Uniqlo to open 3 stores in Bangkok in autumn

Japanese retail chain Uniqlo unveiled a plan Thursday to open three stores in Bangkok this autumn.
The first store in Bangkok, which will be the firm's largest in Southeast Asia, is to open in September at CentralWorld, a shopping mall on the Thai capital's Ratchaprasong intersection.
The second and the third stores are to open in October and November, according to Naoki Otoma, managing director of Uniqlo Asia and Japan.
''Uniqlo positions Thailand as a strategic market with significant business potential, as its fashion and textile market value has reached 8.6 billion yen. The Thai market is mature, supporting many existing brands from local players as well as highly fashion-conscious global labels,'' Otoma said.
Uniqlo also aims to open stores in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam by next year and plans to expand its production in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Currently, China accounts for about 90 percent of Uniqlo's production, with the other four countries accounting for a combined production of only 10 percent, Otoma said.
In April, Uniqlo opened a fourth outlet in Singapore's VivoCity shopping mall near Sentosa Island and a fifth store opened in northern Singapore in May.
It also opened a second store in Malaysia in May in a shopping mall near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Fast Retailing Co., which runs the Uniqlo chain, has said projects global sales of 5 trillion yen and becoming the world's largest apparel retail group in 2020.
Otoma, who is also an executive vice president of Fast Retailing, said his firm aims to open 200 stores in Asia every year,