A trendy Asian lifestyle chain opens in North Korea
WHEN Miniso said in January that its stores would “bring the happiness of stress-free shopping to the Koreans”, you would be forgiven for thinking they were referring to emporium-loving Seoulites. In fact, the home-goods store, co-founded by a Chinese entrepreneur and a Japanese designer, was announcing that it would be taking its capitalist trinkets into (ostensibly socialist) North Korea. In a joint-venture deal with one of the country’s state-owned enterprises, it agreed to establish the first foreign-branded chain store in Pyongyang, the destitute country’s showcase capital.
The first Miniso store opened there in April, eight months after its first shop in South Korea began operating, and just before it launched in America. Its arrival is remarkable in a place where displays of branding are rare (the exception is a handful of billboards advertising a local car firm, Pyeonghwa Motors).
