Its parent company is called Fast Retailing, so why is Uniqlo so slow at opening stores? – TheIndustry.fashion

Everybody loves Uniqlo. There’s nothing not to like; the choice, the prices and the designer collabs. From JW Anderson to Clare Waight Keller to Christophe Lemaire, Uniqlo has the designer basics sewn up, literally, not to mention its standard product of printed tees, underwear, colourful Merino knitwear and down-filled outerwear. But, for anybody outside the M25, finding a Uniqlo store is not easy.

The brand is flying. Uniqlo’s recent financials for FY23 stated record profits. For the year ending 31 August 2023, revenue at Fast Retailing – Uniqlo’s parent company which also includes GU, PLST, Theory, Theory Luxe, Helmut Lang, Princesse Tam.Tam, J Brand and Comptoir des Cottoniers – increased 20.2% to US$1.85 billion, while operating profit increased 28.2%. It said at the time, Uniqlo International generated ‘strong rises’ in both revenue and profit across all its markets.

Which begs the question, why are there so few Uniqlo stores in the UK and why is Fast Retailing so slow at expanding elsewhere?

Until its new Edinburgh store – its first in Scotland – opened last month, outside of London its stores were only in Manchester, Bluewater and Oxford. Bluewater in Kent opened in 2010, Westgate in Oxford in 2017 and Manchester in 2019. Pandemic aside, this is a snail’s pace of expansion. Today, there are just 19 Uniqlo stores in the UK.

Uniqlo Oxford Street

Uniqlo first arrived in the UK in September 2001. It was a rocky start. In March 2003, just 18 months after its first opening, it announced the closure of all but five of its 21 stores. Following a summer of heavy losses and disappointing sales since its arrival, the Japanese brand said it was focusing on its five London stores in an attempt to make the UK business work.

Nearly a quarter of a century later, Uniqlo still has fewer stores in the UK than its original launch. During that time it has fine-tuned its offering and seen other basics rivals, such as GAP, disappear from the UK market (though GAP is now back in a much smaller way via its partnership with NEXT). Even Uniqlo’s UK COO Alessandro Dudech recently said that “store expansion has been the real engine of growth” for the brand.

Uniqlo needs to be more ambitious because there is a huge demand. Every major city outside of London could and should have one of its stores by now.

Mango to open 20 new UK stores

In comparison, Mango, the Spanish fashion retailer, has announced the ambition to open 20 new stores in the UK. Mango plans four store openings in London this year. In addition, it will also increase its presence in Scotland with store openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh and, for the first time, will reach cities in Northern Ireland.

Internationally, Uniqlo has recently doubled its presence in Italy with a second store opening In Rome last month, following Milan, and it did announce more than 20 new Uniqlo stores in the US and Canada in 2024, which is double the number of stores it opened in 2023. The ambition is for 200 stores in North America by 2027. The brand first launched there in 2005. Gap currently has 472 stores in operation in North America.

London welcomed another new Uniqlo store on Oxford Street, its third, last month, so it looks like expansion could be picking up pace.

Uniqlo’s new Oxford Street store

Uniqlo needs to broaden its outlook because it is pretty much invisible outside of London. The UK is the opposite of saturated and stores will also drive online sales.

It feels like Uniqlo’s tentative approach and conservative Japanese leaders need more confidence in the brand and the memories of the early Noughties are stalling a large UK and European store programme. A European-centred HQ would know the landscape better and take this brand to the many people who don’t even know they want it.

Let’s rephrase it, everybody who lives near a Uniqlo loves Uniqlo.