The Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo is in talks with developers including Ikea’s sister concern Ingka, Brahma Bestech and Pacific Group for leasing spaces in their malls
New Delhi: Uniqlo is planning to expand its store network in the national capital region (NCR) to take advantage of the established market that is also the first India cluster for the Japanese fashion brand, two people familiar with the development said.
They said Asia’s largest fashion brand is planning to open about half-a-dozen additional stores in NCR in the next two years or so. The Japanese fashion brand is in talks with developers including Ikea’s sister concern Ingka, Brahma Bestech’s upcoming mall in Gurugram and Pacific Group for leasing spaces in their malls, the sources said.
“Uniqlo is looking at adding about half a dozen or more stores in NCR in the next 2-3 years,” one of the sources said asking not to be named. “But it will also depend on the availability of real estate.”
Uniqlo is in talks with Sweden’s Ingka Centre—which is currently constructing a major mix-use development in Gurugram—to open a large Uniqlo store there, according to the sources. At the same time, the Tokyo-based brand is also in negotiations with Pacific Group’s flagship mall in Subash Nagar for space.
“While we don’t comment on market rumours, we are always looking at opportunities to expand our presence and deliver our LifeWear collections to more and more people in India and around the globe,” a Uniqlo India spokesperson said in an email response to IndiaRetailing.
“That said, the speed and scale of our expansion is not our top priority—instead, we remain focused on always providing the best service and the best quality stores that exceed the expectations of our customers,” the spokesperson added.
One of the people said the talks with Ingka Centre, Bhrama Bestech and Pacific Group are part of Uniqlo’s strategy to expand its network of stores in the established market of NCR, which includes Delhi and its suburbs of Gurugram, Faridabad and Noida among other satellite towns.
Ikea’s sister concern is currently investing 400 million euros in the mix-use development in Gurugram’s Sector 47 that will be home to more than 250 shops and about 30,000 sq. ft. of office space.
Ingka hopes to complete the Gurugram project—that will be branded as Lykli—in 2025 and expects it to attract annual footfalls of about 20 million. Read more about it here.
An Ingka Centre spokesperson said it can “neither confirm nor deny” that Uniqlo is in talks with the Swedish company.
“We plan to create a vibrant meeting place for the many people of Gurugram. In that sense, we offer various types of spaces and different brands,” the spokesperson said.
“What we incorporate will depend on the outcome of our meeting place workshops with stakeholders. We have a history of providing international brands with a secure expansion platform into rapidly growing markets, and we believe that many of our partners will be interested in becoming tenants at our India-first Lykli Gurugram meeting place.”
IndiaRetailing reported in August that the Japanese retailer has taken about 14,000 sq. ft. in the upcoming Pacific Mall at Faridabad and the launch could happen in either November or early next year. Read more about it here.
In 2019, Fast Retailing—Tokyo-based retail behemoth that owns Uniqlo—picked the New Delhi region to make its India debut when it rolled out its first store in New Delhi’s Ambience Mall spanning 35,000 sq. ft.
So far, Uniqlo operates seven out of its 10 stores in the NCR and three of them in Lucknow, Chandigarh and Zirakpur in Punjab.
