Uniqlo

New York -- Forever 21 opened a 36,000-sq.-ft. store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, joining such other fast-fashion retailers already in the neighborhood as Uniqlo, H&M and TopShop.  

The four-level space houses all of retailer’s collections under one roof, including Forever 21 Men. The store is located in a building that formerly housed an H&M store, which closed in December when the retailer moved to a different location on Fifth and 48th Streets.

New York -- Uniqlo will enter Canada in the fall of 2016, opening a store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, and one at the Toronto Eaton Centre.

Uniqlo currently operates some 1,500 stores, with locations in Japan, Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and the United States.

Things didn’t work for Target in Canada, but that hasn’t deterred Japan’s Fast Retailing Co., from announcing plans to enter the market with its UNIQLO format.

The company’s first stores aren’t expected to open until the fall of 2016 when two flagship locations offering budget priced apparel measuring 24,000 and 28,000 square feet are introduced in Toronto.

Uniqlo's latest interactive global campaign, called the ‘Uniqlo Selfless Selfie Project,’ encourages consumers to take a selfies and give back this holiday season.

Participants must post a selfie with a pledge to do something nice for a loved one or for their local community to social media using #3DSelfie for a chance to win a full-body 3D replica of themselves dressed in Uniqlo holiday clothing.
 

Philadelphia — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust has executed leases with Retail Group of America to bring three international brands F&F, Flormar and SuiteBlanco to the Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, Virginia. The transactions illustrate PREIT’s strategy for improving portfolio performance by seeking out emerging, first-to-market options.

New York - Uniqlo announced it will enter two new markets, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, starting this spring. The Japanese apparel giant will open three stores in the Philadelphia market and six stores in the Boston metro area.  In addition, Uniqlo will open a pop-up shop at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, early this summer.

Uniqlo will enter Pennsylvania with three stores in the greater Philadelphia area:

• King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia (May 16)
• 1608 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (Oct. 3)

New York -- Uniqlo debuted a new flagship with the opening of its fifth location in Paris, in the city’s Marais area.

Located in a 19th century building that once housed a foundry, the three-level, 8,800-sq.-ft. store combines such historic details as a 115-ft- red-brick chimney with a modern layout and high-tech accents, including video screens and LED displays.

It was designed by Tokyo architects Wonderwall, a longtime collaborator with Uniqlo.

Tokyo – Uniqlo opens new stores in Berlin, and in three U.S. locations on Friday, April 11. The 2,700-sq.-ft., three-story Berlin store is located on the Tauentzienstrasse shopping boulevard and is Uniqlo’s first German store.

The Berlin store is also the largest Uniqlo store in Europe and features revolving mannequins wearing origami headdresses and LED ticker-tapes listing all the cities where Uniqlo has stores around the world.

New York -- The second floor of Uniqlo’s Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan has been transformed in conjunction with the launch of the retailer’s SPRZ NY collection, done in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art. The renovated floor includes the addition of a full-service Starbucks (a first for Uniqlo).

New York – Merger talks between J. Crew and Japanese retailer Fast Retailing Co. have reportedly ended, at least for the time being. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo chain, left the discussions not long after they were made public by the media in late February 2014.