Easton Town Center is about to get a lot more colorful. MINISO, the Chinese lifestyle retailer known for its budget home goods and character merchandise, plans to open MINISO Land inside the Station building at Easton, a roughly 15,000-square-foot store built around blind boxes, collectibles and themed zones dedicated to characters like Stitch and Peanuts.
The concept is a sharp departure from the small-format MINISO shops shoppers may remember from years past. According to WhatNow Columbus, MINISO Land is designed as an experiential large-format retail concept that combines shopping with entertainment, and the Columbus location will be among the company's first such stores in the country. The store will sit on Level 1 of the Station building near Bath & Body Works, per the same report, and will feature MINISO-owned characters alongside collectibles, trinkets and other themed products.
MINISO USA CEO Tom Bartlebaugh has not announced an official opening date, but the company's own press release points to late September or early October, according to WhatNow. The outlet reported that MINISO had not provided additional comment at the time of publication, though the company has said it will share more details as it prepares to open the new store.
An Amazon Style Space Gets a New Life
The MINISO Land footprint replaces space previously occupied by Amazon Style, and it will share a reconfigured concourse with upcoming fall openings for Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn Kids, according to Chain Store Age. Developer Steiner + Associates has been reclaiming experimental retail spaces across Easton to build out multi-tenant storefronts, the trade publication notes.
It's a fitting site for a splashy new concept. Easton Town Center was just named the No. 1 Retail Center Experience in America for 2026 by Chain Store Age, the fourth time the shopping district has earned that distinction since 2018. The center spans roughly 1.7 million square feet with a 99% occupancy rate and draws more than 18 million visitors a year, according to Easton Town Center Development, which also notes the property employs roughly 30,000 workers daily across its retail and office footprint.
Betting Big on Original Characters
MINISO's push into large-format, character-driven retail comes as the company builds out its own stable of proprietary intellectual property rather than relying solely on licensed brands. Alongside Stitch and Peanuts displays, MINISO Land will highlight the company's original IP portfolio, including characters like YOYO, Kumaru, Carrot Street and Angry Aimee, per WhatNow's reporting. YOYO, described as a character with a pumpkin-shaped head and dot eyes, launched in 2025 and generated $14 million in global sales within six months of its debut, according to License Global.
The character made its North American debut this past June through a 10,000-square-foot exhibition at New York's Grand Central Terminal, featuring a 40-foot centerpiece and 50 life-sized statues, License Global reported. MINISO Land represents the company's largest store tier, built around a 70% to 80% intellectual property product mix, according to Future Commerce, which sits above the 8,000-square-foot MINISO Friends stores and standard 5,000-to-7,000-square-foot open-air locations that make up most of the chain's U.S. footprint.
The strategy has already paid off overseas. At MINISO's flagship MINISO Land store on Shanghai's Nanjing Road, licensed and proprietary IP products accounted for 83% of all store sales in August 2025, a figure reported by Doing Business in Bentonville that set a single-month sales record for the retailer globally.
Part of a Bigger National Push
Columbus isn't the only market on MINISO's radar. Future Commerce reports that Bartlebaugh has outlined plans for a 15,000-square-foot MINISO Land on Las Vegas Boulevard in the first half of 2027, part of a broader corporate goal of 12 flagship MINISO Land stores across major U.S. markets. MINISO USA also plans to open larger stores alongside anchors like Walmart, Target and Ulta as it expands its larger-format footprint nationwide, per WhatNow.
The Columbus opening arrives as MINISO's U.S. business is riding a wave of momentum. The retailer was just named number one on the National Retail Federation's Hot 25 Retailers list after posting 52.6% year-over-year U.S. sales growth, outpacing chains like Dick's Sporting Goods and Costco on the Kantar-compiled ranking, according to Branding in Asia. By the end of 2025, the company operated 351 stores across the country after opening 76 new locations that year, with loyalty program members generating more than half of total U.S. sales for the first time as membership grew over 150% year-over-year.
Globally, MINISO Group Holding Limited operated 8,565 stores as of March 31, 2026, generating first-quarter revenue of $824.6 million, a 28.5% year-over-year increase. Whether Columbus shoppers embrace original, Chinese-developed character IP the way they've embraced established domestic franchises remains an open question, and MINISO has yet to confirm the exact fall opening date for its Easton store.
Easton has seen plenty of tenant turnover in recent months, including a family pho spot's Short North move, and MINISO itself has been expanding into other regional open-air centers, including a location that opened earlier this year alongside CAVA, Mister O1 and Fat Rosie's at Waterford Lakes. For now, Columbus shoppers will have to wait for MINISO to lock in a firm date before the blind boxes start moving off the shelves.
