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Uniqlo threatens to shut Boston store, others

By adamg on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 6:40pm

CNN Money reports the Japanese clothing chain is threatening to pull out of the US - which would include its new Faneuil Hall Marketplace store, the one that required substantial physical changes to the Quincy Market building - if the Trump administration insists it only sell clothing made in the US.

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Faneuil Hall Marketplace


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Comments

By anon on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 6:49pm.

Sounds more like a convenient excuse to abandon their U.S. market expansion which has been less profitable for them than anticipated. Clothing retailers are facing brutal market conditions and many are on the verge of bankruptcy.

By BlackKat on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 7:54pm.

As in the linked article: Uniqlo currently has 51 stores in the U.S. Yanai said the company plans to open at least 20 more stores this year, although it's watching what Trump and Congress do on trade.

By EM Painter on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 1:00am.

What's the diff between taxing clothes at the border and taxing plastic bags. Both get shoppers to use a more expensive product for a social outcome.

Globalization happened because of a planned effort to use labor in poor countries to make goods for buyers in rich countries. It worked!

By Bob Leponge on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 11:47am.

Both get shoppers to use a more expensive product for a social outcome.

I'd phrase that more like this:

Both get shoppers to pay the actual full costs of the product they're buying, rather than the rest of us picking up the tab.

By anon on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 5:11pm.

Where do YOU shop that YOU pay the full cost of an item. Do tell.

By Stephen Bickerton Sr on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 6:51pm.

Their name again? Bye bye!!!!

By BlackKat on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 7:54pm.

Large scale textile and apparel manufacturing, on the scale it was say 50 years ago, will never happen in this country ever again, ever. Not only does Uniqlo sell pretty nice clothing at decent prices, it also hires a lot of Americans to work in its US stores. If you want jobs in this country [particularly in the rust belt] then service and retail are about all you can hope for.

By johnmcboston on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 10:45pm.

I went there once and found it boring and expensive...

By ChrisInEastie on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 12:46pm.

Their outerwear is really good for day to day city use, and basics are better quality and last longer than H&M, GAP, Old Navy, etc. and are comparable in price, if not better. Their athletic wear is pretty solid as well, it's comfy, keeps cool/warm as promised, lasts, and is very reasonably priced.

Idk how their pants, or "nicer" shirts fare, but I've never regretted a purchase there.

By anon on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 2:44pm.

I had the same experience when checking it out for the first time. Clothes are basic and cheap looking but the price tags do not reflect that. One is better off shopping at Old Navy if they need basics on a budget.

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 8:18pm.

The "I've never heard of them so they MUST not matter" attitude.

What incontinence products do you favor, pops? Maybe they should stop importing those.

By Stephen Bickerton Sr on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 10:36pm.

Sears denied me credit when i 1st came home from military. Never went there again. Bye bye sears
Macys 24 percent interest rate cards. Bye bye.
Its called morals

By anon on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 7:17am.

Forgive.

By Bob Leponge on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 11:48am.

Forgiveness should be extended to people, not entities that don't have souls.

By Bob Leponge on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 11:55am.

Forgiveness should be extended to people, not entities that don't have souls.

By john on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 7:38am.

Now, 44 years later it looks like your plan is working. Both Sears and Macy's are in financial trouble. Good for you Steve

By Brent Jeffries on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 8:01am.

And as Uniqlo and other companies take the same "moral" stand in response to US pressure... bye bye America?

By fungwah on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 10:05am.

ever do to you, especially if you've never heard of them???

By BatCountry on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 12:54pm.

It might be called many things, including being a savvy shopper if one was generous, but "morals" ain't one of them. Might want to brush up on what that word means.

By anon on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 11:45am.

What does incontinence have to do with this outfit? What part of a cystoscopy do you find funny?

By ChrisInEastie on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 9:47pm.

