Uniqlo's short-lived Basingstoke store closed in 2003

The Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo has skyrocketed in popularity over recent years, with young women driving the trend, according to their UK exec Alessandro Dudech.

It currently has 26 stores across the UK, but did you know that there was once one in Basingstoke?

Uniqlo Basingstoke opened on the same day Festival Place did, on October 25, 2002.

It was one of the largest fashion stores in the centre, alongside M&S, H&M, BHS and Debenhams.

Young women have become the driving force behind hotter demand at fashion brand Uniqlo, its UK executive revealed (PA) (Image: PA)

Before opening, jobs at Uniqlo were advertised in several issues of the Gazette, including in August 2002, where it stated that customer advisors could earn between £5-£6.50 per hour,

The Basingstoke store was part of its international expansion plan, where it launched eight new stores in the south of England, including in Staines, Brighton and Watford.

The advert stated: “The needs of our customers are at the heart of everything we do. At UNIQLO, our philosophy is simple; everyone is a customer and we always strive to exceed our customers' expectations.

“We offer our customers good value, our staff opportunities and respect, and we work hard to ensure that everyone is totally satisfied.”

The Uniqlo advert in the Gazette from August 2002 (Image: Newsquest)

Uniqlo certainly made their mark, as published in the Gazette on Friday, December 13, 2002, they were thanked by a fundraiser from St Michael’s Hospice for donating clothing for the ‘Fashion Police’ during their Mad Hair Day event at the end of October.

Alas, Uniqlo’s lifespan in Basingstoke was short-lived as in June 2003, landlord Grosvenor took back the unit in Festival Place, as the brand closed 16 out of 21 of its UK stores.

One reader wrote to the Gazette on Monday, April 7, 2003, saying, ‘Uniqlo, please don’t go.’

As reported in the Gazette on March 14, 2003, Festival Place was the eighth most popular venue for south-east shoppers outside London, but some retailers were unhappy.

The piece by Hugh Cadman reads: “The news has not been all good for the new centre. UNIQLO, one of the largest fashion shops at Festival Place, is to close at the end of June with the loss of 18 jobs, amid wider grumbles about poor promotion and lack of customers.”

The store manager Liz Oliver had said that the upper gallery of Festival Place ‘did not attract enough customers’ and wasn’t ‘sufficiently promoted.’

Now, the nearest Uniqlo to Basingstoke is in Oxford, Bristol or Kingston. A new store opened in Cambridge in September 2026, and stores in Brighton and Bath are coming in 2027.

Would you like to see a Uniqlo in Basingstoke?