trafford Centre location up in Manchester.

The brand had a Chiikawa-themed pop-up store in Chengdu earlier this year (Picture: Yuan Kejia/VCG via Getty Images)

‘The little keyrings that they had – I wanted to buy them all. They also had these little figures you could get, and they did Toy Story, [Lilo and] Stitch, Disney Princess, Care Bears…they were just too cute.’

Elsewhere, @gothiquegirly filmed herself taking her partner to a Miniso store, joking: ‘me taking him to the pinkest, cutest, girliest store in the mall,’ while @rinawyd said: ‘buying everything my girlfriend touches from Miniso.’

Three words: take our money.

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