There's a chain of Dollarama clones in South America and the stores look identical
Dollarama's minimalist yellow-on-green branding is ubiquitous across Ontario, where the brand operates more stores than in any other province or territory.
However, that familiar branding is also alive and well thousands of kilometres to the south, in a form that appears at first glance to be a cheap knock-off of a brand known for selling cheap knock-offs.
This oddly familiar-looking "Dollar City" brand operates store locations in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. It feels like a blatant copy of Canada's beloved dollar store brand, but it's actually — somehow — completely legit.
Stefan Novakovic spotted one of these uncanny dollar stores in Bogota, Colombia, shining like a green and yellow beacon of familiarity, sharing photos of the retailer on X.
"I was rounding a corner where the Dollarama logo was becoming slowly visible. My palms started sweating," said Novakovic.
"I thought no f**king way. No f**king way. It can't be. It was."
Bonus content for Canadian followers. The local dollar store chain is a Dollarama subsidiary called Dollar City. And it’s *exactly* the same. pic.twitter.com/thFKZjMf6p
— Stefan Novakovic (@NovakovicTO) March 3, 2024
While it appears almost as a parody of a Canadian Dollarama, these Dollar City stores are actually part of the brand's growing umbrella. In fact, a closer look at the photos even reveals the Dollarama logo printed onto shopping baskets.
Founded by businessman Marco Andrés Baldocchi Kriete in 2010, the Dollar City brand was already well-established in South America when Dollarama Inc. signed a 2019 deal to buy a 50.1 per cent stake in the Latin American retailer.
The deal came following a 2013 agreement between the two companies (amended in 2016) to share business expertise and sourcing services.
The companies now share almost identical branding, making the two brands seem like parallel universe versions of one another in the same vein as U.S. fast-food chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr.
