Global chains Miniso is a Chinese variety store chain that specializes in household and consumer goods including
cosmetics,
stationery, toys, and kitchenware. In 2016, the company's sales revenue reached $1.5 billion. Miniso has expanded outside of the Chinese market and operates 1,800 stores in Asia, Europe,
Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America.
Africa In Egypt, a variety store may be called a
£E2.5 shop.
Asia In Japan,
100-yen shops (百円ショップ hyaku-en shoppu or 百均 hyakkin) have proliferated since around 2001. This is considered an after-effect of a decade-long recession of the Japanese economy. Despite the emphasis on value, however, some items, such as chocolate bars, may be priced higher than they are at other stores. For a few years, 100-yen shops existed not as permanent stores, but as vendors under temporary, foldable tents. They were (and still are) typically found near the entrance areas of supermarkets. A major player in 100-yen shops is the
Daiso chain. The first store opened in 1991, and there are now around 2,400 stores in Japan. This number is increasing by around 40 stores per month. Daiso has also expanded into North America, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. In China,
¥2 (or ¥3, depending on the area's economic prosperity) shops have become a common sight in most cities. In Hong Kong, major department stores have opened their own
$10 shops (US$1.28) to compete in the market, and there are now "$8 shops" (US$1.02) and even "$2 shops" (US$0.26) competing at lower prices, especially in poorer communities. Low prices are helped by Hong Kong's lack of a sales tax and its access to the mainland. In
Taiwan, fixed price stores can be found in many locations, including night markets, regular shopping streets, regular market stalls, and department stores. Two typical price points are
NT$39 and NT$49. Given that the retail environment in Taiwan is already highly competitive, it is not unusual to see such stores fail. In India,
US Dollar Store, founded in 2003, is a pioneer of single price stores. The merchandise for pilot stores was sent from America. As sales grew over the years with more than 200 operational stores in India, the merchandise is now imported from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Spain, Portugal, UK and various other countries as well as the US. US Dollar stores were founded by entrepreneur Gaurav Sahni, owner of Nanson Overseas Private Limited. Nanson, operated by Gaurav Sahni and his brother Gautam Sahni, has had an established sourcing and consolidation network for over two decades, with supply bases worldwide. Direct sourcing without intermediaries and stocking a large variety of merchandise as and when needed has given the company an advantage.
Variety store chains in Asia • In China:
Miniso • In India:
US Dollar Store • In Japan:
Daiso, Seria, Can Do,
Don Quijote • In
Pakistan: Ghazali's HomeStore,
Imtiaz,
Carrefour • In Malaysia:
MR.DIY,
99 Speedmart, Eco-shop
Names for variety stores in Asia • 100 fils Shop in
Kuwait • 2 riyal Shop in
Saudi Arabia and other
Arabian Gulf countries • 20 Qirsh (Piastres)
Kuruş/ 50 Qirsh and 1 Dinar (US$1.4) shop in
Jordan. • 25
Liras (Pounds)/ 50 Liras (US $0.5 - 1) in
Syria - before 2011 • 100-
yen shop or one coin shop in
Japan • 10-dollar shop (US$1.28), 8-dollar shop, etc. in
Hong Kong • 1000 Won shop in
South Korea • 88 or 99 Peso store in
Philippines • 49 & 99 shop in
India • Hakol Bedollar (everything for a Dollar) in
Israel • Ghazali's HomeStore in
Pakistan • Всё по 100 рублей (English: Everything at 100 rubles) in
Russia • 10 or 20 Baht shop in
Thailand • 2-
ringgit stores in
Malaysia Central America Variety stores in
Guatemala include Dollar City.
Europe European Union • In
Belgium, chains include
Action,
HEMA, and
Zeeman. • In
Denmark:
Tiger, a pun on the word for the Danish ten-
krone coin, opened in the mid-nineties in
Copenhagen and has since spread to other countries • In
France:
