Here's why hundreds queued for MINISO opening at Braehead
The global retailer - which sells toys, homeware, figurines, plushies and viral blind boxes - welcomed its first customers at noon today at Braehead Shopping Centre.
People of all ages gathered for the ribbon cutting and minutes after, the crowd slowly flowed into the ground floor unit.
Some fans were waiting since as early as 8.30am and the sea of people stretched back all the way to the food court.
READ NEXT: MINISO hosting grand opening at Braehead shopping centre
Hundreds queue as MINISO opens at Braehead Shopping Centre, Glasgow (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Crowds at Braehead Shopping Centre (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times)
Shannon in the queue (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times)
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Shannon, 19, from Milngavie, arrived with her mum and auntie.
She said: "It's one of my favourite stores. I've been to one in America, it was amazing.
"I am so excited for the opening, I will be back here all the time now."
Ellie, 21, and Charlie, 23, came along to the event from the Southside of Glasgow.
They queued for around an hour and a half to get their hands on some Sanrio items.
Ellie said: "They have the best stuff and, obviously, we haven't had that yet, so I am buzzing for this.
"I have been to the MINISO store in London and it was incredible.
"I have high expectations, this is the first one I will have ever been to in Scotland."
Ellie and Charlie (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times)
Staff at the MINISO store (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times)
Gem, Kay and Beth, all in their twenties, came from the city as well.
They were most excited to buy some Miku and Kuromi objects.
Gem said: "My friends are a little bit more well-versed in it than me. I say I came for moral support but I will definitely end up spending too much money."
Beth added: "Yes, I set myself a limit of £60, that is what I am aiming to spend, no more."
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Gen, Kay and Beth (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Happy shoppers (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times)
Ashely Bisland, centre director at Braehead Shopping Centre: "We're absolutely thrilled to officially welcome MINISO to Braehead.
"The incredible turnout today, with hundreds of eager visitors queuing before doors opened, speaks volumes about the excitement and anticipation surrounding this launch.
"MINISO is a vibrant and unique addition to our retail mix, and we're proud to offer our shoppers a destination where fun, affordable, and stylish products come to life.
"We can't wait to see the community embrace everything MINISO has to offer.'
MINISO currently has a store on Edinburgh's Princes Street.
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Glasgow Times
14 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Here's why hundreds queued for MINISO opening at Braehead
The global retailer - which sells toys, homeware, figurines, plushies and viral blind boxes - welcomed its first customers at noon today at Braehead Shopping Centre. People of all ages gathered for the ribbon cutting and minutes after, the crowd slowly flowed into the ground floor unit. Some fans were waiting since as early as 8.30am and the sea of people stretched back all the way to the food court. READ NEXT: MINISO hosting grand opening at Braehead shopping centre Hundreds queue as MINISO opens at Braehead Shopping Centre, Glasgow (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Crowds at Braehead Shopping Centre (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Shannon in the queue (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) READ NEXT: Fashion giant announces first Glasgow store to open in Silverburn Shannon, 19, from Milngavie, arrived with her mum and auntie. She said: "It's one of my favourite stores. I've been to one in America, it was amazing. "I am so excited for the opening, I will be back here all the time now." Ellie, 21, and Charlie, 23, came along to the event from the Southside of Glasgow. They queued for around an hour and a half to get their hands on some Sanrio items. Ellie said: "They have the best stuff and, obviously, we haven't had that yet, so I am buzzing for this. "I have been to the MINISO store in London and it was incredible. "I have high expectations, this is the first one I will have ever been to in Scotland." Ellie and Charlie (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Staff at the MINISO store (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Gem, Kay and Beth, all in their twenties, came from the city as well. They were most excited to buy some Miku and Kuromi objects. Gem said: "My friends are a little bit more well-versed in it than me. I say I came for moral support but I will definitely end up spending too much money." Beth added: "Yes, I set myself a limit of £60, that is what I am aiming to spend, no more." READ NEXT: 'Iconic' car retailer popular with celebrities to open showroom in Glasgow Gen, Kay and Beth (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Happy shoppers (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) (Image: GordonTerris_Herald&Times) Ashely Bisland, centre director at Braehead Shopping Centre: "We're absolutely thrilled to officially welcome MINISO to Braehead. "The incredible turnout today, with hundreds of eager visitors queuing before doors opened, speaks volumes about the excitement and anticipation surrounding this launch. "MINISO is a vibrant and unique addition to our retail mix, and we're proud to offer our shoppers a destination where fun, affordable, and stylish products come to life. "We can't wait to see the community embrace everything MINISO has to offer.' MINISO currently has a store on Edinburgh's Princes Street.
