Uniqlo To Open in San Francisco, Scouting Locations in Los Angeles
Fast Retailing announced April 10 that its popular Uniqlo brand will open its first West Coast flagship store in San Francisco. By fall, the highly anticipated Uniqlo store will be located at a 29,000-square-foot space at 111 Powell St. The store will pave the way for more Uniqlo shops to be opened throughout the United States, said Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing’s chairman, president and chief executive. One of those locations will be in Los Angeles, an area that has long been a candidate for the brand’s expansion.
In late 2010 and early 2011 Uniqlo representatives scouted locations around Beverly Hills, said Jay Luchs, an executive vice president with real estate company CBRE. More recently, Uniqlo looked at other Los Angeles–area locations—Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., and The Grove retail center.
There has been no Los Angeles deal as of yet because Uniqlo hasn’t found the perfect space. “They’re being careful in their decisions,” Luchs said. “They want it to be perfect. It’s got to be the right location and in the right mall.” Often, retailers sign long-term leases, so it is crucial to make the right choice the first time around, or else they will suffer through a lousy location for years.
Luchs has brokered deals with fashion houses such as Lanvin, Missoni and James Perse and is a partner in the Malibu Village retail center in Malibu, Calif., but he has not worked with Fast Retailing recently. When Uniqlo decides to open in Los Angeles, Luchs expects the store will look for a centrally located mall with a lot of foot traffic. The three places in Los Angeles that fit that description? The Beverly Center, Santa Monica Place and The Grove.—Andrew Asch
