Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo has finally opened its first store in the Philippines.

The first Uniqlo store, located at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, is spread across approximately 1550 sqm of floor space, and marks the brand’s 12th country outside Japan.

To celebrate the opening day, Uniqlo offered huge discounts and freebies to shoppers.

Fast Retailing chairman, president and CEO Tadashi Yanai, is confident that the Japanese brand has a great potential in the Philippines.

“We believe Uniqlo will be liked by many fashion-loving Filipinos and we hope will be the number one fashion brand in the Philippines, and eventually will become the number one in Asia and ultimately, number one in the world,” Yanai said.

Fast Retailing Philippines COO Katsumi Kubota, expressed high expectations for its success in the Philippines and said Uniqlo hopes to open 50 stores in the country over the next three years.

Uniqlo Philippines is a joint venture between Japan-based Fast Retailing and the Philippines-based SM Retail. First Uniqlo store was launched in 1984 in Japan and it expanded into international markets in 1991. Today, there are more than 1100 Uniqlo stores worldwide, 850 of them in Japan.

After the Philippines, Uniqlo’s international expansion program will take it to Australia and Indonesia next.

GB