Action,
HEMA,
Uniprix,
M. 1-2-3.
Zeeman • In
Germany, there are
ToBi (, "Totally Inexpensive") stores where most items cost one or two Euro or less. Other chains include
Action,
EuroShop,
HEMA,
Mäc-Geiz (240 stores),
Pfennigland,
Pfennigpfeiffer (110 stores),
TEDi (1400 stores across Europe), Thomas Philipps (200 stores), and
Zeeman • In
Greece: 300 (300
drachmas, €0.90) • In
Hungary there are
100 forintos bolt ("100
forints store") stores, but they do not form a single chain, instead of being operated by small, independent companies. • In
Ireland:
EuroGiant,
Dealz • In
Italy:
UPIM • In
Luxembourg:
HEMA,
Zeeman • In
Malta:
Tal-Lira • In the
Netherlands:
HEMA chain started in the
Netherlands, sold goods using standard prices of 10, 25 or 50 cents, and later also 75 and 100 cents. After
World War II, this model could not be sustained and the standard pricing system was abandoned. HEMA is the abbreviation of
Hollandish standardized prices company (). The HEMA had some 500 Dutch stores in 2011 and also operates in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Since 2016 the chain is expanding in to other European countries such as
Spain and the
United Kingdom. Other chains include
Action,
Big Bazar,
Euroland, and
Zeeman. • In
Portugal there were
Trezentos shops (300 escudos, €1.50), but with the introduction of the Euro currency, this designation is not used nowadays and the terms 'bazar' or 'euro store' are preferred. Chains include
Eupoupo - Tudo a €0,99 ou €1,49 • In
Spain there are
Todo a 100 shops ("everything for 100
pesetas" (€0.60)), although due to the introduction of the euro and inflation, most products cost a multiple of €0.60 or €1. Most of these shops maintain their name in
pesetas, and most of them have been renamed as
Casi todo a 100 ("almost everything for 100 [pesetas]"),
Todo a 100, 300, 500 y más ("everything for 100, 300, 500 or more") or
Todo a un euro. Colloquially, the expression
todo a 100 implies that something is either cheap, kitsch or low quality. • In
Sweden: Bubbeltian, called by some Tian, a colloquialism for ten
kronor, US$1.20. Another chain that has been spreading in Sweden during the last seven years is
Dollarstore, a chain where everything costs either 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and steps of 50 up to 500 kr.
Russia In Russia,
Fix Price started selling all its items at 30 roubles and as the business grew, up to 55 roubles. It has now cancelled this practice and has become a typical
discount store).
United Kingdom Marks & Spencer opened a stall in Kirkgate Market Leeds in 1884, proclaiming "Don’t ask the price, it’s a ’Penny".
Woolworths opened its first store in the United Kingdom in 1909, when they were also colloquially known as "
threepenny and
sixpenny" stores, "3
d and 6d" being displayed on the shops' frontages. More modern counterparts include
B&M,
Boyes,
Home Bargains,
OneBeyond,
Poundland and
Poundstretcher.
Names for variety stores in Europe • 1
milyoncu in Turkey • 100 forintos bolt in Hungary • 3,8 RON shop in Romania • Всичко по 1
лев in Bulgaria • Euro store, €2 store, etc. in the
Eurozone • Euroshop or 1-Euro-Shop in Germany • Loja dos 300 in Portugal (300
pre-euro escudos = €1.5) • Magasin à prix unique (one price store) in France • Max20 (kroner) in Norway •
Pound shop, 99p shop, etc. in the United Kingdom • Sve po 8/10/12 kuna in Croatia • Sve za 79/99/100 dinara (Everything for 79/99/100 dinars) in Serbia • Tal-Lira in Malta (lira was Malta's pre-
euro currency) • Todo a 100, 20 duros and SuperCien in Spain (cien = 100 pre-euro pesetas = €0.60) • Wszystko za 5 złotych in Poland
North America According to IBISWorld, dollar stores have grown 43 percent since 1998 and have become a $56 billion industry.
Colliers International claims there are more dollar stores than drug stores. With stores of other types closing in large numbers, dollar stores often replace other types of stores in shopping centers. They succeed partly because of
impulse purchases. The common term in North America for a small general merchandise store is
general store.
US five and dime stores , the first store of what would eventually become
Walmart.
