Uniqlo Reportedly In Talks to Open a Downtown SF Store Again, Maybe in the Vacant Old Navy Space

"San Francisco's pandemic retail apocalypse was already well underway when the three-story Union Square Uniqlo store closed in 2021, with that shopping district's H&M and The Gap having already fallen on their swords. (This was when we were still social distancing, and almost no one was eligible to get the COVID vaccine yet.) And things in Union Square would only get much worse from there."

"It's hard to overemphasize how popular Uniqlo was when they opened that Union Square store in 2012, Uniqlo's first West Coast store at the time. Yes, the above photo really does depict the scene outside the store's opening. They even flew a Uniqlo zeppelin over town, and bought wraparound ads on those double-decker tourist buses. This was about six years before the Uniqlo vending machine at SFO drew international curiosity, cementing their puffy vests as the unofficial Silicon Valley uniform."

"But now four years after that closure, today's Chronicle brings the news that Uniqlo might be opening a new downtown SF store. And it may not be far from the old three-story spot that was at 111 Powell Street, as the Chronicle's reporting indicates that the discussions have named the long-shuttered Old Navy store at Fourth and Market streets as the possible location."

San Francisco experienced a pandemic-era retail collapse that included the closure of a three-story Union Square Uniqlo store in 2021, along with H&M and The Gap. Four years after that closure, Uniqlo may be opening a new downtown San Francisco store, with the long-shuttered Old Navy at Fourth and Market identified as a possible location. Uniqlo's 2012 Union Square opening was highly popular and featured promotional stunts like a zeppelin and wraparound bus ads. Uniqlo remains the world's third-largest clothing retailer, and its Stonestown Galleria location performs well.

Read at sfist.com