Uniqlo's first Cambridge store opens at 9am on Thursday 24 September at unit 33, Grand Arcade. It is the chain's 25th in the UK, 25 years after its first.
Uniqlo opens its first Cambridge store at 9am on Thursday 24 September. The time comes from Grand Arcade’s own listing for the shop, which places it on the ground floor at SU31-33, St Andrew’s Street, CB2 3BJ. The centre still shows the store’s own weekly opening hours as “coming soon”.
The tenant has been on the public record since the spring, in a file most shoppers never see.
The council’s own file names the shop
Cambridge City Council granted advertisement consent for the shopfront on 17 April 2026, under reference 26/00919/ADV. The officer’s delegated report opens by describing the site as “number 33 Grande Arcade, a commercial clothing premises known as Uniqlo”, using the council’s own spelling of the centre.
The consent covers three signs:
- one externally illuminated hanging sign
- two non-illuminated fascia signs
The application was validated on 6 March 2026 and decided by a delegated decision six weeks later. The case officer was John McAteer and the site sits in Market ward. The agent was Tetris Projects Limited of Warwick Street, London.
The unit is inside the central conservation area. The report notes the Grade II listed buildings at 22, 23, 24 and 25 St Andrew’s Street nearby, and Grade I listed Emmanuel College a short walk away. The conservation officer, the county council’s highways officer and environmental health all declined to object. No representations were received from the public. A pre-application enquiry on shopfront decorations and brand signage, 26/50011/PRELV2, had already been given a green result before the formal application went in.
The officer concluded that St Andrew’s Street is “an area of heavy commercialisation”, where hanging and fascia signs are commonplace, and that the three signs caused no harm to the conservation area.
The 25th shop, almost exactly 25 years on
Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s Japanese parent, keeps its own tally of stores by country. Its Europe page, last updated on 2 September 2026, records two figures for the UK:
- first UK store opened: 28 September 2001
- number of stores: 24, as at 31 August 2026
Cambridge makes 25. It also opens four days short of 25 years since the chain arrived in Britain.
What we have not reported
Trade titles have written about opening-day offers and a run of University of Cambridge branded merchandise. Uniqlo’s own Cambridge page could not be read from here on Tuesday: every attempt returned an access denied response. Those claims are not repeated above, because we have not seen them in the company’s own words. We will add them when the page can be read.
It opens a week before term
The opening lands in the gap before the university comes back. The University of Cambridge’s own term dates put the start of Michaelmas Term on Thursday 1 October, with Full Term starting on Tuesday 6 October. Grand Arcade is already running a student discount promotion across the centre this month.
What it means for you
- The store is inside Grand Arcade on the ground floor, with the centre entrance on St Andrew’s Street.
- Doors open at 9am on Thursday 24 September.
- The centre’s standard hours are 09:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday and 11:00 to 17:00 on Sunday. Individual shops can differ, and Uniqlo’s own hours are not published yet.
- If you drive, Grand Arcade car park on Corn Exchange Street, CB2 3QF, has 951 spaces, 34 Blue Badge bays and a 1.98 metre height limit, and is open 24 hours. Charges are worked out when you leave. Our guide to parking in Cambridge sets out the alternatives, including Park and Ride.
- Uniqlo is one of 55 shops listed on the centre’s own directory.
We track planning decisions in the city on our Cambridge planning news page, and the city centre’s closures and diversions on Cambridge roadworks and travel.
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