Muji is a Japanese home goods store that is known for a minimalist design. Their products are primarily aimed at urban dwellers, especially those with limited space that are living in high-density apartments or condos.
They are planning on building a flagship 7,000 sqft store at the Fairmont Annex, in the space where the preview center for 360 Residences used to be several years ago.
Currently there are only three US stores in existence like this one, and all of them are in Manhattan. They are only planning to build out two stores on the West Coast for now, one in San Francisco and the other is this one.
To say this is a huge win for Downtown San Jose would be an understatement. On Mondays I like to post development news. There are a few new massive apartment and office projects that were just announced, and I completely pushed those aside for this.
No official opening date has been set, but they are shooting for Spring. Godspeed.
Source: SJBJ
Awesome, I really love this store. It's fun to just browse all of the interesting and useful items. I used to go there a lot when I lived in Dublin, Ireland. Nice to see it following me around!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. Totally makes sense IMO to put this in downtown (vs. Santana Row). I'm guessing the rent is cheaper (and maybe substantially) for starters so it makes good business sense for them. But more importantly, there are many more of the high density apartment/condo living units in downtown compared to Santana Row, right? I know Santana Row has some high density stuff (and maybe some more to be built), but they wouldn't come close to what is in downtown. This type of store generates great foot traffic so it's a great win for downtown.
ReplyDeleteTop it off, One South Market Apartment breaks ground in Feb 13 with preliminary site work in the next month or so. The site is on Market and Santa Clara st.
ReplyDeleteGreat news regarding MUJI and One South Market...hoping things also get rolling on The Carlysle.
ReplyDeleteWhich vacant major retail space do think should be prioritized now? The Globe & the former Zanottos or The 88?
This makes me so excited. I will totally shop at Muji if it comes downtown. Hope it encourages more businesses to come downtown when they see a global store like Muji setting up shop in downtown San Jose.
ReplyDeleteWhat great news, thanks for this great scoop!!!! Good for MUJI for being smart AND trendsetting. Whoop!
ReplyDeleteSilvia
Muji is great. Two concerns from someone who lives one block from the new location. There's not a lot of foot traffic right there unless there is a convention or special event. And... there's not a whole lot of residents close to that spot. Will be interesting to see how it does.
ReplyDeleteI'm already setting budget aside to support them, will definitely do whatever I can to help them stay Downtown. Looks like a really nice store.
DeleteOne location perk is that they are right on Lightrail, making it very accessible to anyone that lives near a station. With two new residential towers in the near future and an expanded convention center, I think they'll be getting much more foot traffic than the area has today. Plus they could be a destination in and of itself.
Remember how dead The 88 area was before The Market moved in? Now there is foot traffic there all the time.
Sure. I mean, you know better than me, living virtually across the street from it. I'm not debating that this is good news. I was sharing an observation.
DeleteI had the same concern about foot traffic, but I think it will work out. Especially if the adjacent empty retail spots on the paseo fill up.
DeleteWooot! I don't need to convince anyone here, but this is so huge that they chose DTSJ as their second west coast location. And not that it's a competition but the SF location looks kinda weak compared to this. I really hope this move encourages other high quality retailers to line DTSJ up. I can see myself stopping by every time I catch a flick at Camera 12, and I imagine SJSU students would find MUJI the go-to place for stationery.
ReplyDeleteAwesome news about One South Market and the store!
ReplyDelete