Uniqlo

Take the boy out of Iowa but can’t take the Iowa out of the boy… Unless you take him to uniqlo and at least dress the boy differently.
They tailor the clothes there (major plus). Price isn’t bad. Clothes seemed to fit him well, nothing too crazy basic nice fitting classic things with some trendy updates.
I, of course, got some clothes too. I have been wearing it for several months now and so far so good as far as quality. I do recommend the linen shirts just hang most of their clothes to dry and you won’t be disappointed.
When I first went staff seemed basically confused/​or maybe hung over. It’s likely this has changed that’s why I went with the half power rating of 3.

I have been shopping at Uniqlo since my first trip to Miyagi, Japan, and I’ve been happy with every piece of clothing that I’ve bough there. Yesterday, we decided to try out their new location and I found it to be similar to Tokyo location in Ginza. However, I’ve been having a problem with the size in the US, because I find that all my clothes that I bought from Japan fits better. But I still think that I will be shopping there, in fact I picked up two summer shirts and they actual work. So have fun shopping at Uniqlo, they are one best retailers out right now.

I’ve been to the Shop in Nagoya, Manila, New York, New Jersey and Philly. We just got word that this shop just recently opened this year. So since we’re in the city for a few days, we came to see what’s new and cracking in Chicago’s brand new Uniqlo site.
I needed some new khakis, so we proceeded all the way to the top floor where the men section is. You’ll find a Starbucks up here too, but I came to buy trousers. I saw it, it spoke to me and I purchased a pair of khaki joggers.
Everything is neatly arranged and very clean. The whole space is well lit and very nicely designed. There’s a gallery of their ever so popular bubble jackets. Shirts with the MoMA theme and stuff.
The staff is very nice and they were very friendly. I love you Uniqlo, thank you for your Chicago site. Now I don’t have to fly to the east coast just to buy clothing from you.

I love uniqlo for their simple, well made, and cheap clothes. It is the best place to shop for the staple pieces of your wardrobe. Plain v-​necks, classic outerwear, socks, underwear, oxford style shirts, leggings, and simple bottoms are some of my favorites! This store is not fast fashion. It does have several unique fashion pieces, but they are nice accents to their large inventory of necessities to your wardrobe. The clothes are made well out of thick material, no transparent v-​necks! The prices are very reasonable. If you go at the right time, you can get final sale items and end of season sale items for a ridiculous price. I scored three quality jackets for around 20 bucks, two fleece jackets and a nice wind proof jacket.
The store is designed like most are; multiple floors and a wandering floor plan to keep you in the store looking around (and buying more). They have a coffee shop with a large waiting area to keep the uninterested or energy filled kids entertained. I really like the look of the mannequins as you ride the long escalator up to the store. Multiple areas with in the store to check out makes it easy to find a terminal with little to no wait. The employees are all EXTREMELY helpful, knowledgeable, and polite.
Goodbye Old Navy, uniqlo is where I am going for my cheap basic wardrobe pieces!

Meh. I’m not their target shopper, but I’m always in the hunt for cheap, stylish clothes. Unfortunately, nothing here is anymore stylish than furniture at IKEA. For a culture that’s all about revering beauty and respecting craft, why do Japanese people love this banal store? Almost everything looks factory made by third world labor – uninspired and even dull, with far too few flashes of real design. The store itself is impressive, and the Starbucks on the top floor has an awesome view of Michigan Avenue for photography. It’s sad the reality of Uniqlo’s boring clothing can’t match the hype.

I absolutely love Uniqlo and have been anticipating them coming to Chicago! Their HeatTech gear is my absolute favorite. This technology is featured in layering pieces (short sleeve and long sleeve shirts, leggings, socks) which is really perfect for Chicago winters and they now also have an Extra Warm Heattech which is extra fleecy yet without the bulk. The outerwear fleece is incredibly warm and is often featured between $ 14.90 and $ 29.90 depending on the style. And I really recommend their windproof items as well. My boyfriend lives in Winnipeg which is one of the coldest places in Canada (–35 celsius is their norm in the winter) and he absolutely loves his fleece and gloves. Uniqlo should seriously consider opening a store there, they would make a LOT of money. Thanks for keeping me warm all winter long!

I was sooooo happy when I saw the UNIQLO COMING SOON sign on Michigan Avenue last summer. Finally, a clothing store on Michigan Ave that wont make me look like an emo-​amish man. I.E. All these kids nowadays walking around with obscenely tight pants, awkward neck beards and silly hats — I guess I’m just not fashionable? LOL. Anywayssssss, this store is amazing — especially for the price point. The service is friendly and prompt. Quality, everyday clothing for us working folks.

