Uniqlo to open 8 new stores

MANILA, Philippines - The local unit of Japan’s Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. is opening eight new Uniqlo stores until February next year to meet its goal of having 50 outlets in the country by 2016.

“Currently, I have 16 stores. I will be opening eight stores until February next year,” Fast Retailing Philippines chief operating officer Katsumi Kubota said in a press conference for the launch of the brand’s expanded kids and babies collection.

He said the first of the eight new outlets is set to open within the month and will be located in Rockwell in Makati City.

The seven other stores will be located within Luzon.

As the firm intends to grow its business in the country, Kubota said they are keeping the target of having a total of 50 Uniqlo stores by the end of fiscal year 2015 or by August 2016.

Apart from opening new outlets, Uniqlo is also expanding its kids and babies line to grow its business in the country.

“We have much more opportunities here than in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore which have less children,” he said.

Fast Retailing established its presence in the Philippines when it opened its first Uniqlo store in 2012.

The company has a total of more than 1,400 stores in 16 markets such as Japan, Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US.