GU (极优) had 12 years and 13 stores in China — by 2025 it was down to 2

GU was founded by Fast Retailing in 2006 as a younger, cheaper, more fashion-forward sibling to Uniqlo — founder Tadashi Yanai called it his 'second startup'. It entered China in 2013 alongside Uniqlo, opening its first store in Shanghai's Huaihai Road flagship. For its first five years in China, GU focused almost entirely on Shanghai, opening roughly one new store per year.

By the end of 2019 GU had 13 stores in China — 11 in Shanghai, one in Suzhou and one in Guangzhou. But expansion stalled after 2019. The Suzhou store closed in 2020. The first Shanghai closure followed soon after. The closures accelerated in 2025: the Guangzhou Victoria Place store (the brand's South China debut) closed in August, followed by the Shanghai Huaihai Road flagship on 24 August 2025 — the very store where GU had entered China 12 years earlier. Total closures reached 15, leaving only two stores in Shenzhen and a Tmall online shop.

GU's China struggles reflected a strategy mismatch. Positioned below Uniqlo on price but above local fast-fashion labels — an identity consumers never understood. Its slow expansion (roughly one store per year) meant it never achieved network effects or recognition that Uniqlo had. When the Chinese fast-fashion market consolidated around ultra-low-price players (Shein, Pinduoduo) and local brands, GU had neither the scale to compete on price nor the differentiation to command a premium. Fast Retailing insisted GU was 'not exiting China' but the retreat from 13 to 2 stores told different story.