Just like the far left's idea of grass fed organic handmade everything isn't viable on a macro level, neither is the far right's "dream" of making America the manufacturing epicenter of the world again. It's not happening.

The president's own clothing line isn't made in America. It is not happening. He lied about the steel being used in the oil pipeline that shouldn't exist. It is not happening.

Republicans are making empty promises to people who are in such dire straights and want to believe so badly that this will happen, while taking lots and lots of money behind closed doors from companies that rely on those overseas workers and facilities to continue making record profits. And when the profits drop even the slightest bit, the American jobs they do offer are the first to go. Then, the Republicans just turn around and blame the Democrats for everything, and you mindlessly buy in.

But you go ahead and say goodbye to a company that is or will be employing thousands of Americans, just because they won't employ said Americans in the way the politicians emptily promised you they would.

By Trump 2020 on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 9:52pm.

Well Most clothes are Imported...
So this import tariff issue will not be Unique to Uniqlo-sers

All clothes and goods will go up in price if that does happen.

And Trump never attacked these people. They're really just whining.
More BS from Clinton News Network.

By dmcboston on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 9:49am.

They've already acquired the steel. In the future, or for line repairs, it'll be American made steel pipe.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/01/american-steel-business-prepared-to-suppl...

I want the retailer to succeed. Any jobs created is better than no jobs created.

By fungwah on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 10:04am.

You're really missing out if you don't own a few pairs of Uniqlo Heat-Tech long underwear. Way cheaper and warmer than all other options and great for Boston winters.

By M on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 10:48am.

They used to make a Heattech half slip and they stopped producing em (prolly bc nobody under the age of 80 wears slips but me), but that thing is amazing under a sweater dress. Noticeably more toasty.

By anon on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 7:46pm.

Well, maybe trump is not all bad.

By APB on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 10:03pm.

When you come up with one reason why, let us know.

By BHL057 on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 7:06am.

and just how many AMERICAN workers will LOSE THEIR JOBS.... doh

By DaMo on Fri, 03/31/2017 - 7:59pm.

In Japan right now and just went shopping at Uniqlo last night (well, this morning for y'all in Boston) so I'm getting a kick from this. Trump makes me want to stick around here for a bit longer than I am.

By anon on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 11:03am.

Maybe you can find a time machine and go back to December 7 1941 and stick around Pearl Harbor .

By Jeff F on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 12:44pm.

Bet you've never raised a finger to serve our country, anonymous coward.

By anonymous1234 on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 12:57am.

"Uniqlo and other fast-fashion chains like Forever 21, Zara and H&M are actually doing reasonably well while many traditional retailers such as Macy's, Kohl's and Sears struggle.

"Not only is Uniqlo a major retailer and employer in the U.S., it is also a major tenant of landlords in a landscape of retail distress," noted Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group in Virginia in his morning note on Friday."

By Sock_Puppet on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 3:48am.

Yanai was responding to the bullshit Trumpski tweets as if it were normal, truthful, government planning. Trumpski has no intention of cratering the US economy and withdrawing from the WTO by slapping massive barriers on foreign-made clothing.

Of course Uniqlo would pull out of US, as would a lot of other companies, if this were to go down, but it's just more bluster and posing.

By Kathode on Sat, 04/01/2017 - 10:08pm.

they sell Moomin t-shirts!! https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/women/ut-graphic-tees/moomin

By anon on Sun, 04/02/2017 - 8:31am.

Don't threaten to pull out of the States, just do it. Uniqlo is just like all the other douches who threatened to move to Canada if Trump won. At the last count I think the majority if not all are still here. So stop it with the threats.

By anon on Sun, 04/02/2017 - 1:18pm.

It takes a while. Even if you have family there.

Meanwhile, thousands of tourists are avoiding the US and going to Canada instead and it is costing the US quite a lot of money.

By Steve Brady on Tue, 04/04/2017 - 3:03pm.

Kids these days haven't heard of Uniqlo anyway:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/04/teens-think-axe-b...