Uniqlo unveiled 11 new U.S. stores. The opening is the part of a push to re-establish the casual clothing brand with American consumers after business stumbles prompted it to retrench a few years ago.
Five of the new stores will be in Texas, where it currently has no locations and the rest will be in California, where it has 19 stores.
The retailer, owned by Fast Retailing of Japan, has about 74 stores in North America, most of which are in the U.S. Uniqlo has said it plans to open more than 20 stores in North America this year, including in states such as Washington and Massachusetts. It aims to have 200 stores on the continent by 2027.
Uniqlo opened its first U.S. store in 2005and a decade later, it was struggling. At the time, Fast Retailing said the brand’s lack of recognition among U.S. consumers resulted in lower-than-expected sales. It then discounted excess inventory, swelling its financial losses, and closed some U.S. stores.
The company’s e-commerce presence is now large enough to help determine where to locate bricks-and-mortar stores with more precision that gives the company confidence that Texas would be a good place to open stores.
Uniqlo is part of a push by foreign retailers seeking to build firmer roots in the U.S. Apparel retailers Primark and Zara, sportswear seller JD Sports and home-goods giant IKEA are also expanding their bricks-and-mortar presences as a long-term bet on U.S. shoppers.
For its most recent fiscal year, which ended in August, Uniqlo’s revenue in North America rose 43.7% to 163.9 billion yen, or about $1.08 billion at current exchange rates.
It still trails rivals such as Shein, Old Navy and H&M in terms of U.S. market share, according to Neil Saunders, Managing Director of research firm GlobalData. Old Navy had $8.2 billion in sales last year.
Initially Uniqlo didn’t do a good job of connecting with American customers. More recently, they have done a better job of adding fashion, which encourages people to visit its stores more often to see what is new.
Uniqlo is also benefiting from a shift toward casual dressing and the price sensitivity of inflation-weary shoppers, who are looking for value. Popular items like its Heattech long underwear sells for around $20, less than some rivals.
