(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- Adastria opened a second store for its Niko And brand on the Chinese mainland last weekend following a better-than-expected performance by its first outlet, The Paper reported yesterday. The move marks a second foray by the Japanese multi-brand apparel company into China after it was forced to close down a previous label due to poor sales.

Niko And’s first shop in downtown Shanghai was set up in 2019 and is expected to turn over CNY100 million (USD15.3 million) this year, said Yoshiaki Kitamura, head of Niko And. Sales were back to normal by April, despite the reduced footfall caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the store was making a profit by June.

The firm plans to open more outlets in China’s main cities, but not as many as other popular Japanese clothing brands such as Uniqlo and Muji which operate around 800 and 280 stores in the country, respectively.

Adastria, which is Japan’s second biggest clothing group after Yamaguchi-based Uniqlo, first entered China in 2009 with a brand collection store called “Collect Point” that quickly grew to a chain of 40. However, the fashions lacked vitality and were unable to keep up with the fast-paced growth of China’s market, Kitamura said. The brand has since exited the country.

Adastria has over 30 labels, including Niko And, Global Work and Lowrys Farm, and operates 1,400 stores worldwide. It logged JPY222.3 billion (USD2.2 billion) in sales in the 2020 fiscal year to Feb. 29.

Editor: Kim Taylor