CALIFORNIA—On July 31, Muji, a Japanese retailer, closed all eight shops in California, including three Bay Area locations. The shuttered stores include San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, the location at Palo Alto’s Stanford Shopping Center, and in downtown San Jose, as well as several Southern California’s shops, such as in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Santa Monica.
“As you may know, Muji recently began taking steps to restructure our U.S, business operation. … Thank you for 8 wonderful years in California. We hope you will continue to shop with us online, our website remains fully operational, and our customer service experts are always available to answer any questions you may have,” reads an official announcement by the company.
According to a Muji’s statement on July 10, they were struggling with financial difficulty in the U.S.
“While the retail industry is navigating challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, MUJI has made the decision to restructure its business in order to better serve our community, which involves filing for Chapter 11. MUJI USA will remain fully operational throughout this restructuring. Our stores across the country remain in various phases of reopening, in accordance to public health guidelines, and our e-commerce website continues to run,” a company statement read.
Muji will clear the debt by closing unprofitable operations in the United States. The company opened its first shop in Tokyo, Japan, in 1980, and launched MUJI USA in New York in 2007. Muji is a trendy home-goods chain shop, which is famous for its minimum and simple designs. Its products are popular for their high-quality and great variety of the original brand lines. They have shops located in New York, Boston, New Jersey, and Oregon are still open, and people can go to their website to shop for their products.
