One of the largest stores in Burnaby’s biggest shopping mall is getting even larger.
When Microsoft closed its flagship Metro Vancouver store at Metropolis at Metrotown, it left a gaping hole in the mall.
Now, it’s got a new tenant for the space as Japanese casual wear giant Uniqlo has put up signage saying it’s moving into the space in the spring. Uniqlo is a huge retailer and sells the kind of casual wear that people love. The company already has space next to the old Microsoft store, plus a large store directly under it for more than 20,000 square feet of space. Once the new addition is completed completed, they will have one of the largest footprints in the entire mall.
Uniqlo has more than 1,900 locations around the world.
Uniqlo CEO and chairman Tadashi Yanai told Glacier Media during an exclusive interview in 2017 that his preference was to open his first Canadian store in the Metro Vancouver area.
“I wanted to build a store first in Vancouver, in Canada – ahead of Toronto,” he said. “Vancouver, from my perspective, is a welcoming gate for the Asian people. This is where a multi-culture background is celebrated and a diversity of lifestyle is being witnessed.”
Finding the perfect location in downtown Vancouver, and the region as a whole, was a challenge so he opened Uniqlo’s first two Canadian stores in Metro Toronto.
First came a 33,400-square-foot store at CF Toronto Eaton Centre in September of 2016, and then a store, which is about 30,000 square feet, at Metro Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre a month later.
He said that Uniqlo’s fashions differ from those on offer at H&M and Zara in that Uniqlo offers more traditional clothing that can withstand more wear.
“We do not go chasing fashion,” he said. “We simply add on and sprinkle the fashion element onto the basic product and that’s the difference between us and Zara and H&M,” he said.
“[We have] basic, classic, traditional items that are twisted by the latest trend and quality. The key word is quality.”
One innovation for which he is particularly proud is his company’s Heattech fabric.
Uniqlo first started selling Heattech garments 15 years ago and the company has now sold more than one billion pieces.
“Heattech is innerwear that will keep you warm,” he said of the lightweight material.
“I would encourage you to try it on during winter-cold days - if you put it on underneath the shirt, you would feel very warm. It could be worn under your dress shirt or other things. This is the revolutionary product.”
Yanai, whose net worth Forbes estimates to be US$15.8 billion, founded Uniqlo in the mid-1980s, when he branched out after taking over his father’s business. By 1988, the name of his Unique Clothing Warehouse had truncated to become Uniqlo.
Today, Uniqlo is part of Fast Retailing, which is a publicly listed company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
- With additional reporting by Glen Korstrom, Business in Vancouver
