Uniqlo, coming to a town near you......if you live in SE England (Uniqlo)

Member Name: djwhite1982

Product:	Uniqlo
Date:	18/08/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great value, simple clothes, vibrant colours

Disadvantages: Only currently have stores near London

Uniqlo is a clothing store originally from Japan, which, in the last few years has began opening branches in and around London, including a major store on Oxford Street in London.

Uniqlo is a fairly "young and trendy" store although the nature of their clothing means it does span quite a few age groups and is a very popular stop amongst people spending a day shopping down Oxford street. The clothes they offer are all quite simple, and are not overcomplicated with huge designs, words or brands splattered across the front of the clothes as you find in a lot of high street stores, and for this reason the shop is quite refreshing and manages to appeal to such a wide audience. The clothes are off excellent quality, with a lot of the emphasis seeming to be on qood quality as opposed to wasting their money on "fashoinable" designs.

When shopping in Uniqlo you tend to find that they offer a reasonably limited number of different styles of items, and tend to focus on basic versions of wardrobe classics, for example plain t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, blouses etc etc. However, where they offer something different to other stores, is that although the clothes are plain in design they come in a huge variety of different colours.

Take for example a pair of slim fit jeans, as well as the few shades of blue and grey you would find in most stores, they will have the same cut in huge variety of vivid and interesting colours. In fact this is one of the reasons the shop is so appealing, since as soon as you walk in, you are greeted with the a rainbow of jeans, top, socks and jackets which really gives the shop a fun atmosphere and makes you want to keep coming back.

Their main focus is on the casual clothes market and they also offer a limited amount of accessories, however they do not sell any footwear (certainly in the men's department anyway).

As a regular visitor to Uniqlo I have noticed an excellent little feature which I assume is an attempt to keep you coming back into the store as often as possible. Every few weeks Uniqlo will select a couple of items, and offer a special discount on them. This isn't like a usual sale where you have to sift through the dregs of what has been left, but is just an on-the-spot sale on certain items of clothing, so you can rest assured they will probably have your size (for a change). The discount is usually around £10 but will depend on the item. But they are usually excellent value. A few weeks ago I picked up a paid of straight leg jeans for £15 as opposed to the usual £25. As I say, its not a sale of what's the end of season line like you get in usual shops, it just seems to be an incentive to get people coming back as often as possible.

One slight downside to Uniqlo is that they always seem to be slightly understaffed, and the staff they do have seem to be rushing around off their feet, dealing with queries of trying to get the buyers served to keep the queues in check. That said, anytime I've dealt with the staff they have still maintained a pleasant and good attitude and I have no complaints about this element of the store.

Since Uniqlo seems to be relatively new to the UK, it unfortunately seems you're not able to access one unless you ;live in the South East of England. However I'm sure they will begin to sprout up all over the place as their popularity increases and if you do see one then its definitely worth a quick visit.

Summary: Assuming you've got one nearby, pay it a visit.