Japan's Uniqlo to open stores in Bangladesh

Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo will open stores in Bangladesh in a joint venture to tap into the nation's growing middle class, the joint business said Wednesday.
Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, has teamed with Grameen Healthcare, run by Bangladesh's Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, to initially open two stores in Dhaka.
The stores, to be operated by the tie-up Grameen Uniqlo, will be the first in Bangladesh from a leading global retailer.
Although home to millions of poor, Bangladesh also has a 30 million-strong middle class, one of the largest in Asia, thanks to economic growth of around six percent annually over the last decade.
"They are the first step towards a vision of a chain of multiple stores across the country, providing quality, comfortable and affordable clothing manufactured by locals, for locals," Grameen Uniqlo said in a statement.