Reuters
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The Herald Scotland
21 hours ago
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Commuting by bus from Edinburgh's suburbs is awful. Here's my solution
This week's Herald investigation into The Future of Edinburgh serves as a timely reminder of the capital's national importance. Edinburgh is the beating economic heart of the country. With one of the strongest records on Gross Value Added in the UK, Edinburgh is making the money required to fix the other struggling cities and towns around it. And a massive part of Edinburgh's economic success lies in its ability to efficiently move workers into and around the city. Read more by Andy Maciver I have lived in Edinburgh for about 40 of my 45 years, with my only absences being short stints in Glasgow and Dundee. I grew up in Currie; not much over 5 miles from the city centre, it is pretty much the dictionary definition of a suburb. Growing up, the borders of my world were close; my primary concern was getting to school, which I did on foot or by bike. However my father worked in town, and normally relied on the bus. Looking back now, that journey on the Red 44 or the Green 66 was relatively easy because we lived close to the Lanark Road, but was more of an ordeal for the majority of people in the village who lived down the hill. Currie experienced a very substantial housebuilding boom in the 1960s and 1970s but, with the Water of Leith immediately to the south of the A70 Lanark Road, all the houses were built down in the fields to the north, and expansion inevitably took place further and further away from the main road. With a 20-minute walk up a hill to the Lanark Road, and a 45 minute bus journey, we begin to see this as a very, very long five miles. It can feel shorter for those who happen to be near Curriehill Railway Station (which sits on the Shotts Line), but with only one train an hour heading into town, this is not a service designed with commuter convenience in mind. I now live inside the City Bypass, in Morningside. As was the case when I lived in Currie, I am very near the main road, so I can walk out of the door and find an array of buses awaiting me. As it happens, I tend not to use them, and instead I cycle to work in town, trying to avoid swerving into one of the new Lothian electric buses as I dodge the potholes on our truly deplorable roads. Again, though, you do not have to stray far from the main road to find yourself marooned in a location with no bus route particularly nearby. Morningside is only two miles from the West End, but for people who have, perhaps, a 15 minute walk to the bus, and then sit for 30 minutes as the bus crawls through traffic on narrow streets, it can be an awfully long two miles. Lothian Buses are up to date (Image: free) For suburbanites living away from bus stops, especially those who are elderly or immobile, the car is and will remain a necessary feature in their lives, and we need to provide them with quieter roads. To do that, we need to give commuters who choose to use the car, or to stay at home, with better options. As a mechanism for getting suburban workers to work, Edinburgh's mass transit system needs to extend beyond the bus. Time is money, and with one of Scotland's key economic problems being a lack of productivity in the workforce, efficient mass transit starts to look significantly more important than it might at first glance appear. It is time not only for Edinburgh's local authority to generate new ideas, but for the Scottish Government to help. Scotland - all of Scotland - needs Edinburgh performing to its full potential. Edinburgh, conversely, is so economically successful that it relies on workers not only from its own suburbs but from Fife, the Borders, and Mid, West and East Lothian. Driving out of Edinburgh on a weekday morning tells you what you need to know. As you breeze along the M8, up the M9 or M90 or down the A1, A7, A68, A701 or A702, you count your lucky stars that you're heading out and not sitting at 5 mph trying to come in. Travelling on four wheels cannot be Edinburgh's answer, either for those coming in or for those already living in an EH postcode. There are game-changing options which, happily, would require relatively little capital investment, and in the spirit of the Herald's efforts this week to lift the lid on some of the key discussions the capital needs to have, I will offer two. Neither involve roads; the first involves the river, and the second involves the railway. The southern side of Fife - from Dunfermline and Rosyth round the coast through Aberdour, Burntisland, Kinghorn and up to Kirkcaldy - is constantly expanding and increasingly becoming an Edinburgh commuter belt. Rail can play a role here, but only for those who live relatively close to a station, so the roads take the strain. If only we had another method of connecting Fife and Edinburgh such as, say, a body of water like a river or estuary. Ah, but we do! I am by no means the first person to moot the idea of a ferry across the Forth, but past discussion seems too often to have revolved around a beach-to-beach tourist service rather than something to integrate with the mass transit network. Read more of our Future of Edinburgh series Instead, a rapid, regular, commuter-focussed service from a new park-and-sail at Dalgety Bay (probably), directly into the tram stop at Newhaven would be an efficient, productive option for the army of workers who come from the Kingdom every day. And, not to forget those of us who inhabit the city, we live on top of a railway line called the South Suburban, currently used only for freight. If we wanted a light rail line to complement the routes driven by Lothian Buses, cutting across the south suburbs and linking Haymarket at one end and Waverley at the other, with an easy spur to the Royal Infirmary, we could not possibly design one better than what we already have. It is easy for our local and national civil servants to spend a few decades poring over hundred-page strategies which lead to consultations which lead to more strategies which lead to more consultations. But when opportunities to fix Edinburgh's commuter transport problems are already sitting before our eyes, it mightn't be a bad idea to take them. Andy Maciver is Founding Director of Message Matters, and co-host of the Holyrood Sources podcast
