UNIQLO will open its World Trade Center store on Friday, September 25, with a bunch of events throughout the weekend. The Japanese chain has taken the former H&M spot on Church and Dey.
Friday’s kick-off will include a traditional Japanese Taiko drum performance at 9:45a; the doors will open officially at 10a. The first 300 customers will receive a free breakfast treat from Tribeca’s own Takahachi Bakery on Murray. There will be drum performances throughout the weekend.
The store will have a print-on-demand service that lets customers create a one-of-a-kind T-shirts or tote bags and take it home the same day. There will also be exclusive designs created by artist Lauren Martin in collaboration with the MTA also available on T-shirts and tote bags.
There will also be a RE.UNIQLO Studio — the 12th in the US — that allows customers to zhuzh up your own clothing: add embroidery through a menu of over 50 designs and text; shop one-of-a-kind UNIQLO pieces designed by upcycling designers; repair UNIQLO pieces in need of common mending like stitching or button replacement; donate old UNIQLO clothing to Covenant House. Unwearable clothes are collected and used as raw materials or recycled into materials for new clothing.
The first UNIQLO opened in Hiroshima in 1984 and it is now part of a huge holding company, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., that includes GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang, with global sales around $23 billion.
This is the city’s 11th location; Bryant Park, Williamsburg and Union Square opened this spring.