Uniqlo reopens stores in China after coronavirus outbreak

Earlier this month, Uniqlo had shut 370 of its stores in mainland China due to coronavirus outbreak. This past week, Uniqlo has reopened about 100 of those stores, while the rest still remained closed due to fear of coronavirus.

China had become a key growth market for Uniqlo as they were facing slower growth in Japan, but the coronavirus outbreak has put a damper on those plans. It is still too early to tell what effects this will have on Uniqlo's overall bottom line, but their revenues are undoubtedly affected.

Uniqlo is owned by Fast Retailing, which counts 128 of its 242 global factories in China. Fast Retailing will have to figure out what to do about their supply chains there if coronavirus continues to affect the country at a large scale.

Despite China's health woes, Uniqlo remains committed to growing in the market. "While Uniqlo continues to expand into new markets in such regions as Europe and Asia for example, Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Southeast Asia will continue to serve as the key pillars of its business growth," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

photo: via Uniqlo.com