Muji Moves to New York
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK on 03. 6.07
Well, actually this amazing Japanese store has already made a cameo appearance in New York in the Museum of Modern Art, but for those of you who enjoyed that taster of this unmistakable ‘no brand’ brand, you are going to love the full blown Muji experience that is due to take shape in the New York Times Building. This will be Muji’s first flagship store in the US and it’s going to be a big one! Forest City Ratner Companies, which owns 700,000 square feet of The New York Times Building, has told us that Muji is leasing 5,000 square feet along 40th Street. Bruce Ratner, President and CEO of FCRC, said, "We are honored that MUJI has chosen to put its American flagship store in The New York Times Building. I'm especially pleased that a global pioneer in environmentally friendly retail practices will be a centerpiece of our retail mix. MUJI's dedication to useful and well-designed products makes them a perfect fit for the elegant and environmentally advanced tower Renzo Piano has designed."
The store will be designed by Japanese interior design architect Takashi Sugimoto and is due to open for the 2007 holiday season. So you can all start making you Muji Christmas lists now then! Hmmm let me see… some recycled cardboard desktop speakers, one of those colourful recycled waste cotton t-shirts, ooh and you never know when an earthquake pack might come in handy! ::Muji
Why is this store so "amazing" ? Theyve been selling the stuff for years at MoMA and yeah, it's kinda cool, but it's mostly silly novelty items. Bah...
Aaack! Here in St. Louis, we don't even have an Ikea yet. It just isn't fair.
Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report
I LOVE Muji. People who have never experienced their stores in Japan or the UK have no idea how amazing they are. I will be booking a flight from California as soon as this store opens...I have a wish list a mile long of stuff that was too bulky or heavy to bring over from Japan. Folding bicycle and compact washer anyone?
"yeah, it's kinda cool, but it's mostly silly novelty items"
Maybe that's what they sell at MoMA: I don't know. But their full stores stock a huge range of clever, stylish and really damn useful stuff. When I lived in the UK, I pretty much furnished my flat from there, and I loved their storage items in particular, especially their cardboard bookshelves. Years later, I'm still using a laptop bag, magazine rack, stationery and some clothes.
Also, they're a kind of "urban IKEA". Whereas IKEA always set up in vast sheds near some motorway junction miles from town, Muji had compact shops in the high streets near the tube stations. They don't carry as much furniture as IKEA, of course, but what they do have is always desirable.
" I will be booking a flight from California as soon as this store opens"
That'll really help reverse global warming
Muji is a good store and I make a conscious effort to go when I'm in London, howeverit's worth making an effort to single out the few eco-friendly items and ignore the others. Just because theres no Logo doesn't mean its all good. They do refillable gel rollers now which means you don't need to keep slinging out the plastic cases and a whole range of recycled paper notepads that I love. Keep the pressure on though to encourage these sorts of items in the store.
I went to Muji by pure accident in Osaka years ago. I thought..gee this was neat. Then I tried a pair of trousers/pants. They actually fit exactly to my build and complimented me. Then I was in Narita and found them there. Every time I was in Japan my first goal was to find the nearest Muji. Everything was trendy, compact and efficient.
Then they opened in Hong Kong in ShaTin, then Tsimsatsui. Now they are in London on a smaller scale albeit not like Asia with all those neat snacks to munch on.
I want a big Muji in North America like in Asia. I went to the MoMA Design store in NY and was disappointed in in their quantity of Muji products. I had been searching for ages for a plain black computer bag and finally found what I wanted at Muji.