UNIQLO finally opened in Montreal's Eaton Centre on October 23, and Montrealers are excited to have the Japanese retail giant in our midst.
So excited, in fact, that customers and staff have reported that waits to get into the store — the first in Quebec and the largest in Canada — can range from 30 minutes to three hours.
Content creator @Mangozzle posted an Instagram story on opening day showcasing a long — albeit, socially distanced — line stretching from Rue Saint-Catherine and Boulevard Robert-Bourassa all the way down the block to Robert-Bourassa and de Maisonneuve.
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0.5 - 3 Hours
Wait to get into UNIQLO, as reported by customers and staff
@Mangozzle also posted a story on the morning of October 24, showing a line-up at 9:34 a.m. captioned in French: "30 minutes before opening... not so bad hahah".
Barbara Lorena was another customer who visited the new location on opening day and posted about the experience on her Instagram account, @montrealbillieeilish.
"It is best you go early. They give you a card for an appointment. There is sometimes a line when you get there to get the card, but they are fast," she said.
"My card was for one hour after I arrived, but by the time I went in the wait times were two to three hours."
The card system allows people to leave and come back to the store so they don't have to wait in place.
David Wong, aka @draven888 on Instagram, posted a photo of the card he received on October 23 which read: "18h00."
His caption said, "It was 3:12pm..." meaning his wait would be approximately three hours.
MTL Blog called UNIQLO on October 24 at around 3 p.m., and we were told the wait time was around half-an-hour but could be longer.
On its website, UNIQLO says it is implementing "enhanced protocols" and "key protective measures" to ensure the safety of customers amid COVID-19.