Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo is set to open its first store in Mumbai on October 6 at Phoenix Marketcity Kurla, Mumbai. This marks its foray into the western market of India. On October 20 it will open its second Mumbai store in Goregaon’s Oberoi Mall.

Spread across 11,500 square foot over two floors, the Uniqlo Phoenix Marketcity Kurla, Mumbai store will offer consumers a range of LifeWear collections for men, women, kids, and babies.

This is Uniqlo’s 11th store in India. This includes 7 stores in the Delhi NCR region, and one store each in Chandigarh, Lucknow, and Zirakpur, its first highway store.

Uniqlo was so far selling its products online in Mumbai and says that Mumbai was its second largest market in terms on online orders, closely behind Delhi.

Having entered the country in 2019, Uniqlo has seen huge consumer interest. Its revenues in FY23 grew nearly 69% to Rs 624.6 crore, while net profit came in at to Rs 68.38 crore, up from 21.4 crore in the previous year.

Uniqlo is offering a series of special promotions such as limited offers on its popular core items, freebies for the first hundred customers and a discount of Rs 1,000 on purchases of Rs 6,000 and above.

Uniqlo competes with the likes of H&M, Marks and Spencers, Mango among others in India. Addressing the media during the launch, Tomohiko Sei, Chief Executive Officer, Uniqlo India said that while its prices are not low in the Indian market, he recognises the importance of value in a country like India and will look at affordability in the future.

Uniqlo is now looking to double down its focus on production in India. It currently has a total of 17 sewing factories and six fabric mills that it works with in India. It is now scouting for more production partners in the country with a larger aim of making in India to serve both the Indian market and export to other countries as well.

Outlining the brand’s goals going forward, the CEO said they intend to build the ‘LifeWear concept’, which is modeled around Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. The company is also evaluating more locations in Mumbai and would like to tap into different geographies within Mumbai. “Same as Delhi NCR, we would like to replicate the same expansion journey in Mumbai,” Tomohiko Sei said.