{"id":10704,"date":"2011-10-12T05:10:16","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T05:10:16","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-10-12T05:10:41","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T05:10:41","slug":"Will-Japan-s-Uniqlo-be-the-Next-Great-American-Retailer-","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=10704","title":{"rendered":"Will Japan\u2019s Uniqlo be the Next Great American Retailer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. is becoming a retail wasteland. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that retailing executives fear the once-buoyant American consumer has entered a state of permanent frugality.<\/strong> The mall vacancy rate is at an 11-year high. With each passing month, a larger chunk of retail sales goes online. American retailers are increasingly staking their future overseas.<\/p>\n

Somebody forgot to tell Uniqlo.<\/strong> The Japanese apparel retailer this week is opening a three-story, 89,000-square-foot flagship store on the corner of 5th Avenue and 53rd St. in Manhattan. The chain, which opened its first U.S. store in lower Manhattan in 2006, last year signed a $300 million, 15-year lease for the space, formerly the location of a Brooks Brothers store. It was reported to be the most expensive retail lease in New York’s history.<\/p>\n

And Uniqlo is likely coming to a mall near you in the near future. “We are looking at real estate in different cities throughout the United States, and our intention is to open stores in every major city,” Shin Odake, Uniqlo’s U.S. CEO tells me in the accompanying video. The company has spoken of its desire to open 200 stores in the U.S.<\/p>\n

What does Uniqlo, which has 840 stores in Japan, see in the U.S. and that so few others do? “The U.S. is obviously an extremely important market for us, because it’s the number one economy in the world,” said Odake. “We’d like to grow our business to $50 billion by 2020, and in order to do that we have to gain market share in the United States.” Company founder, Tadashi Yanai wants to beat out Gap and Spain’s Zara as the biggest retailer in the world.<\/strong> Company officials have spoken of boosting U.S. sales alone to $12 billion by 2020. That means it will need to open a lot of stores \u2014 in Asia, in Europe, and in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Love that they feature Helena Christensen in their ads!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest of the article!<\/a>
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