Published
May 31, 2019
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Uniqlo set for September Italy debut with Milan store

Published
May 31, 2019

Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo will open in Italy for the first time on September 13 with a debut in key shopping city Milan. The new store will be located on Piazza Cordusio, a short walking distance from Piazza Duomo, and will cover around 1,500 square metres over three floors, including a basement level. 


Uniqlo



It will offer the full Uniqlo product line-up and will add an extra boost to the company’s Italian business that has been online-only until now.

It may be surprising to some that the brand isn't already available in physical stores in Italy, but the company has been taking a very slow and steady approach to its international expansion, particularly in Europe. Earlier this century it was expanding much faster and ended up closing some stores after opening them too fast, resulting in the current, much more measured approach.

Last October it opened a 2,040 square metre shop in Amsterdam, which was its first physical space in the Netherlands and also its  largest brick-and-mortar shop in the Benelux region. As with the forthcoming Milan debut, it also chose the position very carefully taking a three-storey building on the country’s busiest shopping street, Kalverstraat.

And during the summer, it opened in retail giant H&M’s home market of Sweden, with a debut in Stockholm.

Despite these European openings, Asia remains the key target market for the Japanese brand and this autumn it will also open its first store in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with the company having described that country as “one of the region's most exciting, high-growth economies.” It also said the entry will be a “milestone” with Southeast Asia having been “an important driver of growth”.

Around 75% of its 2,000+ locations are in Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and it also has almost 200 stores in South Korea.

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