Japanese chain retailer Muji opened its first store in Hanoi on Saturday after opening one in HCMC last November. The store, which spans 2,000 square meters at Vincom Center Metropolis on Lieu Giai Street, is the second to be opened in Vietnam.
The flagship store in Hanoi provides around 5,000 products, ranging from fashion, cosmetics to household items, interior design and food.
Tetsuya Nagaiwa, Muji’s head of Vietnam business, said the chain spent two years searching for a suitable location for the Hanoi store, a much longer process compared to its HCMC endeavor.
The southern metropolis’s downtown District 1 is a no-brainer when it comes to choosing a location for a store. But Hanoi has multiple locations with different capacities for attracting customers, Tetsuya explained.
Vincom Center Metropolis was eventually chosen since it is in an area with a big Japanese population and is wide enough to host a large store.
Tetsuya said Muji’s current strategy is to take hold of Hanoi and HCMC, both major cities, to boost brand recognition. Afterward, depending on factors like economic development and population, Muji would consider opening more stores in other cities.
Vietnam is among the world’s most promising retailer markets right now, Tetsuya said, adding the country has attracted a large number of investors thanks to its ever-growing economy and a young population with a middle-class income.
Certain Muji products sold in Vietnam would be cheaper than other markets’ as they are produced by domestic manufacturers, he said, without revealing exact information regarding the domestic factories.
Muji, founded in 1980, has over 1,000 stores in 33 countries and territories.