Suburban Location Arbitrage

“This is how the first "UNICLO CLOTHING WAREHOUSE" casual wear store introduced in the preface of this book was born. The store's business philosophy is to "let customers buy casual clothes like they buy weekly magazines." The shops are located in densely populated urban areas, but they are located in alleys and the rent is cheap. We rented the first and second floors of an apartment building, which totaled about 330 square meters. The price of the product is set at 1,000 yen and 1,900 yen. The first day the store opened was an unprecedented event. From the time it opened at 6 a.m. to the next two days, there were so many people coming to the store that we had to limit the number of people entering the store.”

“Originally, our company — like Aoyama Western Clothing, XEBIO (a Japanese sporting goods retail brand), and other companies — belonged to the "Japanese Western Clothing Top Chain Association". At that time, the retail industry in Japan was in a period of vigorous development of suburban shops. Amidst my peers striving to go public, I felt the limitations of my company only dealing in men's suits. Therefore, an idea started to form in my mind: opening a large casual wear store in the suburbs might be interesting.”