MGI: Malaga's low-cost toy shops go for their 100th shop

In parallel to the closure of well-known toy store chains such as Imaginarium and Toys R Us, there is a company from Malaga - from Ronda to be exact - that has patiently, modestly and discreetly built a solid empire around the sale of toys and household items. It is MGI, a chain of shops founded in 2007 with a simple formula - "Everything for 10, 15 or 20 euros" - and a low price policy based on the fact that it does not work with intermediaries but directly with manufacturers. Today, this family business can boast two milestones related to the magical figure of 100: it is about to reach one hundred shops and has exceeded one hundred million euros in turnover. The parent company alone reached 94 million in 2024, to which must be added the turnover of several subsidiaries.

MGI (the acronym for Master Gift Import SL, the company's corporate name, and Mi Gran Ilusión, which was previously its commercial brand) already employs a thousand people between its 95 shops, its headquarters in Ronda, and its large logistics centre in Antequera. With 45,000 square metres, this robotised warehouse already employs 200 people and is preparing to expand by another 20,000 metres. It is the heart that pumps the growth of the MGI network. "We have reached cruising speed and we are opening about fifteen shops a year. The last one was in Pamplona. We are focusing a lot lately on Galicia and Catalonia," explains Jorge Rosado, CEO of this family business.

The company is also finalising its international expansion: it plans to start opening shops in Portugal next year. For Jorge Rosado, the explanation for its success lies in the fact that its formula fits like a glove in the precarious state of family economies in Spain. "The way the price of everything is, people are looking for loopholes to save and MGI is a place where they know that the savings are safe," says the CEO, who adds that there are products that they offer "at half the price" of the competition. The big question is how? The answer given by Rosado is that the company dispenses with intermediaries and works directly with manufacturers. A strategy that is a logical consequence of MGI's history: in 2000, when the company was born, it was dedicated to the wholesale marketing of toys, gift items, decoration and home equipment. It was in 2007 that its founders decided to try their hand at retailing.

"We were importers and when we made the leap to retail, we cut out the middlemen, and so we were able to lower prices as much as possible," he explains. He cites two examples from this year's Christmas campaign: Barbie and the Uno card game, both at five euros. "We collaborate with manufacturers who even produce some items exclusively for us, such as Fagor, and we also have our own brands. San Ignacio electrical appliances are only available from MGI; the same goes for Jesmar dolls," says Rosado. The company buys "everything it can" in Spain, according to its CEO, but it also collaborates with factories in Asia. In fact, it has had a permanent office in China since 2004 to control manufacturing processes and the final quality of all its products.

The other keys that explain MGI's low price policy are the high volume of purchases, the high turnover of products, the low commercial margin that the company assumes and the exhaustive control of expenditure: austerity is the company's trademark, as can be seen in the shops themselves, so that the customer perceives that savings are the priority.