The global fashion giant will take over the old BHS store on Market Street
Global fashion giant Uniqlo is to return to Manchester, fourteen years after pulling out of the city.
The trendy Japanese brand - fronted by the likes of Roger Federer, Susan Sarandon and Pharrell Williams - closed two Manchester stores in 2004, and thirteen more across the UK, as a fall in profits forced it to retrench back to London.
However, documents lodged with the council planning office reveal that Uniqlo - which has expanded to over 1300 stores in fifteen countries - plans to stage a comeback and has signed a lease for a prime spot on Market Street, vacated by BHS in 2016.
Work to modernise the store, including a ten metre high glazed frontage onto the high street, continues with an opening reportedly pencilled in for mid-2019.
The architects say the opening will serve to 'revitalise the eastern end of Market Street', and might come as some consolation to city centre shoppers, following last week's news that House of Fraser is to close its iconic Kendals department store on Deansgate in January.
Originally founded as a textiles manufacturer in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1949, the first Uniqlo store was opened in 1984 by Tadashi Yanai. According to Forbes, the self-made owner of Uniqlo and its parent company, Fast Retailing, is the richest man in Japan, with an estimated worth of over $20 billion.
Offering stylish, well-made, affordable basics, Uniqlo encourages customers to purchase 'fashion components with universal appeal'.
