The fast rise of Japanese retailer Uniqlo
(CBS News) We're going shopping with Serena Altschul:
A previous version of this story was broadcast on March 24, 2013.
"Hello! How are you today? My name is Uniqlo! Let me know if you need any assistance. Thank you for waiting!
It's 9:30 a.m. in New York City, and employees are getting ready for another day at Uniqlo.
If you've never heard of Uniqlo before, it's the fourth largest fashion retailer in the world, with a reputation for design and Japanese service,
There are only seven stores in the U.S. But the Tokyo-based company wants 200 here by the end of the decade.
It's all part of what you might say is Uniqlo's plan to take over the world.
Yasunobu Kyogoku is Uniqlo USA's COO, one of the executives responsible for making that happen.
"We as a company are seeking to achieve $50 billion in sales by the year 2020, $10 billion of which are supposed to be here in the United States," Kyogoku said.
"So that would make you the number one apparel retailer in the world," said Altschul.
"Correct. That's our goal."
He showed Altschul around Uniqlo's San Francisco store, which feels a little more like an art gallery than a clothing store.
Altschul tried on a jacket in front of a "magic mirror."
"Rather than trying on 12 different colors of a particular item, for example, we can touch this LCD screen and rather instantaneously change colors," Kyogoku demonstrated.
Just one example of how shopping here isn't what you'd expect.
"What Uniqlo does is it says, 'We'll give you a T-shirt for $4.95, and we'll make you feel the same thing you'd feel if you were going into a designer store and buying a $400 garment," said Simon Collins, the dean of fashion at Parsons, the New School for Design. He's a big fan of Uniqlo -- but he wasn't always.
In the beginning, Collins said, he didn't like it: "I found the volume of colors to be slightly oppressive."
But after a few more visits, he noticed something . . .
"They care about how the staff look," Collins told Altschul. "They care about the experience of dealing with the staff and purchasing the garment. They care about how the store looks. And you feel that."
About 70 percent of a store employee's shift is spent folding. And so they're timed and tested to do it as neatly and quickly as possible.
Julie Lin can fold seven pairs of jeans in 43 seconds.
And if that's not enough, employees are even trained how to smile: "Always, always, always keep smiling. Keep smiling, keep smiling!" pressed one manager. "You turn your eyes up and smile! We got the eyes, got the chin, now the last part which is the easy part, the teeth! I want to see everyone smile real quick!"
"I'm gonna play devil's advocate here a little bit -- isn't that micromanaging just a little bit?" asked Altschul.
"Yes, it is micromanagement," said Kyogoku. "But, you know, what builds a great business is that attention to detail. That is what allows us to control the entire experience, and, I think, [it] is a competitive advantage."
Uniqlo began in 1984 when founder Tadashi Yanai took over his father's clothing shop in Hiroshima.
"It may come as surprise to you, but my father told me [to] just do whatever it is I want to do and he's never going to meddle with anything," Yanai said. "I was 23 back then."
Yanai renamed the store "Unique Clothing Warehouse" -- and later shortened it to "Uniqlo."
Today he oversees a fashion empire as chairman, president, and CEO of Uniqlo.
And did we mention he's also the richest man in Japan?
"When you talk about world expansion and domination, isn't that just PR talk?" asked Altschul.
"I think that's a great question for Mr. Yanai, but again, one has to remember that in less than 30 years he started from one store to 1,200 stores in 12 countries around the world," said Yasunobu Kyogoku.
"Come on -- the biggest brand in the world in seven years?"
"Our chairman always likes to say, 'Aim high,'" replied Kyogoku.
Aiming high . . . one bright color, one crisp fold, and one polite smile at a time.
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