Dear Uniqlo Chicago,
You wow’d me on your grand opening. I dropped mad money on your opening day. My whole family rocks your ultra light down now, to the point where I recommend you to everyone I know. While I love your store immensely with your 3 floors of awesome and super fashionable clothes, a brand spanking new Starbucks on your 6^th floor for that extra pick me upper while shopping, I am very disappointed in you. Shame on me for shopping on ¹²⁄₂₂ (3 days before Christmas), but I couldn’t resist myself and making the 33 mile journey from my little suburb to your beautiful downtown store, with the extravagant parking prices. My shopping experience was amazing. I was greeted warmly when I walked in your front door. I was advised of all the promotions going on. I didn’t even need to ask for assistance when I had a dazed and confused look on my face. The floor had so many wonderful and knowledgeable associates who helped me picked the perfect gift and at the price range I needed. My cashier, Jahmeir was super friendly, he suggested additional add ons to my purchase, as well as separating my items in the appropriate gift receipts, complimented me on my toki doki bookbag, and offered the gift bags to put my gifts in. However, he forgot to take off the security tag on my ultra light down. I made it out the door with out the security tag going off in your store. I made my 33 mile journey home. Threw my purchase into my pile of gifts I need to wrap. And so here we are… I open my bag today and have a shiny gray security tag on my awesome Christmas gift. I sent
an urgent email and received a prompt response. I applaud your We Care Team. I fortunately was able to speak to Tanisha (my We Care Representative, she was wonderful, tried her best to assist me, and totally deserve a raise.), but advised that there was nothing they can do to assist on the matter since it was purchased in store. Part 2 of the unfortunate event, there is also no direct line for me to call your Chicago store. Nor, am I able to get the phone number to call.
So here I am, the eve before Christmas Eve. It is a journey for me to make it to your downtown stores. What I am going to do now?
Thanks,
Lin C.

I’m very familiar with Uniqlo from both NYC and SE Asia, so I was very very happy that they opened a store (and a big one at that) in Chicago right around the corner from where I live. The store is 6 floors, but really only three is occupied with merchandise and there is also a Starbucks on the top floor. You will find just as much if not more here as almost anywhere else. Customer service was fine — nothing to complain about there.
For those of you not familiar with Uniqlo — well you should be. They do pretty quality clothing at pretty affordable prices. As someone who has a lot of designer clothing, this is a place I always look to when needing something basic but at a decent quality when I don’t want to spend a few hundred for a simple long sleeve tshirt/​sweatshirt. There is nothing really «out there» about most of the clothing. Yes, you can find stuff like denim button downs certain times of year, slimmer more fashionable pants, and cardigans but a lot of their stuff are the basics (i.e. button up shirts, nice crew and v neck shirts/​sweatshirts, some more expensive (but not too bad) cashmere, etc).
If you’re looking for quality clothing that’s not very expensive for the quality, check this out (and it beats the crap out of H&M next door in this regard where that place’s cuts are absolutely horrid).

Visually stimulating, with a lot of eye-​popping colors and details several feet above one’s head, with psychedelic reflections and hyper-​stimulated salesman. After reviewing everything in the store, there were a few items that I liked (the art-​based T-​shirts) but none were in my size. In short, not really my thing but fun to peruse.

The Tokyo-​imported Uniqlo took over the space where the defunct Filene’s Basement was used to be. While there was no more «running of the brides,» the «Uniqlo Experience» dominates shoppers’ short-​term memories and seems to make more sense situating in the prime location of Chicago Magnificent Miles, across from the Water Tower Place.
As a retail professional, I went straight into the analyzing the market trend, merchandizing, pricing, and staffing. Let me break it down in the PowerPoint Format:
–market trend: Uniqlo emphasizes practicality by using the term «Life Wear.» The garments are lightweight, fashionable, and most of them are «layering-​friendly.» I would say their style is sleek and simple enough to be accepted by the general population.
— merchandizing: rotating mannequins certainly provides a visual guide for shoppers to learn how to put an outfit together. Size specifications for pants, shirts, cardigans, and etc, were clear enough to understand. They were running a promotion on flannel shirts for under $ 15. Deal or no deal? I will let you decide on that.
— pricing: it will depend on who their competitors are. There’s the «remaining 21» brand, the «2 alphabets» brand next door, and the «opposite to bottom» brand on the corner of Michigan and Pearson. For Uniqlo being a new addition to the Magnificent Miles, the advantage is still theirs. Prices on most outerwear is in between $ 70 to $ 150.
— staffing: I saw two (2) greeters, a plenty of departmental personnel, visual merchandisers, floaters, and enough cashiers on each floor. Black is their uniform color and the workers can be identified with the Uniqlo badges. They seem to like their jobs ok for now.
I now have the «Uniqlo Experience» under my belt. I can say that was fairly positive in my opinion.

