Following in the footsteps of fast-fashion clothing brand Uniqlo, MUJI will be the next major Japanese retailer to launch in Saigon in the near future.

On June 30, the official account of MUJI Vietnam posted on both its Instagram and Facebook pages an announcement about the brand’s imminent arrival in Vietnam, to quick and eager reception by netizens.

According to the notice, MUJI’s first Vietnam presence will be a pop-up store based on the first floor of Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza, at the intersection of Dong Khoi and Le Thanh Ton streets. A fixed date for the launch wasn’t mentioned, though once opened, the store will be one of two tenants of the District 1 department store; the other is Uniqlo’s first Vietnam outlet.

Last week, keen-eyed followers might have noticed that the Japanese homeware brand started listing job postings on its social media as well, looking for Store Staff, Store Supervisor Assistant and Interior Advisor to join its Ho Chi Minh City office.

Back in February last year, MUJI declared in a press release that its next expansion would be Saigon, and plans were underway for a first store in spring 2020. The company went ahead and established a subsidiary in Vietnam that August.

The plan was reiterated by an executive from real estate services company Savills in an interview with Zing in January 2020. Nonetheless, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic might have thrown a wrench into the process, prompting the brand to reschedule its expansion to later in the year.

Established in 1980, Ryohin Keikaku — the parent company of MUJI — began as a private label of the Seiyu Japanese supermarket chain, according to Nikkei Asian Review. Vietnam is the last major overseas market in the Asia-Pacific region without a MUJI presence.

[Photo: The entrance of a MUJI flagship store in Johor Bahru, Malaysia/MUJI]