American fashion brand American Eagle Outfitters set its mark on the Japanese market with the opening of its first store on Wednesday and a second today, Thursday.

The first store is located at intersection of upscale Omotesando and youth-centric Harajuku in central Tokyo. The 15,000 sqft flagship is the brand’s first large-scale flagship outside its home market of the US.

The three-level Omotesando store offers a complete collection of men’s and women’s clothing, American Eagle’s Aerie lingerie brand, accessories, and some items that in the US home market are only available online or at select locations.

American Eagle Outfitters joins another US brand Tommy Hilfiger which also opened its flagship store at Omotesando this week, and other Japanese retailers.

“For us, Japan was somewhere that we always wanted to have a flagship store,” said Simon Nankervis, VP of international franchising and global business development at American Eagle Outfitters.

Nankervis is confident there’s a large niche for American Eagle Outfitters in Japan’s saturated apparel market.

“We have a real statement about what our store stands for, our architecture, our design, the way we merchandise our product, it’s very unique and different. We don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what the competition is doing. We want to deliver the quality of product and the price point the customer is looking for from us, with regularity.”

The second store, spread across 8500sqft, opened today in a shopping mall in Tokyo Bay.

Two more stores are expected to open in August and December.

American Eagle Outfitters in Japan is franchised by Sumikin Bussan Corporation, a Japanese company engaged in the sale of textiles, foodstuffs, steel and iron.

Outside the US, American Eagle Outfitters is present in 12 countries. Recently, it opened first store in Israel in Tel Aviv.

GB