POPULAR JAPANESE STORE Uniqlo has announced it will be opening eight new stores in Europe, and Irish shoppers are hoping the Dublin will be included.

The store, which is known for selling high quality but affordable basics, already has stores in ten European countries, including England and Scotland, but has not yet revealed the location of the new stores.

Shoppers have repeatedly expressed their desire for the shop to come to Dublin, something which a commercial real estate expert said is “on the agenda”.

Earnings from Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, make them world’s third biggest clothing manufacturer and retailer after Zara owner Inditex and Sweden’s H&M.

Irish fans of the brand can currently only order clothes from Uniqlo online, but for delivery under €70, shipping costs €9.95.

The specialist, who works for a large commercial estate agent, told The Journal Uniqlo has “looked” at opening a Irish branch of the store, but has not yet found a building large enough.

Uniqlo shops stock men’s, women’s and children clothing, and are generally housed in a two-storey commercial building.

“I know they’ve looked, the difficulty is the size of building, I don’t know if anything has been agreed on”, the expert said.

The brand has over 2,500 locations, including flagship stores in London, Amsterdam and Milan. 

The commercial estate agent said that Ireland is on the agenda as a capital European city, but it is in a competitive environment with other cities across Europe, many of which have larger populations.

They highlighted that trading out of listed buildings is difficult for retailers as the structural integrity of the building must be maintained.

For this reason they said Uniqlo may not find a suitable space in the General Post Office, if plans to make the GPO a cultural, retail and office hub went ahead.