The 8,700 sq ft store will be the casual wear firm's first in South-east Asia, and is scheduled to open on April 9, Uniqlo said yesterday.

This is contrary to previous reports that said Uniqlo - dubbed the Japanese Giordano - would open its first store in Ion Orchard, the swanky mall being built on Orchard Turn.

When contacted, Mr Satoshi Onoguchi, managing director of Uniqlo Singapore, a joint venture between Wing Tai Retail and Fast Retailing, said: 'Tampines 1 is a new mall that opens in April 2009. This coincides with our plan to have the first store in spring 2009.'

The 10,000 sq ft store in Ion Orchard will instead be the second one, and will open in 'early June', said Uniqlo.

AsiaMalls-owned Tampines 1, located between Tampines MRT station and Tampines bus interchange, is slated to open in March.

AsiaMalls said the mall's position entitles it to an estimated catchment of 315,000 residents, including 15,000 PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives and businessmen) working in the area. Mr Onoguchi said: 'Tampines 1 is strategically located to attract our target consumers, being a high-density transport hub and a regional satellite hub.'

Uniqlo is a casual wear brand known for fashionable basics for men, women and children. It is part of Japan's Fast Retailing group, which reported last month that Uniqlo's domestic sales in November rose 32.2 per cent, even as the country's economy officially entered a recession.

Uniqlo currently has 54 stores outside Japan, including flagships in Manhattan, London and Paris, as well as boutiques in China and South Korea.

Last month, Fast Retailing also established a second Singapore-based joint venture - with two Chinese companies and one Bangladeshi firm to manufacture textiles and apparel in Bangladesh.

The new company, CPAT Singapore, will start operating next year.