Popular variety retailer Flying Tiger Copenhagen opened its second store in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on Friday, just two weeks after launching its first Canadian location in downtown Toronto. The Danish home goods store debuted in Canada on June 26 with a location at the Toronto Eaton Centre, which it said marked the first step of a broader store rollout across the Americas. On July 10, its second location opened in Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, Ont. The company said it chose the GTA as its entry point to the country for the region’s scale, retail landscape and relevance as a key Canadian market. “We’re thrilled to bring Flying Tiger Copenhagen to Canada, marking an exciting new chapter in our international growth,” Flying Tiger chief executive Jens Aarup Mikkelsen said in a news release in May. “We see strong alignment with Canadian consumers who appreciate design-led products at accessible prices … we look forward to becoming a vibrant part of the Canadian retail landscape.” A third Flying Tiger location is set to open at Scarborough Town Centre later this month, while additional locations at Square One in Mississauga, Ont., and CF Markville in Markham, Ont., are expected to open throughout the summer and second half of 2026. Founded in Denmark in 1995, Flying Tiger has grown from a single store in Copenhagen into an international chain of over 1,000 stores. It began its global expansion in 2012 with the opening of its first store outside Europe, in Japan. Canada is the brand’s 45th market worldwide. “The company sees strong long-term potential in Canada and plans to grow its presence over time,” said the company, which is working with franchise partner Fox Group to support its operations in Canada. Media reports have suggested that Flying Tiger could be disruptive to Canadian discount brands such as Dollarama Inc. , but National Bank of Canada analyst Vishal Shreedhar believes the chains’ offerings are different. Shreedhar said his team visited the Flying Tiger store in Toronto, along with a Dollarama store close by to better understand what both chains were offering in goods, price and store environment. He described Flying Tiger as “novel,” while Dollarama is “value-oriented and practical.” The Danish home goods store was geared more to discretionary merchandise, compared to the Canadian chain’s needs-based everyday value assortment. “Taking a more holistic look at the retailers, we see limited risk to Dollarama’s core categories. Flying Tiger is more exposed to discretionary discovery categories,” Shreedhar wrote. “While there is overlap in some categories, the shopping purpose is different.” Dollarama sales rise 10% as discount retailer expands to Australia, MexicoDollarama joins BMO’s Blue Rewards program Dollarama has an under $5 price point among its approximately 5,000 year-round products, compared to up to $65 at Flying Tiger, although media reports say 80 per cent of its goods cost less than $10, said Shreedhar. Dollarama offers a mix of branded and private label products, while Flying Tiger is primarily private label. Dollarama also has a wider breadth of products within the consumables category, which Shreedhar believes will drive more traffic. The Canadian brand’s stores are also bigger and have self-checkouts, allowing them to handle more traffic. “Note that in the past, media reports suggested that Temu, Amazon, Miniso, among others were deemed to be competitors to Dollarama; notwithstanding, Dollarama continues to gain market share,” Shreedhar said. “Our view is that Flying Tiger is an adjacent competitor to Dollarama, and will have a niche acceptance in Canada versus Dollarama’s mainstream appeal.” • Email: dpaglinawan@postmedia.com
Flying Tiger is expanding in the GTA. Is it a threat to Dollarama?
