Kanye West fans around the world queued for hours to get into one of the 21 pop-up fashion stores opened by the musician and designer over the weekend.

West announced the location of the temporary stores – which sold merchandise linked to his latest studio album The Life of Pablo – on Friday, prompting a surge of interest in cities as varied as New York, San Francisco, Singapore, London, Berlin, Cape Town, Sydney and Toronto.

Each Life of Pablo store was designed by West and his creative design company DONDA to be sparse and minimalist, with white and ceilings and simple fittings placing the focus on the clothes and accessories on sale – including jackets, hoodies, beanies and swimwear customised by West. Each store featured the name of the city written in large gothic print.

The pop-up store concept is not new for West, who experimented with the format at events in Paris, New York and Los Angeles earlier this year. However, the scale of the operation this time round was much greater.

According to reports, prices for merchandise in New York ranged from US$150 to US$400 for jackets, US$95 for hoodies and up to US$65 for T-shirts.

West has previously made clear his love of architecture, design and built environments. He gave an impromptu talk at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2013 in which reportedly stated “I really do believe that the world can be saved through design”. During an interview with the BBC the same year he revealed he was “working with five architects at a time” to realise his creative ambitions, stating “I make music but I shouldn't be limited to one place of creativity."

21 PABLO STORES WORLDWIDE THIS WEEKEND LOCATIONS HEREhttps://t.co/tYuzqs7kJW

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) August 18, 2016