TALA, Miniso and Charles Tyrwhitt Add UK Stores

TALA moves into Edinburgh

TALA will open its first store outside London at Westfield St James Quarter in Edinburgh on 21 November. The activewear brand currently has stores on Carnaby Street and at Westfield White City, making this its third UK location.

Founded by Grace Beverley in 2019, TALA has built its growth largely through organic social media. Before confirming the new store, the brand spent weeks teasing the location online and encouraging customers to guess where it would open next.

The Edinburgh store will stock TALA’s full product range and offer personalised service. The brand said it has used lessons from its two London stores to shape the new opening.

Chief executive Sally Hughes-Daniels said the success of the London locations proved TALA’s retail model works. She said moving beyond London had always been part of the plan and that Edinburgh was the right choice for the brand’s first store outside the capital.

Miniso brings new format to Cardiff

Miniso UK will open the country’s first Miniso Friends store at St David’s in Cardiff next year.

The 6,600 square foot store will be more than twice the size of Miniso’s current space in the centre. It will introduce the retailer’s larger, IP-led format to the UK.

The store will include dedicated toy zones and a range of collectables such as blind boxes, plush products and licensed merchandise. These will sit alongside Miniso’s lifestyle, home, stationery and gifting ranges.

Miniso said the format is designed to make stores a destination, encouraging customers to spend more time in store and giving fans and collectors a reason to travel.

The retailer has traded at St David’s since November 2020, when Cardiff became its second UK store and first outside London. Chief operating officer Saad Usman said Cardiff has been a strong location and that the new format represents how Miniso wants customers to experience the brand across the UK.

Landsec’s Pablo Sueiras said the opening would bring something new to Cardiff and strengthen the mix of retail, leisure and experiences at the centre, particularly for Gen Z customers.

Charles Tyrwhitt opens in St Albans

Charles Tyrwhitt opened its 46th UK store at The Maltings shopping centre in St Albans on 7 November, during the menswear retailer’s 40th anniversary year.

The 1,320 square foot shop is the brand’s second UK store without a traditional till. Instead, staff use mobile technology to assist customers and take payments directly on the shop floor.

To mark the opening, shoppers were offered free drinks. The first 20 customers who made a purchase received a gift, while an in-store golf ball game gave visitors the chance to win prizes.

Nick Wheeler founded Charles Tyrwhitt in 1986 as a mail-order shirt business while studying at the University of Bristol. The retailer now operates more than 100 stores in cities including London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Dubai and Mumbai.

What RHR thinks

We believe these three openings show how the role of the physical store is continuing to change. TALA shows that brands built online can use stores to strengthen relationships with loyal customers, and that expanding beyond London is a natural next step once a retail model is proven. Miniso highlights the growing importance of experience-led stores that attract younger shoppers and support investment in shopping centres. Charles Tyrwhitt’s till-free format shows how retailers are changing the way customer service is delivered. We believe more brands will open fewer, more purposeful stores, with regional centres outside London benefiting as a result.

What this means for hiring. These openings could create opportunities for store managers, sales assistants and customer service teams as retailers expand their physical estates. The focus on personalised service, experience-led stores and mobile shop-floor technology may also increase demand for staff who can deliver stronger in-store customer experiences.