Uniqlo Opens in Manila

On Saturday morning, I found myself going to Mall of Asia (MOA) to go to Uniqlo. It just opened the day before and though I heard from friends that the first day was a nightmare with so many people in the store, I figured, going there early on the second day would give me a good chance.

I was there about 15 minutes before the 10 AM opening time and silly me for thinking that there won't be any line. Because this is what I saw when I arrived:

The line was already U-shaped and snaking around the 2nd level of MOA!! I almost turned back when I saw that the Uniqlo staff holding up the "end of the line here" showed that I had to wait 1 hour to get in. But I guess that was based on their experience on opening day because thankfully, I was inside the store about less than 15 minutes after the store opened. Yey!

Scary, there were even bouncers at the entrance:

I didn't really take a lot of pictures in the store. For one, I was doing it surreptitiously (with my S90 and iPhone) since when I asked a staff, I was told that they don't allow photos to be taken inside (although I realized later on that with all the chaos, some of the staff didn't really care and I saw one or two customers taking pictures inside the store). And the other reason was that I was too busy looking around shopping!

The whole hoopla of Uniqlo's store opening was that there were many items being sold at the introductory price of P590.

There were lines for the fitting room and lines for the cashiers. 

I thought I would be buying these colored jeans at just P590 (they were selling like hotcakes). But when I got to fit them, I found that they didn't fit me well.

All in all, I noticed that Uniqlo's clothes were a bit basic, which I quite appreciated since that works well with my quality over quantity principle when it comes to clothes lately. In my sweep of the store, Uniqlo seemed to have nothing too trendy (like Forever 21) or nothing too serious and corporate-suited (like Zara).

Fitted this shirt but ended up not buying it

There were "character" shirts like Barbie shirts selling at P590, with some quirky designs and prints, but not my style. Saw some classic striped shirts but I thought their fit was weird and besides, a bit pricey for just some basic shirts. 


That said, they have easy, basic pieces that you can layer or style with your existing clothes to come up with almost any outfit. They have these basic men's V-neck tees (see picture above) starting at just P290 (wearable even for women but you can't fit these though), with men's tees with higher cotton grade are priced higher.

They also have clothes for kids:

 
I ended up getting just two pairs of cropped denim pants, in white and mint green (P990 each).  They had a good fit on me and I've been looking for this slimming cropped style since forever. See how I've styled them for work:

Forever 21 Blazer/ Custom made sheer top/ Uniqlo white cropped pants/ Bayo bag/ Parisian heels/ Bayo bag/ Sover vintage sunnies

Alexane blazer/ Fuchsia top from bazaar/ Scarf from Hong Kong/ Uniqlo mint green cropped pants/ Gifted pumps/ Longchamp leather tote/ Rayban aviators

I almost didn't buy these pants since they weren't on sale anyway and I thought I could just go back to Uniqlo when I could shop at leisure instead of roughing it up with the rest of the crowd (totally not the optimal situation to shop and make good acquisition decisions). But I'm glad I trusted my shopping instinct because as this photo shows, most of the items (especially these best-selling lounge pants) were totally wiped out: 

Photo from Chuvaness

As I've said, I would go back to Uniqlo for basic pieces. Some would say that for basic pieces, they could be a bit expensive---like there were leggings there for about P800 I think. But knowing how black leggings are really a must in my wardrobe, I'd say that's not a bad price for well-fitting leggings made with good material.  The P990-cropped pants that I got were also a bargain, I'd think. Compared to similar colored jeans in the market, the material doesn't seem as if it would stretch out in a bad way. And based on how I've worn them so far, they can be incorporated with the rest of my wardrobe well.

I was in the Uniqlo store by around 10:15 and was out by 11:30 in the morning.  And since I was one of the first customers inside that day, I even got a free Uniqlo tote, which is simply perfect for shopping, and it's foldable too:

All in all, I'd say, it was a good way to spend my Saturday morning :) Cheers!