Low-cost Chinese retailer Miniso will open a flagship store in New York’s Times Square this week, representing a leap in its global expansion plans. During an interview with Bloomberg, CFO and Vice President Eason Zhang said the US was “absolutely” a key market for the company as local consumers look for good value products in “a high inflationary environment.” The lifestyle brand had 5,514 stores worldwide as of March 31 this year, 70 of which are in the US. Zhang mentioned in the interview that most of Miniso’s supply partners are in China. The New York and Hong Kong dual-listed company reported a first quarter rise of 26.2% in revenue to RMB 2.95 billion ($420 million) and a net profit surge of 336.2% to RMB 483 million during the same period. [Bloomberg]