MUJI Canada has announced the locations of their first two stores in Metro Vancouver – one on Robson Street, and another at Metrotown. Both stores will open later this year.
Retail-Insider.com reported that the new stores will be significantly larger than the locations opened in Toronto. The new Robson Street store will be the company’s third flagship store in North America at 10,000 square feet. The Metrotown location will be about 8,000 square feet. Both stores are scheduled to open by the end of the year.
The Robson Street store is slated for the 1100-block, currently home to Artizia, Nike and Gap. The final location has not yet been confirmed.
If you can’t wait for the permanent stores, don’t despair. From January 27 to February 28, 2017, the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel will host the Japan Unlayered exhibition, which will feature a MUJI pop-up store with selected products available for sale.
Due to overwhelming demand, a registration system has been set up to allow people to access the pop-up store. There will be no access to the MUJI Vancouver pop-up store without a reservation appointment. Reservations are available in time blocks and there is a limit of 1 reservation per person, and no exchanges or transfers for times & dates allowed. Reservations open 48 hours before each appointment, and begin on January 25th at 11AM PST.
To register, click here.
Pop-up store sneak peek! Our team is working hard in #Vancouver… Here are a few items you can expect to see @FairmontPacific pic.twitter.com/2HS43XXv6H
— MUJI Canada (@Mujicanada) January 20, 2017
MUJI Vancouver pop-up store schedule:
January 27 – 29: 11AM – 7PM
January 30 – February 28: Open Monday to Friday, 11AM – 7PM
(closed on weekends)
Address:
Fairmont Pacific Rim – Main Lobby
1038 Canada Place
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6C 0B9
MUJI recently opened their largest store in Canada at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto. In addition to the usual MUJI staples, the store includes a large food hall featuring a wide selection of Japanese snacks and candy, as well as an embroidery service.
MUJI is well known for their high-quality, no-brand apparel and outerwear, bath and body products, stationery, home decor and furniture. The stores are famous for their wide array of aroma diffusers, the signature scent of MUJI stores worldwide.
MUJI is short for Mujirushi Ryohin, which literally means “no-brand quality products.”
MUJI has said they plans to open up to eight stores across Canada over the next five years. Much like fellow Japanese retailer, Uniqlo, the retailer prefers to open stores slowly, carefully selecting locations and ensuring a smooth rollout.
MUJI Canada president Toru Akita told the Vancouver Sun that they are working to open the first two Metro Vancouver stores as soon as possible.
“We know we’ve made people in Vancouver wait a long time,” he said. “Thank you very much for your patience. … We’ve got a lot of requests from people here to open a store, so we know that people are waiting. With this pop-up store, it allows us to learn a little more about our Vancouver customers, so we can open the best (permanent) store for them.”
There are currently 12 MUJI stores in the U.S., as well as online shopping. Unfortunately, the U.S. website does not ship to Canada, but a cross-border P.O. box may be a good workaround for now, until Vancouver gets its own store later this year.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published November 10, 2016 and has been updated.