UNIQLO HAS ARRIVED! Came here the day after it opened, and was super impressed by the service and organization. Having anticipated long lines, they had adequate staff to direct customers, giving us Uniqlo magazines, candy, and ponchos as we waited in the rain.
The store is a little overwhelming – super bright lighting, lots of colors, and (of course) people everywhere, but products are well-​organized by floor. The only other Uniqlo stores I’ve been to were in Paris, and this one is so massive that the others don’t even compare. Definitely check this store out, if only to be wowed by Uniqlo’s commitment to its branding and services.

Beautiful building. Great product. Struggling customer service. Horrible layout.
I can already tell I will almost never shop at Uniqlo. For 2 reasons. 1) the sizing simply does not flatter any persons with curves and 2) everyone and their mothers and even their grandmothers shop at this store now. Seriously, ever since it opened, Michigan avenue has been polluted with those white shopping bags.
My question is why? In my opinion the price point reflects that of Forever 21, but the quality of the material does not differ at all from that of H&M. I’m positive that the only reason why this store is as popular as it is now is because its the «shiny new toy» on Michigan avenue.
What I hate more than anything than shopping in a large crowd, is shopping in a large crowd in a store that has the worst merchandising layout. This means everyone is all over the place with no sense of where things are or who to ask to locate what they’re looking for since the staff is so new, no one has a clue of product knowledge or location in store. I had to travel all over the store just to find a turtleneck, dress slacks, and blazer. With no help from the staff. And then, once found, I had to dig all the way behind stuff to find my size. Then to find out my size was not there.
Seriously if I didn’t love the Japanese vibe of the store I would hate this place. But now I visit just to go to Starbucks and escape to «Japan» for a little bit and stare out the window and look out over Michigan Avenue. Will I purchase from here in the future? No. Not until the sales team get their act together and the merch team restructures the layout

Uniqlo fits in right among the rest of the fast-​fashion (or fast basics) retailers along Michigan Ave. It is somewhat amusing that they opened above the competing «Topshop», which now looks inappropriately named.
Having been to the Uniqlo in San Francisco, I wasn’t expecting much of a big difference, but the main thing I noticed was the general messy nature of the store. In SF, almost every employee was constantly straightening, folding and picking up. Chicago’s location seemed to be a bit more willing to «let things be».
If you need cheap, affordable basics that fit a slimmer body type, Uniqlo is as good an alternative you’ll find. But the low cost comes at a cost for longevity, I’m afraid. After seeing merino sweaters on hangers already beginning to pile, days after the store opened, I wasn’t confident enough that they’d last more than a season to make them worth a purchase. It’s more about shopping for price than quality here.
One thing I’ll credit Uniqlo for, however, is the amount of color variety you can pick from in several categories. There’s bountiful choices for those looking to buy cheap.

I hate crowds. This place was so overcrowded that you couldn’t even get to the merchandise. I did not like a couple of things about this place. First, they had employees yelling holding signs which really cheapened the place. They do not carry XXL especially if the clothes is slim fit. The salespeople were also a little pushy to buy. Overall the clothes look like basics and I could not understand why everyone was in a frenzy!!! I probably won’t return since they don’t carry my size. I would prefer Old Navy to be honest.

Place just had opened and its huge compared to the one in O.C. liked the idea of having a Starbucks in the 4^th floor that can help with the Men that get stuck shopping with the ladies lol.
For an opening day they had it well under control, place was in top shape, plenty of employees, and a large selection of clothing.
Check it out if in the area.

Take this review with a grain of salt cause it’s more of a personal preference, but I wasn’t feeing the overall ambiance of the store. The apparel seems really «cookie cutter» and basic. Nice that it’s affordable though.
I went this weekend for grand opening and will have to give them props for giving out the best gift bag to the first 200 customers. One of the items included a $ 49 cashmere scarf! I will go back once the hype dies down cause it was hard to move when I was there Saturday.

I love uniqlo and been a customer since early 2000’s, but dang what a mess opening weekend was. Water tower area was saturated with crazy Black Friday mobs that will run you over and grab things as if it had their name stitched all over it.
I’d definitely would wait a little bit until the hype dies to enjoy shopping here. Grab a coffee, get things tailored for free, and reap the cool deals.

Oh Uniqlo, I would have much rathered you wait an additional two weeks and get your staff prepared than open at the scheduled date and have staff that don’t understand the products or company. No one in this store has any idea where anything is at, it’s truly astounding. Additionally the staff has difficulty answering basic things, like «where /​what is the price for this entire wall of pants.»

Was handed $ 5 off coupon for instant savings at checkout by 4 different employees. They refused to redeem– manager was brought over, she was stressed and gave nasty attitude. Only when I said I am leaving did the cashier say he can give me the discount.
Terrible first impression and experience. Love shopping at the NYC location.