Chinese discount retailer Yoyoso is opening dozens of locations across Canada
Chinese brand YOYOSO is officially coming to Canada — and stores are opening this spring.
The beloved discount retailer sells a variety of goods, including pastel-coloured notebooks, faux-leather purses, playful home accessories, and popular Asian snacks such as Chocky Butter.
YOYOSO is opening 30-40 locations in Canada, depending on the success of the initial few stores; the first store will open at the Southland Shopping Centre in Regina on March 1, spanning 2000 square feet of retail space.
The Southland Shopping Centre described the store as a "beautiful boutique" that "advocates International Fast Fashion Life Style."
Founded in 2014, YOYOSO now operates more than 1,000 stores in 36 countries worldwide. Markets include parts of Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe.
The retailer sells a total of 5,000 products created by more than 100 designers. The store also adds 500 new products each month.
The Chinese retailer's main selling point isn't its variety of items, but rather its prices; items typically range from a loonie to ten dollars, so you won't be blowing your weekly wages on a new pair of headphones.
YOYOSO isn't the first Chinese retailer to land in Canada; Miniso (which positions itself as Japanese) opened its doors in 2017, and Mumuso, (which positions itself as being Korean) entered the Vancouver market soon after.
Yet another brand, Ximivogue, set up multiple locations in Toronto in February 2019.
With so many new Chinese retail stores entering the market, it begs the question: why are they so popular?
Well, it's largely due to the fact that Canada's Asian demographic is on the rise; China was the second biggest contributor of immigrants in 2019, with more than 30,000 Chinese nationals becoming Canadian citizens.
Similarly, Canada welcomed more than 700,000 Chinese tourists in 2019. With the Chinese population in Canada on the rise, there's simply more demand for stores such as YOYOSO.
Over the past three years, more than 110 international brands have opened stores in Canada.
With so many Chinese discount retailers entering the market, Canadian brands such as Dollarama can certainly expect to see increased competition.
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