The Tamesis
It’s been 20 years since Uniqlo entered the United States, but North America remains the Japanese retailer’s smallest market. U.S. CEO Fuminori Adachi said that with the opening of a large number of new stores, Uniqlo’s business in the United States has just started.
“The United States is critical to UNIQLO’s continued success. It is one of our key growth engines and a pillar of our global strategy,” Adachi said. “So we are very ambitious in the United States and have been doing everything possible to succeed here. Like the rest of the world, we are pleased that awareness and preference for Uniqlo in the United States have also increased significantly. But our journey in the United States has only just begun, and the market potential is very large.”
To this end, Uniqlo will open stores in two new markets in the fall of 2026: Miami, Florida, and Austin, Texas. The brand will open a third store in Houston, following the opening of two stores in 2024. (This is Uniqlo’s move into Texas.) In addition to these three new stores, Uniqlo will open more stores in existing key U.S. markets in 2026, including Chicago and San Francisco this spring and summer, followed by Boston, Seattle and Washington, D.C., and four more stores in New York.
Adachi said the new stores were driven by demand Uniqlo saw in the United States. Texas ranks third in e-commerce sales behind New York and California, and Intel has pushed ahead with plans to open five stores in the state. Adachi said: “Sales at these Texas stores were stronger than expected and are an important stepping stone for our continued growth into other major cities. Uniqlo currently has two stores in Florida, both in Orlando, and both stores have received strong support from local customers and tourists, making Miami the next logical location to open a store.”
Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, reported in January that Uniqlo’s first-quarter 2026 earnings included double-digit growth in revenue and profit in North America. The company expects North America, as well as its international peers, to continue to deliver double-digit revenue and profit growth in the first half, second half and full fiscal year. In the three months ended November 30, revenue in North America increased 30% year-on-year to 88.7 billion yen ($558 million). The region remains Uniqlo’s smallest, accounting for 8.6% of Uniqlo’s total revenue in the most recent quarter, but Adachi is confident in the region’s growth potential (Japan and Greater China are the brand’s current leading markets). In an investor conference call on January 8, Chief Financial Officer Takeshi Okazaki said that the United States and Europe were regions where Uniqlo’s international performance exceeded expectations.
Uniqlo has seen a steady rise in repeat customers across the U.S. in recent years as its products resonate with American consumers, the CEO said. “This has driven rapid expansion of our business and helped increase awareness and trust in our brand across the country.”
gain share
Uniqlo’s U.S. operations account for only a small portion of the brand’s total revenue. Compared with local American brands such as Gap and Abercrombie, its market share is also very small.