Frank Winfield Woolworth had seen the success in
Michigan and
western New York of so-called
nickel stores, where everything cost five cents (a
nickel). On February 22, 1879, Woolworth opened his
Great Five Cent Store in
Utica, New York, which created the American institution of the "five and dime", and became the
F. W. Woolworth Company. There were many names for this type of store: • five and ten cent store, five and ten, five and dime (a
dime is the name of a US ten-cent coin). • dime store • 5, 10 & 25c stores • five cent to one dollar stores Before Woolworth, the prevailing thought was that an entire store could not maintain itself with low-priced goods only, but with Woolworth's success, many others followed their lead. Well-known dime store companies included: •
Ben Franklin Stores •
Butler Brothers •
Duckwall-ALCO •
G. C. Murphy •
H. L. Green •
J. G. McCrory's •
J. J. Newberry's •
John's Bargain Store •
McLellan Stores •
Morgan and Lindsey •
Neisner's •
S. H. Kress & Co. •
S. S. Kresge Co. •
Sprouse-Reitz •
TG&Y •
Walton's Five and Dime •
W. T. Grant •
Woolworth's Of these, only Ben Franklin continues to exist in this form, while Kresge became
Kmart and Walton's became
Walmart. Beginning around the 1960s, others tried the larger "
discount store" format, such as TG&Y Family Centers,
W. T. Grant, and Woolworth's
Woolco stores. With suburbanization in the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shopped more and more in malls rather than downtown shopping districts and although Newberry's and Woolworth's stores did open in the malls, starting around the 1970s, variety stores lost business to other retail formats such as office stores, low-price shoe chains, fabric stores, toy stores and discount drug stores such as
Thrifty Drug Stores. Grocery stores and drug stores sold more and more candy. The last US Woolworth's closed in 1997. Newberry's was sold to McCrory, who maintained the brand, in 1972; McCrory itself went bankrupt in 1992 and all its brands disappeared in 2002.
Dollar stores in
Gillette, Wyoming Starting in the late 1990s, dollar stores expanded enough to gain the attention of the national press. They were popular not only for their value but because freestanding smaller stores were located in small towns, downtowns, and across the cities and suburbs, they were often more convenient than mall stores. They continued to grow and by 2019, for example,
Dollar Tree had higher annual sales than
Macy's. Dollar and variety store revenue reached $77 billion in 2018. As of 2018, main dollar store chains in the U.S. were
Dollar General,
Dollar Tree, (which owned
Family Dollar In Canada:
A Buck or Two (163+),
Dollarama (1,095),
Dollar Tree Canada (226),
Five Below (522)
Names for variety stores in North America •
Dollar store, $1.25 store, 99-cent store, etc. in the United States and Canada plus other names. Dollar store is used predominantly, even when the maximum price is higher than one dollar. Some chains emphasize that the price is an even amount: $2, $5, etc., instead of having odd, "uneven" prices. • Dólar y Algo Extra, La Reina, Almacenes Caravana in
Puerto Rico •
dime store •
Five and Dime •
Five and Ten •
Nickel and Dime •
Nickel and Ten •
5 y 10 in Puerto Rico, and in Mexico (5 and 10 pesos, or 5 and ten U.S. cents in border cities) - incidentally,
Cinco y Diez, meaning "Five and Ten" in Spanish, became an inner-suburban shopping district in Tijuana
Oceania • In
Australia the main variety stores now consist of
The Reject Shop,
Daiso, Shiploads (in
Tasmania),
Silly Solly's, and a variety of smaller chains and independent shops. Former chains include
Crazy Clark's,
Homeart,
Sam's Warehouse,
Clint's Crazy Bargains,
Go-Lo and
Chickenfeed. • In
New Zealand: The $2 Shop, 1 2 3 Dollar Shop, and Coin Save
Names for variety stores in Oceania • The $2 shop in
Australia and
New Zealand • Cheap Shop in Australia only
South America In Argentina, variety stores are called
todo por dos pesos (everything for 2 pesos). Brazilians sometimes use the expression
um e noventa e nove (
R$ 1,99) to refer to cheap, low quality things or even people. In
Chile, they are called
todo a mil (referring to the one thousand Chilean pesos banknote). They are commonly located in middle-class neighbourhoods where big retail stores don't usually venture and in small commercial districts like the ones in
Santiago. Variety stores in
Colombia include Dollar City (Colombia version of Dollarama), D1, Ara,
Miniso In South America, variety stores may be known as: • Dolarazo (US$1.00) and Cincuentazo (US$0.50) in
Ecuador • Loja de 1,99 (
R$ 1,99 = US$1.07) in
Brazil • Todo por 23 pesos in
Uruguay (23 pesos = US$1) • Todo por dos Pesos in
Argentina (1 peso = US$0.32) ==See also==