The company began in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in 1949. It has grown steadily since then. In 1984, Fast Retailing opened the first UNIQLO shop in nearby Hiroshima Prefecture. Since then it opened an online business in 2000. It then became international with shops in London (2001); Shanghai (2002); then, Korea, the USA in the SoHo fashion district of Manhattan in New York, and Hong Kong (2005). Since then it expanded into France (2007), Singapore (2009), and Russia (2010). Recently, on 27th September, they opened "BICQLO", which is a collaboration shop with Bic Camera.(2012)