What is Uniqlo?
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Uniqlo is a clothes store from Japan which sells functional and basic clothing for men, women and children. They also sell a few accessories such as bags, belts and umbrellas. They have very few stores in this country mainly around the South East. The stores I have visited are in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Richmond, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and Oxford Street. I think they only have two more stores one in Bromley and the other in Essex.


Store layout and Changing Rooms
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The stores have a minimalistic style with a neutral décor. The layout of the stores changes every few weeks so that means they move their clothes around even if the actual range of clothing hasn't changed. Clothes are arranged on shelves neatly folded with a few items on display. The shop assistants seem to spend all their free time folding clothes as it can get quite messy on a Saturday afternnon.


The changing rooms consist of unisex white and wooden styled cubicles with a dark curtain. They contain a chair, full length mirror and 3 hooks. You can take a maximum of 4 items into the changing rooms.


Customer Service
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The shop assistants on the whole helpful and pleasant and there is always at least one on the till, and one near the changing rooms. They are generally under 30 even though the customer base seems to be anyone from around 20 to 60. They also seem to have a high turnover of assistants as you rarely find the same one in the shop again.


The only time they are not so pleasant is when they leave a security tag on your clothes and you return them with the receipt to get them to take it off. Then they act like you stole the basic cheap item you brought simply because their door alarms didn't go off when you left the shop. (They do generally have a security guard wandering around the store so if you did try and steal I imagine you would be chased down the street.)


Clothes
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Uniqlo is a cheaper version of Gap with jeans averaging about £25, jumpers £15 and t-shirts £4 to £10 depending on patterns. They generally always have something on Sale and if you are not their standard customer size (if you are female this is a size 12 to 16 with a 32 inch leg) then you will find stuff to buy. They also do Special Offers and Promotions to shift stock i.e. 2 t-shirts for £10


The items that sell well are their jeans in different leg lengths (female 28 to 34 inches) and their long and short sleeve t-shirts. Unfortunately this means they often have these items out of stock in their average sizes and this stock depletion can last 3 weeks.


Returns
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I have never returned any items to the shops simply because I try everything on or know my size already. Unless you go on a Saturday afternoon there is not normally a long queue for the changing rooms. Also most people seem to try jackets and jumpers on the actual shop floor, or are a repeat customer and know their size.


Rating:
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value for money 4- clothes are average quality but not expensively priced.

stock range 4 - they do basics well

stock control 2 -I've been to 3 stores on one Saturday morning and not found any of one particular size and they have and then they over stock on some rubbish

customer service 3

number of shops 2 - you can have too few shops in a chain