Japanese casualwear manufacturer Fast Retailing will open a Uniqlo shop on Sumatra Island, its first outlet outside Indonesia’s most populous main island of Java.

The shop will open at the Sun Plaza shopping mall in Medan this week, in the northern part of the island. It covers about 2000sqm.

Fast Retailing Indonesia president Michiaki Tanaka says the Sumatra opening will be followed by another outlet outside Java, in Makassar on Sulawesi Island, in May.

Two more shops are planned for Jakarta and Yogyakarta before August, taking the number of outlets in the country to 18. Tanaka says brand recognition has been boosted through the store expansions.

Uniqlo first opened in Indonesia in 2013.