Uniqlo opens its first Dutch branch in Amsterdam

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Sep 28, 2018

Japanese retailer Uniqlo has officially landed on the Dutch market. The fashion chain, known for its basic wear, opened the doors of its Amsterdam branch on Friday 28 Oct.

The retailer unveiled a 2,040-square-metre shop, which marks Uniqlo’s largest brick-and-mortar in the Benelux region. The three-story building is located at the Netherlands’ busiest shopping street, Kalverstraat, and carries collections for men, women, children and newborns. In addition to the Kalverstraat entrance, the store can also be accessed from Rokin, right across from Hudson’s Bay.

Taku Morikawa, Chief Executive Officer at Uniqlo Europe, said of the Dutch debut: “The people of Amsterdam like to wear functional, but well-designed and high-quality clothing. At Uniqlo we share the same values and it is exactly these qualities that you will find in our LifeWear [concept]. We are sure that there is a good match between our brand and the Dutch consumer, and with the opening of Uniqlo Kalverstraat, we look forward to a long-term and successful relationship with the Dutch community.”

The new shop in the Netherlands marks the eighth European market for Uniqlo. The retailer said that the store is a reflection of the next step in the European expansion of the company. The retailer currently operates more than 2,000 stores across 21 markets around the world. In 2001, the fashion chain entered the European market by debuting in the United Kingdom, followed by, France in 2007, Russia in 2010, Germany in 2014, Belgium in 2015, Spain in 2017, and Sweden in 2018.

In May 2017, Uniqlo opened a European distribution center in the Dutch town Oud-Gastel, close to the Belgian border, with the company partnering with Ceva Logistics on the execution of its European distribution. Uniqlo said that it hopes to expand to additional cities in the Netherlands in the future, but for now, the retailer first wants to focus on making the Amsterdam branch a success.

To celebrate its arrival in the Netherlands, Uniqlo launched the ‘To A New Everyday' campaign earlier this month. The campaign features seven Amsterdam-based individuals, and through them, highlights the shared values between Uniqlo and the Netherlands and how Uniqlo’s LifeWear plays an essential role in their daily lives.